While leaders of the supermarket industry convened in Orlando for the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference, standout performers from the next generation were sharpening their skills at an event sponsored by the Academy of Food Marketing at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Organized by Joe Bivona, the academy’s executive director, the inaugural Rising Stars training program brought together 60 individuals from 51 companies, including 10 retailers and two grocery distributors, for an immersive, weeklong conference designed to make the participants more effective managers.

Examining leadership from a variety of perspectives, the event featured keynote speakers — retired Air Force brigadier general Dana Born, now a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School; Jim Craig, the goaltender who helped the U.S. defeat the Soviet Union in the “miracle on ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics; and Dan O’Connor, executive in residence at the Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work project. The Afterburners, former elite U.S. fighter pilots who are now business consultants, lectured about how best to accelerate an individual’s performance by fostering teamwork. The plenary sessions were complemented by an extensive series of breakout classes conducted by members of the St. Joseph’s food marketing faculty and other experts from the university.

The speakers’ insights served as a starting point for interaction with attendees chosen by their companies to take part in the program. The questions, comments and real-world examples they contributed enriched the learning experience. Participants exhibited a high level of engagement and enthusiasm in the formal sessions, and seized the opportunity to forge bonds with colleagues from other organizations that, as Bivona points out, will serve them in good stead throughout their career.

The training program is the centerpiece of a broader effort that falls under the North East Coalition Future Food Industry Leaders umbrella. Intended to deliver a meaningful return on investment for the companies involved, while at the same time raising funds to support food marketing students at St. Joseph’s, the initiative offers networking and recruitment opportunities (one such event, a reception at the end of last year, attracted 55 retailers, 100 manufacturers and 50 students, despite concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant).

With workforce issues high on the grocery sector’s agenda, the need to attract, nurture and promote talented individuals is more important than ever. Rising Stars and Future Food Industry Leaders will advance that process. They have already shown that they deserve a permanent place on the industry calendar.

In light of the program’s overwhelming success, it has already been renewed for another year.