PFMA Adds 3 Members to Board
At its 2021 Annual Conference board meeting in June, the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association (PFMA) welcomed three new members to its board of directors: Mike Mammone, senior director of customer experience for the Robesonia, Pa., division of Keene, N.H.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers, who was named board secretary, and Bill Lipsky, VP of merchandising at Shop ’n Save Pittsburgh for Providence, R.I.-based UNFI, and Chuck Tullis, SVP at Hanover, Pa.-based Utz Quality Foods, as members at large.
PFMA is led by a 37-member board of directors including retail and associate members. The volunteer group shapes the association’s agenda. Members are elected to unlimited three-year terms.
“We are thankful to have a strong and active PFMA board. The additions of Mike, Bill and Chuck and the experience they bring to the board will benefit the association and its membership,” noted PFMA President and CEO Alex Baloga. “Thank you to our new and current members for their dedication and guidance.”
Mammone replaces Meg Mitchell, VP of customer experience at C&S. He joined the company in October 2019 as senior director of business development, overseeing growth for the Grocers Supply division. Before joining C&S, he spent 30 years with Supervalu/UNFI where he rose through the ranks in the areas of GM/HBC, retail pricing, real estate, finance, credit, business development and sales. Mammone previously worked with UNFI as director of sales for the western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Eastern Ohio markets.
Lipsky began his career in retail with Giant, and then moved to Laneco Supermarkets in 1989. As a retail store manager, he held roles in corporate retail, including district manager, perishable director and director of merchandising. In 2006, he transitioned to wholesale at Supervalu as director of sales and merchandising at the New Stanton division of the former East region, and then was promoted to the Mechanicsville, Va., regional office in such leadership roles as VP of center store (grocery, dairy and frozen), retail formats, and VP of professional services. Lipsky has held his present role for the past three years, leading a team that handles merchandising and marketing for 80-plus independently owned and operated Shop ’n Save stores in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and western New York.
At Utz Quality Foods, Tullis oversees emerging channels as well as international and private-brand sales for the 100-year-old company’s diverse brand portfolio. He began his career with Utz in June 2009 as VP of national brands, and the following year he was promoted to VP of corporate brands, in which role he had responsibility for all marketing and branding activities, also handling retail, e-commerce and customer care functions. Before joining Utz, Tullis spent more than 15 years with Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart and Sam’s Club, where he worked as a buyer in the snack category and rose to the position of director of regional merchandising.
Wormleysburg, Pa.-based PFMA, a statewide trade association, advocates the views of 800-plus convenience stores, supermarkets, independent grocers, wholesalers and consumer product vendors. PFMA members operate more than 4,000 stores and employ more than 250,000 Pennsylvania residents.
C&S services customers of all sizes, supplying more than 7,700 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases and institutions with 137,000-plus products. The company is No. 16 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top retailers of food and consumables in North America. UNFI delivers a wide variety of products to customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 47 on The PG 100. Walmart operates about 10.500 stores under 48 banners in 24 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on PG’s list, while Walmart-owned Sam’s Club ranks ninth.
