Last updated on August 25th, 2022 at 10:45 am
At its fall meeting in Chicago, the National Grocers Association’s (NGA) board of directors approved appointments to fill four unexpired terms recently left vacant.
New board members include:
Christine Curtis, SVP and account management, C&S Wholesale Grocers
At Keene, N.H.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers, Curtis is responsible for new business development, account management, independent retail services and customer service. Prior to her current role, she was VP of corporate projects at C&S and focused on new business integration, management of cross organizational initiatives and business continuity planning. She joined C&S in June 2006 as a director to work on initiatives including business process redesign and new systems implementation. Prior to joining C&S, Curtis worked with various consulting firms including Wipro Technologies, NerveWire and Northeast Consulting Resources. She holds an executive MBA from MIT and a BS from Plymouth State University. Outside of work she is on the board at Linda’s Closet and is a former co-chair of the New England Network of Executive Women.
Jake Fontenot, SVP of sales and merchandising, The Grocers Supply Co.
Fontenot oversees all buying and merchandising for grocery, dairy, frozen, general merchandise and health and beauty care for the Houston, Texas-based company. He also has responsibility for the sales team, international, print shop and customer service.
Fontenot came to Grocers Supply from Acosta Sales & Marketing in Minneapolis where he was VP/team lead for grocery, natural/organic and specialty for Supervalu.
Prior to Acosta, he was with Supervalu/Albertson’s. Fontenot joined Alberston’s as director of natural/organic, ethnic and specialty, and when it was purchased by Supervalu, he moved to Minneapolis as corporate director with responsibilities for retail and wholesale grocery, dairy and frozen overseeing $6 billion in sales. He has spent more than 10 years in the wholesale side of the business with Fleming and Supervalu. Most of his Fleming career he was in Texas (Dallas and Lubbock divisions and in the regional office in Dallas). He also spent three years in the corporate headquarters in the private label group and as director of sales for the retail pricing unit. On the retail side he gained knowledge working for H-E-B in Texas as director of grocery/dairy/frozen for the pantry division. He then moved into the food and drug group as director of center store category management and ran all merchandising, sales and advertising for the Central Market format. In addition, he spent a few years with Whole Foods Market in its global office where he was responsible for grocery, dairy and frozen. Fontenot holds a B.S. degree from Louisiana State University. He and his wife Anne live in Conroe, Texas.
Omar Khalaf, VP of industry development, Kraft Foods Global Inc.
Khalaf began his career in the food industry 30 years ago in his hometown of Lynwood, Calif. He spent nine years in retail before joining Nabisco as a sales representative in Vernon, Calif., in 1990.
Over the next 22 years, he served in various management positions, including senior director of planning and insights for the West and customer VP in the West region managing regional customers. In June 2010, Khalaf was appointed to the position of customer VP leading the Safeway team for Kraft. Khalaf recently was appointed VP of industry development.
He resides in the North Shore of Illinois with his wife Heather and two daughters Ava and Isabel, along with family dogs Luther and Lola.
He was featured in Hispanic World Magazine in June 2011 and is a graduate of Long Beach State University.
Bob McTeir, president, Merchant Distributors LLC
McTeir has held the director of marketing, VP of marketing/merchandising and SVP of sales/marketing positions since joining MDI more than 10 years ago.
His background in the food industry spans more than 30 years. He came to Merchants Distributors from Supervalu, where he held various national positions at Supervalu’s corporate offices in Minnesota. Prior to that he served in multiple divisions and has experience in marketing, merchandising and procurement. McTeir has 30 years of experience working with independent retailers.
Originally a native of Pittsburgh Pa., McTeir and his wife Debbie now live in Taylorsville, N.C.
“I’m pleased to welcome Christine, Jake, Omar and Bob to NGA’s board of directors and look forward to their active engagement and participation on the board and in NGA,” said Joe Sheridan, president and COO Wakefern Food Corp. and NGA chairman of the board. “Their many years of industry experience and expertise will be an asset to our board and NGA as an organization.”
The NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. For more information about NGA, click here.
