The Shelby-Griffin Report presents the 21st annual tribute to Women of Influence in the food industry. For 21 years, we’ve honored the outstanding women shaping the food industry—from executives and innovators to mentors and community leaders. This year’s nominees represent a diverse range of roles, backgrounds, and regions, each making a profound impact in their careers and beyond.
Explore their stories below, and join us in celebrating their achievements.
2026 Women of Influence
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2026 Women of InfluenceNatalie Santiago
Store Manager, Save A Lot
Read MoreNatalie Santiago oversees the highest volume Save A Lot location in Cleveland, located in one of the city's most challenging neighborhoods. In 2025, her store generated $8.3 million in sales with a customer count of 276,874, holding flat year-over-year performance despite significant economic and environmental challenges. Santiago also maintained a $30.09 average transaction rate, which is a testament to her disciplined focus on store standards, team engagement and the customer experience. Santiago leads with consistency and precision, operating her store and managing a team of 26 direct reports. In addition to her store leadership responsibilities, she also serves as a training manager, demonstrating her willingness to support and develop other managers across the region. She is the type of leader who will stop everything to help someone, always making herself available regardless of the time of day.
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2026 Women of InfluenceNellie Carlson
Senior Director of Retail Strategy, Schraad Sales & Marketing
Read MoreNellie Carlson is a strategic and results-driven leader with more than 21 years of experience in the CPG industry. In her current role, she oversees retail operations across key markets, including all of Texas, as well as a major Midwest-based account. She manages relationships with multiple top 20 clients, ensuring retail execution consistently meets key performance objectives and delivers measurable value.
Carlson has led transformative changes to the retail team's structure across Texas. Within her first four months, she implemented a dedicated retail coverage model that increased field coverage by more than 50 percent in the first month alone. She also directed the launch of five new retail-only contracts, creating immediate momentum and opening additional opportunities for client representation in 2026.
Carlson's leadership is grounded in strong communication, collaboration and operational discipline. She identified opportunities to improve how field teams structure store-level tasks, allowing representatives to focus on high-impact execution while generating more meaningful insights for clients.
With five direct reports and more than 30 indirect field team members, Carlson prioritizes training, process improvement knowledge sharing to build high-performing teams. Through continuous evaluation of reporting, execution strategy, she ensures her teams remain focused on delivering measurable results and long-term growth for clients and the organization.
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2026 Women of InfluenceNery Vazquez
SVP of Hispanic Marketing, C.A. Fortune
Read MoreNery Vazquez leads enterprise-wide Hispanic growth strategy with deep cultural insight and a strong record of results. Since April 2025, she has overseen a 74-person merchandising team, five directors and up to 75 brand ambassadors, ensuring Hispanic marketing is integrated into corporate growth objectives.
In 2017, Vazquez purchased DirectoHispanic after years of leading the agency and growing its impact. She later guided its successful acquisition by C.A. Fortune, securing long-term stability and expanded opportunity for clients and employees.
Vazquez has driven market expansion and multimillion-dollar contract growth, including significant expansion with a major consumer packaged goods partner in the household cleaning category in the last two years. Her work has earned national recognition, including a 2024 Silver US Agency Award for Best Social Media Campaign.
Vazquez is known not only for results but for how she leads. In a predominantly Hispanic, women-led organization, she has built a culture rooted in integrity, transparency and inclusion. She creates space for professional growth while honoring motherhood and family leadership.
Vazquez's mentorship is reflected in the strength and longevity of her executive team, many of whom have grown alongside her for over 15 years and transitioned seamlessly into C.A. Fortune.
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2026 Women of InfluenceNicki Zuber
Business Development Manager, Schraad Sales & Marketing
Read MoreNicki Zuber is a relationship-driven leader with more than 26 years of experience in the CPG industry. In her current role, she focuses on building strong partnerships with clients and customers to drive meaningful business growth. Zuber's approach combines strategic thinking, collaboration and a commitment to clear communication, ensuring that brand objectives and customer needs remain aligned. She has built a reputation for developing trusted relationships by prioritizing transparency, responsiveness and problem-solving. By listening to customers and working with clients, she helps identify opportunities that strengthen brand performance while delivering value for retail partners. Her ability to navigate challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset allows her to support long-term growth and successful partnerships. Her leadership style emphasizes partnership, accountability and a shared commitment to success. Outside of work, Zuber is dedicated to supporting her community. Each year, she participates in the Walk for Vision and the Trolley Run, events that benefit the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired. These causes are especially meaningful to her, as close friends are affected by eye disease, and her involvement helps raise awareness and supports services that improve lives.
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2026 Women of InfluenceNicole Teeters
SVO Strategy, SRW/C.A. Fortune
Read MoreOver the past nine years, Nicole Teeters has grown from social strategist to her current role with SRW, the in-house marketing and advertising agency for C.A. Fortune. Over the years, she has worked behind the scenes, demonstrating a combination of brand-building expertise, strategic foresight and creative leadership. As a skilled agency strategist, Teeters' work makes CPG brands and their marketing leaders shine. She is an unparalleled reader of the zeitgeist, who knows how to help brands assert their relevance and cut through a cluttered industry landscape. Her counsel was instrumental to Good Culture, as she was the leading thinker behind the strategies SRW leveraged to make cottage cheese "cool." From upstart brands to industry behemoths, Teeters has played a central role in shepherding growth. She has crafted audience strategies to help Chomps grow beyond their base consumer, helped global brand A-Sha navigate the American market and served as the strategic force behind launching Doich, an upstart health-forward cookie dough brand. In addition, Teeters serves as the lead strategist behind many of SRW's major new business wins, including Earth's Best and Celestial Seasonings. These are household names with long-standing agency relationships, yet her strategic vision and ability to build trust were key to unseating incumbent partners. Her work didn't stop at the pitch.
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2026 Women of InfluencePaige Vance
Senior Marketing Manager, Merchants Distributors (MDI)
Read MorePaige Vance is helping redefine what modern marketing support looks like for independent grocers. She has built programs at Merchants Distributors that give hundreds of independent retailers access to data, digital marketing capabilities and promotional planning tools that help them compete in a demanding grocery environment.
Vance leads MDI's loyalty program, which supports more than 300 independent retail locations. Under her leadership, the program has become a valuable platform for shopper engagement and data informed decision making that helps retailers better understand their customers and strengthen promotions.
She also introduced MealTime Made, a meal solutions program designed to inspire shoppers and simplify dinner planning. The program features in-store destination displays that help retailers merchandise meal ideas in ways that increase basket size and encourage repeat visits.
Known for her collaborative leadership style, Vance works across merchandising, marketing and retail teams to build programs that deliver practical results for independent grocers. She also invests in developing her team and fostering an environment where creativity, accountability and innovation thrive.
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2026 Women of InfluencePaige Venable
Director of Floral, Vallarta Supermarkets
Read MorePaige Venable leads with compassion and tenacity. She is a naturally curious, values-driven leader who is committed to continuous personal and professional growth as a lifelong learner.
Venable inspires her teams through her steadiness, sincerity and thoughtful, supportive approach, while also motivating them to achieve strong results. With a strong focus on performance, team development and operational excellence, she consistently delivers on what she sets out to accomplish.
Recognized by her organization as a high-potential leader, Venable was selected to attend the Food Industry Management program at the University of Southern California, an investment in her continued growth and future leadership impact. She represents a rising leader who is expanding her influence and helping shape the future of the food industry.
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2026 Women of InfluencePatrice Coudray Rubin
Senior Manager, Beverage Department, Niagra Bottling
Read MorePatrice Coudray Rubin plays a role in driving performance and strengthening her team. She brings a thoughtful and intentional approach to leadership, with a focus on people, execution and continuous improvement.
Coudray Rubin is a smart, resourceful and highly motivated leader who brings both passion and discipline to her work. She is recognized for developing talent while consistently delivering strong, measurable results.
Noted by her organization as a high-potential leader, Coudray Rubin was selected to attend the Food Industry Management program at the University of Southern California, an investment in her continued growth and future leadership impact. She is committed to developing others and expanding her influence as a leader in the evolving food industry.
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2026 Women of InfluenceRebecca Morgan
Regional Sales Manager, Niagra Bottling
Read MoreRebecca "Becca" Morgan is an open-minded, optimistic leader who brings passion, energy and thoughtfulness to her work. She is known for being trustworthy and approachable, creating an environment where others feel supported and confident relying on her.
Driven and results-oriented, Morgan leads with a grounded presence and a strong commitment to delivering outcomes. She is a pleasure to work with and consistently elevates those around her.
Recognized by her organization as a high-potential leader, Morgan was selected to attend the Food Industry Management program at the University of Southern California, an investment in her continued growth and future leadership impact. She represents a rising leader who is expanding her influence and helping shape the future of the food industry.
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2026 Women of InfluenceRebekah Stewart
VP, Business Intelligence, Acosta Group
Read MoreRebekah Stewart delivered measurable business impact by elevating customer performance, advancing insight‑led innovation and strengthening operational efficiency. Under her leadership, all vertical customer teams outperformed total‑store trends by 0.4 to 3.7 points, reflecting strong alignment to client priorities and disciplined, insight‑driven execution. She leveraged standardized reporting and analytics to guide leadership decisions, prioritize investments and direct resources toward the highest‑value opportunities. Her teams also influenced major commercial wins by providing strategic insights that supported new item launches, expanded advisory partnerships and elevated category leadership designations. Stewart led the development and launch of the Kroger Insights Hub to more than 160 clients, transforming customer conversations from retrospective reporting to forward‑looking strategy. The platform has been widely recognized as a game‑changing innovation and has contributed to more than $1.5 million in incremental client growth. Stewart also introduced Kroger Shelf Intelligence to improve visibility into shelf‑level performance and led the omnichannel data workstream, delivering a consolidated view of digital and brick‑and‑mortar trends to support smarter investment decisions. Operationally, she drove a 29 percent reduction in recurring reporting hours through process redesign and resource optimization.
Celebrating the Women of Influence in the food industry for 21 years!
Presented by The Shelby-Griffin Report
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