Wakefern Food Corp.’s board of directors appointed industry veteran Mike Stigers as its new president, following Joe Sheridan’s retirement after 47 years with the cooperative.
Wakefern, which had record sales of more than $18 billion in 2022, is the country’s largest retailer-owned cooperative with member companies that own and operate supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners, according to a news release.
Stigers will start his presidential role June 1.
The board conducted an extensive national search since Sheridan announced his retirement plans in 2022. Sheridan will remain with the company through the end of 2023 to ensure a successful transition. He was president for 11 years.
“Mike brings with him five decades of industry leadership, proven success and respect among his peers and the supplier community,” Wakefern Chairman Joe Colalillo said in the release. “Wakefern will benefit from that broad knowledge base and leadership experience.”
Colalillo also thanked Sheridan for his “decades long dedication” to Wakefern and for helping search for and select Stigers.
Stigers has a distinguished track record in both retail and wholesale:
- Since 2019, he has served as CEO of Minnesota-based Cub Foods, a subsidiary of UNFI, a natural and organic food company headquartered in Rhode Island.
- Before that, Stigers spent eight years at SuperValu, beginning in 2011 as the president of Shaw’s/Star Market in New England.
- In 2013, he went on to lead SuperValu’s northern wholesale region and then in 2014, he was named president of Cub Foods.
- In 2016, Stigers was promoted to the position of executive vice president of SuperValu Wholesale and Supply Chain Services and occupied that role until it was acquired by UNFI in 2018.
- Stigers’ first job was as a part-time courtesy clerk at Safeway in his home state of California.
Throughout his career, Stigers gained experience in the areas of operations, merchandising, retail technology, food safety, supply chain and fresh.
Stigers is also active in industry trade associations. He was past president of Western Association of Food Chains. He is the immediate past chairperson of the National Grocers Association, having served as the chairperson from 2020-2021. NGA represents thousands of independent, community grocery stores throughout the U.S.
Related: “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast episode featuring Wakefern banner ShopRite
“Wakefern’s unique culture and structure is at the heart of its success. I believe Mike Stigers is the right leader who will preserve the best of who we are and at the same time continue to move Wakefern forward,” Sheridan said.
It’s great timing to join Wakefern now, Stigers said.
“The strength of the cooperative and its solid position as a regional grocery is well known in the industry,” he said.
Founded in 1946, the cooperative includes almost 50 member families with banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
