Williamsville, New York-based Tops Friendly Markets has announced staff promotions as well as one addition.
Four were promoted.
Ashley Tucker, formerly a manager trainee for the North Country Tops stores, has been promoted to store manager for the Cox Sackie, New York, store. Tucker has more than 17 years of experience in retail management and brings with her a passion for teaching and training others, according to Tops.
Jillian Sirica was promoted to manager of digital marketing. Sirica joined Tops in 2006 as a cashier at the Orchard Park, New York, store. Since then she has since held various positions both at the store level and the corporate office, most recently as digital media specialist. Sirica also has also been a key member of the Tops marketing team, specifically overseeing the development and execution of digital marketing strategies.
Kathleen Graim has been promoted to Deli/Carry-Out-Cafe merchandising and training specialist. She will be responsible for collaborating with the directors of in-store merchandising and the field specialists to implement new Carry-Out-Cafe and Deli programs and offerings at the store level, as well as provide direction on recipe and program accuracy to ensure consistent execution throughout the company. Graim has been a key member of the Tops team since 1988, holding various positions at store level before becoming a bakery specialist, community relations specialist and store manager at the Warehouse Cafe. Most recently she oversaw prepared foods, deli and bakery at the Tops Orchard Fresh store, where she implemented new programs and offerings that drove double-digit growth in those departments, Tops said.
Eric Wurl has been promoted to director of private brands, responsible for driving the growth of four brand lines, along with many secondary brand lines, as well as working collaboratively with the in-house Daymon team. Wurl’s responsibilities also include duties related to merchandising, marketing, decision support, pricing, supply chain and operations teams. The Tops brand has items in 97 different categories.
Wurl joined Tops 13 years ago from Bell’s and Quality. He started at Tops as an assistant store manager at the University Plaza Tops in Buffalo. Soon after, he was promoted to store manager at the Niagara Falls Tops and Orchard Park locations, and then to district manager. Most recently, he was director of in-store merchandising and execution for the West region.
New to the Tops staff is Lorenzo Grooms, director of warehouse operations. Grooms joined Tops after holding various leadership positions at Giant Eagle and Sysco International Food Group. At Giant Eagle, he was operations manager for 14 years; most recently he served as director of operations at Sysco. He has experience working within a union environment and with collective bargaining agreements, as well as with process improvement, safety and staff development.
In his new role, Grooms will lead all functions relating to warehouse operations in the grocery, perishable and frozen distribution centers, including developing and implementing initiatives to enhance associate morale; team performance in the execution of optimum store service; delivery of results in key financial metrics, staffing, selection/receiving accuracy and throughput; and improving the supply chain and efficiency to the stores.
Tops operates grocery stores in New York, northern Pennsylvania, western Vermont and north central Massachusetts.
