Wakefern Names 2 VPs
Retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. has promoted Laura Kind to VP of brand strategy and hired Ranjana Choudhry as VP of advertising and social media.
Kind has quickly built a strong track record since joining Wakefern in December 2018 as director of own brands marketing and packaging. She played a key role in the design, positioning and launch of Wakefern’s latest private brands, Bowl & Basket and Paperbird.
In her new role, Kind will oversee strategic brand management for the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market and Gourmet Garage banners, and work to differentiate these banners in the marketplace, shape their brand identities and ensure connectivity in all customer-facing initiatives.
Before coming Wakefern, Kind was director of brand at Jet.com, an e-commerce company owned by Walmart, where she built the company’s award-winning private brand, winning several awards for its packaging and design. She has also held marketing leadership roles at Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Choudhry joined Wakefern in March, bringing more than 25 years of experience as a global marketing and communications leader to her latest position. She will head Wakefern’s advertising and social media divisions to develop marketing and digital content strategies incorporating the brands’ iconic promotions, and also launch campaigns across advertising and digital channels.
Choudhry began her career in India with global marketing communications agency Grey Advertising, and then moved to New York while working for multinational advertising agency WPP, where she led more than 400 team members in 220 countries for Colgate-Palmolive’s brands.
Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern, the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States, 51 members that independently own and operate 354 supermarkets under the ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Price Rite Marketplace, Gourmet Garage and Dearborn Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The company is No. 8 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States,
