2026 Women of Influence in the Food Industry

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

2026 Women of Influence

Taylor Escamilla

Division Floral Specialist, King Soopers/City Market

Taylor Escamilla plays a meaningful role in driving and elevating her team. She leads with optimism and high energy, pairing a driven mindset with a genuine commitment to supporting and elevating those around her.

Escamilla is a courageous and curious leader. Recognized by her organization as a high-potential leader, she 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.

Escamilla is committed to developing others and expanding her influence as a leader in the evolving food industry.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link
2026 Women of Influence

Teresa Jimenez

Sr. Director of Gonzalez Family Office of Development and Administration, Northgate González Markets

Teresa Jimenez assists the EVP of the family office in developing and implementing programs and policies that will help the Gonzalez family group of entities meet its goal of becoming a 100-year company.

Jimenez has been part of the Northgate Market family for more than 30 years and is recognized as one of the company's success stories. She began her career as a cashier and has since held several roles across the organization, including positions in human resources, safety and risk management and operations project management. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with cross-functional teams on initiatives that have helped support operational improvements and organizational growth.

Reflecting on her career, Jimenez says she is most proud of her 30 years with Northgate Market and the opportunity to witness the company's tremendous growth. What inspires her most are the company's strong values of faith, education and wellness. She says those values create an environment that encourages associates to bring their best selves every day.

Jimenez has an MBA and a master's degree in human resources from Pepperdine University, along with several professional certifications. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, photography and exploring new places.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link
2026 Women of Influence

Tina Kubala

Senior VP, Acosta Group

Tina Kubala delivered a transformative impact over the past year, strengthening client partnerships, accelerating financial performance and elevating the culture and capabilities of the grocery and military divisions. She exceeded all major client KPIs, surpassing sales objectives by more than $50 million and capturing 100 percent of available bonus incentives.

Through insight-led joint business plans, Kubala drove sustainable category share growth and ensured precise execution at key retail moments. A defining achievement was protecting and expanding the P&G partnership.

She launched four new customer teams, representing more than $200 million in annual sales and hired and onboarded incremental associates without disruption. She also negotiated a margin-accretive contract structure that doubled Acosta's bonus opportunity, strengthening the financial model.

In the military channel, her team earned the Coke Main Street Cup Award for superior execution and consistent KPI delivery. Retailers under her leadership outperformed national benchmarks and categories gained share due to disciplined execution and a strong focus on in-store excellence.

Kubala also advanced culture and talent by fostering an inclusive, transparent environment, encouraging healthy debate and embedding a talent-obsessed mindset. She elevated team members with deeper industry expertise during transitions, improving client satisfaction and organizational capability.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link
2026 Women of Influence

Tish Mills

Senior HR Business Partner, Harris Teeter

Tish Mills is a proven, high-impact HR leader who elevates people, performance and culture across Harris Teeter's Northern Region, supporting 77-plus locations across Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

She serves 9,000 associates and leads seven direct reports, providing strategic, hands-on partnership to district managers, regional VPs, operations, legal and HR teams. She aligns staffing, training, succession planning and performance management with business needs while strengthening compliance, consistency and risk mitigation.

With strong field presence and sound judgment, Mills resolves complex associate relations issues with empathy and fairness, fosters inclusion and engagement and supports successful leadership transitions.

Her results are measurable. She co-led the annual associate opinion survey rollout, achieving 80 percent participation and an 82 percent engagement score, up 1 percent year over year. She helped launch a comprehensive HR analytics report enabling leaders to improve compliance and morale drivers, including youth permits, I-9s, inordinate hours, turnover, missed lunches and unemployment.

Under Mills leadership, fiscal year 2025 Northern Region turnover reached a four-year low of 52.16 percent. She also played a key role in restructuring efforts that streamlined support for associates and store leaders while advancing the company's Employer of Choice strategy.

Beyond work, Mills raised more than $3,000 for St. Jude and supports the American Heart Association and UVA Breast Cancer Center.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link
2026 Women of Influence

Tracey Gregorski

Manager of IBM Programming, Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co.

Tracey Gregorski's primary responsibilities center on Piggly Wiggly's core business systems, the foundation that drives enterprise data, operations and transaction processing.

Gregorski leads the information technology core applications development team, overseeing the design, development and delivery of critical enterprise solutions. She's responsible for mentoring and developing software engineers while ensuring strict adherence to development, testing and quality standards.

She also established and governs core system design principles, external integration frameworks, security and compliance requirements and data and business intelligence integration practices.

Gregorski leads her team with a focus on building high-performing talent, strengthening internal delivery processes and translating technical execution into actionable business insights for executive leadership. Her influence spans team capability growth, operational efficiency and data-driven decision support across the organization.

She promotes the growth and effectiveness of the team through coaching, skill development and process improvement, while ensuring technology initiatives deliver clear business insight to organizational leaders. She also has implemented new technology solutions and innovative development methodologies.

Gregorski established a disciplined execution framework and strategic delivery approach that produced measurable business impact across core grocery operations. She spearheaded the development of internal analytics and reporting capabilities, equipping executive leadership with actionable business intelligence that directly informed strategic and operational decision-making.

In addition, she led a comprehensive internal IT security review and implemented proactive controls and best practices to strengthen system security, reduce risk and ensure compliance across critical business platforms.

Outside of work, Gregorski is the co-founder of Free State Four Paws low-cost animal spay and neuter program, a nonprofit dog-rescue organization that serves one of the most underserved rural counties Alabama. Since its inception in 2024, its low-cost spay and neuter program has helped more than 750 pets, reducing overpopulation and improving animal welfare in the community.

Entirely volunteer-run, Free State Four Paws focuses on rescuing the most neglected and abused dogs, providing medical care, rehabilitation and nurturing them back to health. Once recovered, they are transported to northern states, where they are placed in permanent, loving homes.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link
2026 Women of Influence

Veronica Estrada

Retail Systems Manager, Superior Grocers

With more than 30 years in the grocery industry, Veronica Estrada has built a career rooted in dedication, growth and strong leadership. Beginning her career in the stores and becoming a retail systems manager, she has strengthened alignment between stores and corporate teams, elevated training standards and inspired her department to perform at its best.

Estrada's passion for her work is evident every day. She approaches challenges with positivity, encouraging team members to grow, learn and strive for excellence. She continues to grow personally and professionally. She translates complex processes into clear, practical steps, helping others succeed while continuously improving operations.

Respected across the organization, Estrada leads with integrity, collaboration and a commitment to lifting others. Her influence goes beyond her title, shaping people and processes.

Outside of work, Estrada is a devoted wife and mother, and her pride in her family reflects the values she brings to her leadership with dedication, resilience and compassion. Her performance, character and influence make her exceptionally deserving of this recognition.

Read More
Magazine PDF Share Link