Recognizing One of the Best and Brightest

A Letter from the Co-op General Manager

To our cooperative community,

After weeks of updates about COVID-19, it is a pleasure for me to write about something different and very uplifting today.

Progressive Grocer is an influential and highly respected trade magazine serving the grocery industry. Each year, the magazine honors the Top Women in Grocery, a highly competitive designation that recognizes women coast to coast who work in our nation’s retail food supply. The honor has been around since 2007 and over the years it has only grown in prestige. Recipients are recognized as being among the best and brightest in their field.

I’m pleased to report today that one of our own, Cathy Moloney, has joined the ranks. Progressive Grocer recently announced that the magazine has named Cathy as one of the Top Women in Grocery for 2020.

To appreciate Cathy’s accomplishments, it is important to understand her role. Cathy manages the White River Junction Co-op, a bustling community grocery store in the heart of a unique area. Her customer base is a diverse mix, and meeting the challenges of serving the community requires a special skillset.

By extension, Cathy’s management role is also quite unique, distinct from many of her peers in the nation’s grocery industry. As a store manager within one of the largest and most successful food cooperatives in the United States, Cathy often wears two hats: a business hat, similar to her corporate grocery peers, and a community-service hat, similar to the director of a nonprofit. To appreciate her impact on the community, just look at her store’s performance last year.

White River Junction Co-op at-a-Glance 2019

  • Off-the-chart sales growth of 6.68 percent.
  • Net savings before taxes that surpassed budgeted projections.
  • Community-service programs that included Coffee with a Cop, the Free Library, Double Up Bucks, Green-Up Day, the Alzheimer’s Walk, Hunger Knows No Season, and UV Gear, a gear swap that collected warm layers for the area homeless.
  • Thousands of pounds of non-perishable food collected for the Haven.
  • More than 21,000 pounds of high-quality breads and produce donated through Willing Hands.
  • More than $31,000 collected and donated to Upper Valley nonprofits through Pennies for Change.

When I think of Cathy, I’m reminded of this expression:

Character is who you are when no one is looking.

This is Cathy Moloney. Rather than a superficial altruism, her values are deeply held and regularly practiced. She is a mentor to her employees, a servant leader to her peers and customers, and has made a profound impact on her organization and her community.

From all of us, Cathy, congratulations! Our cooperative, and our community, is lucky to have you.

Paul

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Paul Guidone

Paul Guidone, CFA, spent the better part of four decades in the investment management business here and abroad. He held positions ranging from analyst through Deputy Chairman and Group CEO, at organizations such as Citigroup (US) and The HSBC Group (London and Hong Kong). He joined the Co-op in 2016 as the CFO and in 2018 became Strategic Advisor to the General Manager. Paul was appointed by the Co-op Board as interim General Manager in March 2020 and General Manager in September 2020. To contact, email PGuidone@coopfoodstore.com.

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