FMI Presents 2025 Executive Leadership Awards
During FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Midwinter Executive Conference, in Marco Island, Fla., the trade organization presented the 2025 Executive Leadership Awards to the following recipients: SPAR International’s Tobias Wasmuht; H-E-B’s James Harris, The Biden Administration White House’s Will McIntee, Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s Denny Belcastro, Wegmans Food Markets Inc.’s Colleen Wegman, Compare Foods Supermarkets’ Omar Jorge, ShopRite of Hunterdon County Inc.’s Joe Colalillo and Meijer Inc.’s Hank Meijer.
“The Executive Leadership Award winners are being deservedly celebrated for their unwavering commitment to excellence, collaboration and mentoring the next generation of food industry professionals, setting a benchmark for all of us,” said FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin. “These leaders have earned the respect and admiration of their peers by demonstrating extraordinary vision and resilience in navigating today’s dynamic marketplace.”
The awards bestowed are:
Herbert Hoover Award for Humanitarian Service: Tobias Wasmuht, CEO, SPAR International
Wasmuht heads Amsterdam-based SPAR International, the world’s largest food retail voluntary organization. Since joining SPAR in 2000, he has driven its worldwide growth across four continents and 48 countries, including launching SPAR in China in 2004. Since he became CEO in 2016, SPAR has grown to more than 13,900 stores with international sales exceeding €41 billion (US $42.6 billion), guided by the Better Together strategy. Wasmuht also serves on the boards of FMI, Independent Retail Europe and the Global Consumer Goods Forum, contributing to the advancement of independent food retailers around the globe.
Esther Peterson Award for Consumer Service: James Harris, senior director of diversity and inclusion and supplier diversity, H-E-B
Harris, a 21-year veteran of San Antonio-based H-E-B, a multi-format retailer that’s No. 15 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, runs the company’s diversity and inclusion and supplier diversity programs. In this role, he sets strategic direction, develops policy, and works to support local, veteran and diverse businesses, connecting them with the company’s procurement and sourcing process. His work carries on H-E-B’s longtime commitment to these efforts and its Be the Change initiative, the retailer’s ongoing mission to be a top employer, retailer and community partner. Harris serves on boards for the Texas Diversity Council and NAACP Foundation and has earned such honors as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion Award.
Esther Peterson Award for Consumer Service: Will McIntee, former director of strategic engagement, Office of Public Engagement, The White House
As the former director of strategic engagement in the Biden White House’s Office of Public Engagement, McIntee focused on rural, agriculture, food and nutrition issues. He played a major part in the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and has led engagement on implementation of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. McIntee was previously national rural engagement director for the Biden-Harris campaign and worked at the Department of the Interior during the Obama-Biden Administration. A Waterloo, Iowa, native, he is a staunch advocate for healthier communities, ending hunger, and supporting all who work to produce America’s food.
William H. Albers Industry Relations Award: Denny Belcastro, VP of industry affairs and customer development, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Belcastro leads strategic retailer partnerships and mentors future industry leaders at Irving, Texas-based Kimberly-Clark. Having spent 40-plus years in the food industry, he has held leadership roles at Hillshire Brands, Kraft Foods, Nabisco and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, where he started the FMI/GMA Trading Partner Alliance. Belcastro is also an active member of FMI’s Industry Collaboration Council. He’s a native of Aliquippa, Pa.
Robert B. Wegman Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence: Colleen Wegman, president and CEO, Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
Wegman is the fourth-generation leader of Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets, a 109-year-old company ranked 39th on The PG 100 in 2024 and also named among PG’s 10 Most Sustainable Grocers for that year. Since joining the retailer in 1991, she has led such initiatives as the Food You Feel Good About product line, Nature’s Marketplace, e-commerce strategy and merchandising operations. Wegman chaired the United Way of Greater Rochester’s 2010 campaign, was board chair from 2013 to 2017, and sits on FMI’s board of directors, advising the association’s health and well-being, industry relations and food safety committees. Additionally, Wegman has served on the FMI board since 2014.
Glen P. Woodard Jr. Award for Public Affairs: Omar Jorge, CEO, Compare Foods Supermarkets
Omar Jorge, the CEO of Compare Foods and former chairman of Charlotte, N.C.-based Aurora Grocery Group, advocates for supermarkets as vital community hubs, similar to churches or schools. Raised in the grocery business, Jorge joined Compare in 2009, expanding the company’s presence to 45 stores nationwide, including 26 in North Carolina, strategically opening stores in underserved neighborhoods to address food insecurity. Specializing in Latino products and fresh meat and produce, Compare Foods caters to diverse cultures while appealing to wider audiences. Passionate about community engagement, Jorge combines tradition with innovation, leveraging social media and technology to connect with customers and promote international flavors.
Sidney R. Rabb Award for Statesmanship: Joe Colalillo, president, ShopRite of Hunterdon County Inc.
Joseph Colalillo is a second-generation grocer and president of ShopRite of Hunterdon County, a family-owned business with five ShopRite stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and 1,300 associates. In 1954, his family joined Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp., the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative and No. 31 on The PG 100 for 2024, and Colalillo was its chairman and CEO from 2005 to 2023. He’s known for his commitment to serving customers, helping associates succeed, and supporting the community through his family’s work with hunger-fighting initiatives, among them ShopRite Partners In Caring. ShopRite of Hunterdon County also sponsors the annual Run for Hunger 5k, which has raised nearly $700,000 for Norwescap’s Food Bank, and supports such organizations as America’s Grow-A-Row. In 2016, Colalillo received the Robert B. Wegman Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, and in 2005, he was presented with the New Jersey Food Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sidney R. Rabb Award for Statesmanship: Hank Meijer, executive chairman, Meijer Inc.
Hank Meijer leads Meijer Inc., the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer operating more than 260 supercenters throughout six Midwestern states and ranking 23rd on The PG 100 for 2024. He began working in the family business as an 11-year-old grocery clerk and after college rejoined the company as assistant advertising director. Hank Meijer published a biography of his grandfather, Hendrik Meijer, in 1985 and Sen. Arthur Vandenberg in 2017. He is vice chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and holds leadership roles with various organizations, including FMI and the Frederik Meijer Gardens Foundation.
FMI brings together a wide range of members across the value chain, from retailers to consumers to producers, as well as the broad range of companies providing key services, to amplify the collective work of the industry.
