Kristin Mullins started at the Ohio Grocers Association on April 4, 1990, as a receptionist. She is leaving as its president and CEO – and, by her own account, she’s ready.
“A 36-year run – I think I’m ready for something, quite frankly, a little less demanding, a little less stressful,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve got a granddaughter that I just love to death, and I would love to spend more time with her.”
In between those two moments – the young woman who didn’t know what a trade association was and the executive stepping away from one – Mullins worked her way through nearly every role OGA had to offer, steered the organization through a pandemic and cracked open a decades-old legislative door.
Mullins didn’t set out to spend her career in grocery advocacy. She grew up around the grocery business – her father managed an A&P store in the Youngstown area for a while – but when she moved to Columbus after college, she was simply looking for work.
“I didn’t know what an association was. I didn’t know that they had such things. I just kind of lucked into it,” she said. “I saw grocery on there. I thought, well, let me check out what that is.”
Tom Jackson hired her and became her mentor. Mullins said he taught her a great deal.
“I remember calling my dad and saying, you’ll never guess where I’m working … And he actually knew of OGA from his past. And I was like, wow, there you go, small world.”
She never left. Over the next three-and-a-half decades, Mullins worked in membership, marketing and government relations before becoming president and CEO in 2016. She described it as having held nearly every role in association management – “with maybe the exception of the accountant.”
“I’ve been advocating for this industry. I believe in our membership, what they do for their communities and what they provide,” she said. “Everyone’s got to eat, so I feel like, we have to be around. Whatever I could do to make sure that the grocers are around, I wanted to do. It’s really been my passion.”
The impossible hills
When asked about her proudest accomplishments, Mullins didn’t hesitate. She named two – and both required fighting battles others had walked away from.
The first was the 2019 increase in the state liquor agency commission paid to grocery retailers. Ohio is a state-controlled liquor state, meaning retailers must apply to become agents of the state to sell spirits – separate from beer and wine – and receive a commission on those sales. That commission had been stuck at 6 percent for more than two decades, despite lobbying efforts by Mullins’ predecessors.
“It was just like this impossible hill, and we always felt like Don Quixote tilting against the windmills. But I finally brought that windmill down,” she said.
The commission increase to 7 percent is performance-based – retailers earn the extra percentage point by meeting certain benchmarks – but Mullins said most OGA members qualify, and the benefit extends across the industry, from small independent markets to major chains such as Kroger and Giant Eagle.
“It wasn’t just given. It’s a performance base,” she said. “And brokers have to do something for that extra 1 percent, but most of them are doing it. So they’re getting that extra 1 percent and that’s dollars right to their bottom line.”
OGA isn’t finished. Mullins said the association is now pushing to open the statutory ceiling on the commission to as high as 15 percent – not as an immediate ask, but to lay legislative groundwork for future increases beyond the 7 percent cap.
“We’re not saying it’s going to go there; we’re not even saying we’re asking for that. All we want to do is lay the groundwork so that it could go to something more than 7 percent,” she said.
Her second proudest moment was less a single achievement than a sustained performance – leading OGA through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was sending communications out sometimes three times a day, depending on what Governor [Mike] DeWine was talking about,” she said. “We really were here to support the grocers during the challenging times that they were having. I’m pretty proud of what we could do and how we could help them.”
The pandemic also sharpened her view of grocery workers themselves.
“It taught us that grocers really are like the heroes that don’t wear capes. They were there. They were the ones working 24/7 and putting themselves out there and feeding the communities and keeping them surviving during this unprecedented time in modern history,” she said.
“People didn’t know how to react, people didn’t know what to do. They looked to their grocer, and this industry stepped up with proud, proud performance.”
Hardest fight
Asked about the most difficult challenge of her tenure, Mullins named member engagement – a struggle she said has never fully gone away.
“Times are always tough, and we are elective funds. So when things get cut, we’re one of the first things to get cut,” she said. “What did it teach me? It taught me perseverance. You’ve just got to keep fighting for your cause.”
That challenge has deepened in the post-COVID era. OGA once drew 350 attendees to its annual event; today that number is closer to 150. Mullins attributes part of the drop to a generational shift in how newer industry leaders perceive the value of association participation.
“They don’t see the value, which is scary. All of those functions fund our legislative actions, and that’s more important than ever.”
The membership rolls tell a broader story about the industry itself. When Mullins started at OGA in 1990, the association aimed for 1,000 members. Today it has about 200 – and she believes that still represents the majority of grocery retailers operating in the state.
“I think back, 36 years ago, there were so many more independents out there. It’s just crazy that there’s been that many closures, that much consolidation,” she said.
“Same thing with our wholesalers. There used to be 13 wholesalers in the state, and now there’s three or four. It’s just amazing how people are doing more and more with less and less.”
When reflecting on what kept her engaged for 36 years, Mullins pointed to the people.
“The people are real, just salt of the earth. We’re feeding our communities. I believe the majority of the members that I’ve talked to, that’s what their passion is,” she said.
“Their passion is making sure they’re providing the safest food, the freshest food, the food that we know that the customers want … if they can do that, then I can be working on the legislative side and fight for them and make their life as easy as I can.”
What comes next for OGA
With Mullins’ departure, OGA is restructuring. While details haven’t been released yet, Mullins said one thing will not change.
“We’re still Ohio Grocers Association. We’re always going to be here. We’re on the ground here, in Columbus, with our legislative [work],” she said. “I just feel like I’m leaving it in good hands. I think OGA is going to be just fine in the future.”
For Mullins, the restructuring is a reflection of the same adaptability she said defined her tenure.
“I want to be remembered as the leader that pivoted when needed. As things changed, the association did too, and we’re doing it again … so that we still have the resources to do what we’re really meant to do, which is our legislative and regulatory representation.”
As for what retirement looks like, Mullins is keeping her options open. She’s considered a cottage bakery – she loves to bake – and has looked into medical coding. She once worked at a library and says her love of reading and books hasn’t faded. But no concrete plans have taken shape.
“I’m open to suggestions,” she said. “I just know that it was the right time for OGA. I’m young enough that I don’t think I’m out of the workforce, but I’m certainly out of it to the extent that I’m in it now.”
The one plan that is firm involves her granddaughter, Paisley, and spending more time with her.
As for any parting words, Mullins reflected on what the industry has meant to her.
“The industry has been good to me. It’s been my life since I was 20 years old, and it’s fed my family. It has shaped my world for the last 36 years,” she said. “I’m grateful to have been a part of it, and all the people that I’ve met and the friends I’ve made. I treasure that. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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