Kroger’s Yael Cosset on NRF Foundation List of People Shaping Retail’s Future 2024

Grocer’s CIO will be among those honored in NYC in January

9/25/2023

The Kroger Co.'s Yael Cosset (left) appeared earlier this year at Shoptalk in Las Vegas.

The NRF Foundation has revealed the six honorees of The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future 2024, including Yael Cosset, SVP and CIO at The Kroger Co. The robust group of retail leaders also includes lululemon CIO and EVP Julie Averill, Crocs SVP and Chief Marketing Officer Heidi Cooley, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein, Snoopslimes founder and CEO Jungmin Kang, and Burlington Stores Inc. SVP of Leadership and Organizational Development, DEI and Community Impact Mecca Mitchell. In video interviews conducted by the foundation, each honoree provides an inside look at their careers and influence on the retail industry.

“The 2024 honorees showcase the depth, diversity and ingenuity found throughout the retail industry,” noted Macy’s, Inc. President and Bloomingdale’s Chairman and CEO and NRF Foundation Board of Directors Chair Tony Spring. “We look forward to honoring this extraordinary group of individuals and the realm of possibilities they represent to the next generation of retail leaders.”

[Read more: “Publix IT Exec Honored for Leadership”]

Added NRF Foundation Executive Director Adam Lukoskie: “The retail industry is a great place to start and a great place to grow. This year’s honorees of The List are sparking incredible change across the retail industry — inspiring others to follow in their footsteps and create their own paths to success.”

The honorees will be recognized at the 2024 NRF Foundation Honors, scheduled for Jan. 14, 2024, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, in New York City, and co-hosted by Spring and Walmart U.S. President and CEO and NRF Board Chairman John Furner.

Since 2015, the NRF Foundation Honors program has raised funds to provide educational programs and resources that enable people to pursue retail careers.

Based in Washington, D.C., the National Retail Federation (NRF) empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $3.9 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 52 million working Americans.

Serving more than 11 million customers daily through digital shopping and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company among its Retailers of the Century.