Congratulations to our Top Women in Grocery and Top Women in Convenience Honorees

We are excited to announce this year’s Progressive Grocer – Top Women in Grocery (TWIG) and Convenience Store News – Top Women in Convenience (TWIC) honorees! We are very proud to have 12 talented women across the company represent Giant Eagle this year. These prestigious awards recognize outstanding women who are blazing trails across the grocery, food retail and convenience industries. They are recognized for innovative initiatives, achieving outstanding financial or strategic objectives, and meeting exceptional performance benchmarks. This year’s honorees will be featured in the respective magazines and celebrated at each organization’s awards ceremony in the fall.

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Top Women in Grocery - Rising Stars

Jenn Bejin, Manager, Supplier Diversity

Jen implemented a strategic plan to bake supplier diversity into our daily operations. She played an integral role in achieving our 2021 Standing Up Against Racism goal of doubling Black-owned suppliers.

Cara Mercil, Director, Sustainability

Cara’s passion and commitment have enabled her to develop partnerships across the organization, creating a seat at the table to shape sustainability conversations and generate new types of innovative thinking and ideas.

Geeta Vykuntam, Senior Manager, IT Quality Engineering

As one of the first Team Members at our Global Capabilities Center (GCC), Geeta has been a thought leader in establishing our GCC practices. She has also taken on the role of administrative leader for GCC resources.

Top Women in Grocery - Store Management

Jennifer Yee, Senior Store Leader

Jennifer delivers outstanding store conditions on a consistent basis and is tremendously dedicated to the development of her team. Her leadership and dedication to her community is truly appreciated.

Top Women in Grocery - Senior Level Executives

Renee Dawson-Pilat, Regional Business Leader

Renee has been instrumental in our Flashfoods pilot, helping us sell close-dated foods at a reduced price, in the Columbus area. She also helped spearhead the Zero Plastic Bag Initiative in the Bexley, Ohio community.

Rochelle Seideneck, Vice President, Digital

Rochelle has provided significantly strong capabilities for retail marketing and media, more than doubling retail media net income in the past year. She and her team have also supported rapid growth in our online order/curbside pickup business.

Voni Woods, Vice President, Deli, Bakery & Prepared Foods

Voni has been a passionate leader at Giant Eagle for 45 years. She and her team delivered results this past year on strategic initiatives and new ways to look at the business during the pandemic through the eyes of the Guest.

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Top Women in Convenience - Rising Stars

Kelsey Leighton, Operations Services Specialist

Kelsey’s passion for the GetGo strategy is reflected in her dedication to our kitchen operations through new initiatives, inventory management, systems implementation, and a genuine care for setting up our Team Members for success.

Elaine Jacobs, Senior Store Leader - 3305 Adams Township

Elaine is dedicated to our future as both a passionate trainer, guiding a countless number of our future leaders, and as a fearless test pilot, open and willing to test many new initiatives with open-mindedness and honest feedback.

Top Women in Convenience - Mentors

Lisa Klamer, Executive Store Leader - 3166 Chippewa

Throughout Lisa’s 35 years with the organization, she has been a resource and mentor to hundreds of Team Members and dozens of peers. Her commitment to developing Team Members is truly recognized with this award.

Vanessa Turner, Executive Store Leader - 3123 Latrobe/Unity Township

Vanessa’s ability to mentor her Team Members, peers and even her leaders makes her one of the most influential GoGetters in our community. She is constantly called upon to advocate as a voice among her peers.

Top Women in Convenience - Senior Level Leaders

Gina Clemente, Senior Director, Operations Services and Transformation

Gina IS GetGo to our retail leaders! Her passion for our future growth is reflected in her dedication to create sustainable systems while never losing sight of setting our retail teams up for success.