St. Joseph’s University’s Future Food Industry Leaders 2023, held last month in Lafayette Hill, Pa., afforded retailers, CPG companies and grocery wholesalers an opportunity to do well by doing good. Developed by the school’s Academy of Food Marketing, and its executive director Joe Bivona and director of events Alison Nolan, the annual event provided rising stars from participating companies — a group that included BJ’s, Stop & Shop, Wakefern,  Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s and Unilever — with a week’s worth of intensive leadership training. At the same time, it helped raise revenue for the academy’s co-op program, which arranges internships and experiential learning for St. Joseph’s food marketing students as an integral part of their education.

Chosen by their companies to take part in the program, the future food leaders engaged with a group of experts from the business world, academia and the military. The keynote speakers — Dana Born, a former Air Force brigadier general who is now faculty chair of the senior executive fellows program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Janice Marturano, founder and executive director of the Institute for Mindful Leadership; and Doug Conant, a noted author and former president and CEO of Campbell Soup Co. — shared insights based on their experience about leadership, teamwork and building an effective corporate culture.

The plenary presentations were followed by interactive classroom sessions. The day that Conant spoke, participants had a chance to hear Tom McAloon, senior vice president of store operations at Dollar Tree, on finance; Confluencer Commerce founder and CEO Bryan Gildenberg on the future of retailing; and St. Joseph’s faculty members Diane Phillips and Ernest Baskin on the respective topics of sustainability and employee recruitment and retention. The content was often compelling and triggered exchanges between speakers and future industry leaders whose questions and comments were informed by what they’ve encountered in their careers and the challenges they currently face.

Participants were quick to acknowledge the value of the formal training, praising the emphasis on soft skills and long-term professional and personal development at a time when the demands of business frequently make it difficult to look beyond the next quarter. They indicated that the insights they gained at the forum will not only benefit them, but the people they supervise.

The future food industry leaders came away with another intangible advantage — new relationships with peers who are also on the fast track. Recalling a similar training program that he went through at Wal­mart many years ago, McAloon attested to the value and durability of those bonds, saying that they are a resource he continues to utilize to this day.