Dave Corsi - Wegmans Food - Incoming chairman's address

FRESH SUMMIT 2008 -INCOMING CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS -
DAVE CORSI, WEGMANS FOOD & PHARMACY

Thank you, Bruce, for so ably leading our board over the past year. Your tenure as an officer can be summed up in two words: food safety. Fortunately, you are not one to shirk from a challenge, and you have indeed been a leader on this most serious topic. That’s included opening your company’s doors and fields to the media in 2006, leading by example with a very sizable contribution to the Center for Produce Safety in 2007, and this year leading a demanding strategic planning process to ensure PMA will be ready to lead this industry into the future.

You exemplify one of the core values defined in that new plan: courage.

Please give our new Chairman of the Executive Committee a round of applause for his service.

And thank you all for the trust you are placing in me as your chairman, especially in today’s challenging environment. It is exactly in such times that strong organizations like PMA become even more valued, and more necessary. I am proud and honored to take the baton from Bruce. This promises to be an exciting year, a year of change for PMA that will help us serve you even better in the future.

As Bryan and Bruce have already noted, there’s good reason why our industry is referred to as a supply chain, rather than a supply line – and that’s because we are indeed a community. Wegmans is built on the idea of community and relationships, with our people, our suppliers and our customers. In challenging times like these, those relationships become even more important, and it is more important to look out for each other. If we don’t, as Edmund Waller said, “one link dissolved, the whole creation ends.” If my favorite growers’ fields are replaced by tract houses, if my favorite suppliers’ doors are shuttered, we all lose – the grower, the suppliers, the retailer and the consumer.

So in these challenging times, we have listened, and we are acting.

Last month, PMA notified our membership that we won’t be increasing dues this year. That was a tough decision, understanding that we at PMA have even more we need to do for you now. But we made the right decision to leave that money in your pocket.

While your dues won’t increase, the value that you get from your membership will. And while Fresh Summit is undoubtedly the industry’s most influential gathering, PMA is much more than just a week in October. From one member to another, here are some ideas for making the most of your membership all year long.

First, check out all the free stuff, including our crisis management and product recall planning guides – vital in today’s food safety environment. Tap into PMA’s many subject matter experts. And use our tools to reach out to your own community, like the Scholastic Crunch the Numbers elementary school curriculum.

Next, check out our Advantage Program, which offers discounts on critical business services. Then, review our new products and services, like the PMA Advantage: Custom Training program. Fellow retailers will want to look into the new E-ssentials online training, and I Know Produce.

And finally, see what we’re doing to increase your business efficiencies, for example on traceability. Standardizing traceability will make our businesses more efficient, and help restore confidence in our food safety commitment. To find out what your role is, plan to attend this morning’s workshop on traceability.

As you search for more value in your business relationships, know that we are committed to remaining on your list of trusted service suppliers. Let me repeat that: we are 100 percent committed to serving you every day, all year long.

Recognizing that the produce industry is increasingly global, PMA will be branching out – figuratively and literally – to the produce community worldwide. Our country councils have been extremely popular, so popular that we will be taking that model to the next level.

I encourage you to consider the possibilities of PMA’s globalization efforts. We can all learn something from the world market even if your business only relates to the U.S. Consider that Wegmans is quote-unquote “just” a regional retailer – yet we procure from the globe and in addition, seek out every opportunity to learn from other retailers around the globe. And our business is better for it.

So I’m looking forward to continuing the great work that Bruce started, as we begin to execute the new strategic plan. We’re laying the groundwork for the next generation of PMA, and of PMA membership.

Speaking of the next generation, in the coming year you will see PMA’s Foundation for Industry Talent taking even more of a leadership role.

Talent is a top priority for Wegmans. In the few minutes I have right now, I can’t possibly cover how difficult it is to find great talent for our business. We know that our company, like the supply chain we belong to, is only as strong as its weakest link. That’s where PMA’s Foundation for Industry Talent comes in, with its laser focus on attracting, developing and retaining the talent today that we will need tomorrow.

Wegmans recently hired a young man I first met as a student attending Fresh Summit on a Pack Family/PMA Career Pathways scholarship. And we aren’t the only happy foundation customer – what a great success story this program is. Thirty-four of the 65 graduates took jobs in our industry. I personally applaud the investment that PMA and Jay and Ruthie Pack have made in a program already paying off handsomely – for us all.

I am especially honored today to tell you about the foundation’s newest initiative: the Tip Murphy Legacy Fund. Tip Murphy was a strong leader, a natural mentor, a respected colleague and dear friend to many in the industry, including me. His untimely death this summer is a tremendous loss. Friends and colleagues have pledged $120,000 over the next five years in seed money to start a scholarship fund in his name, for industry professionals who want to advance their leadership skills. The goal of the fund is to build a permanent endowment of $250,000 by 2012 to fund scholarships into the future. Tip’s wife Gretchen is here with us today to help us announce this great new program.

Gretchen, please know that you and the girls have our sincere condolences and heartfelt best wishes. We are pleased to be able to honor Tip’s memory in such a lasting and impactful way.

I would also like to recognize the industry leaders at Naturipe, Ready Pac, Chiquita and Paramount Farms who took the initiative to make this fund possible … please join me in a round of applause for them.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in Tip’s memory can do so in the PMA Center in Hall B4, or at the registration desks. You can also find out more about the fund and the scholarship it supports in the PMA Center, or in the booths of these four companies. The first scholarship will be awarded this November for the 2009 calendar year.

The foundation’s future looks bright. But that future depends entirely upon our support. The scholarships, the student mentoring and visiting professors programs, the leadership institute – none of these would be possible without your financial support. I believe strongly in the future of this industry, and in the foundation’s mission to ensure that future is bright. That’s why I personally support the foundation – and I hope you will, too. Make a contribution today at the PMA Center in Hall B4.

I have had great mentors and wonderful career opportunities, so I believe in giving back – call it my own personal form of sustainability. Although no two people can agree on what sustainability means, it has become a business imperative.

Wegmans knows there’s a business case for it, that it means savings for the environment and for the company. We started our own organic test farm to help develop best growing practices to share with our local growers’ network so they can help close the sourcing gap we currently face. A wonderful fringe benefit is that we now have a whole new insight in growing.

PMA knows sustainability is an opportunity for our industry, as long as others don’t try to tell us how to do it. So we are engaging those discussions. And we are looking forward to the results of PMA’s own sustainability research, which should guide our efforts. We’re also working to reduce our footprint, at the office and at events like Fresh Summit. Central to our work is the belief that agriculture must be economically sustainable – otherwise, we risk losing those fields to those tract houses. To find out more about PMA’s approach, join me for our sustainability workshop tomorrow morning.

I have made a lot of promises to you as I’ve stood here today. We know our industry is facing many challenges, from food safety to increasing input costs to labor and the environment. And because you need us more in complex times, PMA must and will do more. I am honored to preside over such a strong association, and to work with such talented staff, for the good of the produce community.

When I stand here next year, I expect you to hold me to that word. That’s my promise to you, from one link in the supply chain to the others.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to serve in this capacity at PM