WASHINGTON — The National Confectioners Association (NCA) is encouraging members to nominate “results-driven thought leaders” in the retail and wholesale community for the 2016 Confectionery Leadership Awards.

Now in its sixth year, the awards recognize top customers among their peers within the retail and wholesale community.

“NCA member retail and wholesale customers are a fundamental part of the confectionery industry’s supply chain engagement,” said Larry Wilson, NCA’s vice president of industry relations. “The Confectionery Leadership Awards seeks to reward individuals that set the gold standard when it comes to being leaders in their profession. We encourage NCA members to nominate someone they feel is worthy of such an honored distinction.”

While NCA’s member-driven awards program pays tribute to outstanding customers, it also fosters deeper customer engagement and support of the confectionery industry. All confectionery retailers and wholesalers based in the United States from any distribution channel are eligible.

Recipients of this award exemplify many of the following criteria:

• Demonstrate consistent leadership and drives breakthrough thinking.
• Leverage their experience to continually advance the entire category in multiple ways.
• Elevate the role of confectionery to a higher level in the retail environment.
• Deliver category growth while leveraging the overall retail profit potential of confectionery.
• Drive best practices through category promotion, innovative merchandising and manufacturer collaboration.
• Exhibit strong potential for continued growth.
• Act as a role model for other retailers/wholesalers.

The 2016 Confectionery Leadership Award nominations are now being accepted through October 5. NCA will present the awards in Miami at NCA’s annual State of the Industry Conference in February.

Past Recipients: 

2015

Mike Maslen, Hudson Group
Dave Schulze, H-E-B 

2014

Jamal Parker, Sr. Buyer Candy & Snacks, Sam’s Club

Tim Erceg, Purchasing Specialist, Hy-Vee

2013

Julia Bischoff, Smart & Final

Kimberley Felice-Dooley, CVS Caremark Corp.

AJ Jesswani, Meijer, Inc.

2012

Paul Minger, Walgreens

John Scardina, Eby-Brown Co.

Val Stansfield, Rite Aid Corp.

2011

Rebecca Fries, U.S. Marine Corps Exchange

Bill Walker, McLane Co. Inc.

Tim Tackett, Giant Eagle Inc.