As we approach our 20th year in business, ROD continues to build on our heritage of success by expanding organizational capacity and performance effectiveness by evolving the associate team to meet both current and future challenges of a changing marketplace. Our commitment to sustain RDD’s position as the region’s leading independent, perishables-focused sales agency is unwavering, and we will continue to thoughtfully channel the necessary investments to fuel RDD’s growth and stability. I remain very confident about our opportunities to grow sales in the second half of 2017, but we must remain hyper-focused on our clients and brands, and extremely customer-responsive. It’s with great pleasure and a modest dose of regret, that I announce the upcoming retirement of Bob Carley. Bob has been a highly visible leader and advocate for ROD, and a trusted advisor and great friend to me for close to two decades. He is deservedly recognized in the Metro NY supermarket industry for being the critical driver behind the development and growth of RDD’s Deli/Meat/Seafood/Foodservice/Bakery department, among one of the largest agency portfolios in business. Bob’s official retirement will take place late summer, 2017, and we are grateful he will remain on staff through the end of the year in an advisory role. I’m very pleased to announce the following leadership staff promotions at ROD, effective immediately:
- Bob Weinmann, currently VP-Marketing & Strategic Planning, is promoted to Senior Vice President – Marketing & Strategic Initiatives. The “Doctor” is in his 5th year at ROD, and has been a vital contributor to the enterprise’s strategic progress in multiple areas, to include: shopper insights, digital marketing, enterprise branding/marketing, associate training, performance management and technology integration. In his expanded role, Bob will work closely with me and the leadership team on RDD’s expanding marketplace footprint, and business development through new client appointments. Bob will continue to report to me.
- Bill Isaacs, currently Director – Business Development, is promoted to Vice President – Director of Sales, Wakefern. Bill is among the longest serving ROD employees, with 19 years of tenure, and has worked tirelessly to build ROD client sales performance at Wakefern. Bill is widely admired and respected by Wakefern management, ROD client trading partners and ROD colleagues alike, and has been instrumental in engaging and onboarding several new client business partners for the company. In his expanded role, Bill is now responsible for providing management oversight of all Wakefern procurement departments, to include: Dairy/Frozen, Deli, Meat, Foodservice, Produce, In-Store Bakery and Specialty Grocery. He will collaborate closely with the RDD Division VP’s, Business
Managers and support staff to insure that are valued clients receive appropriate stewardship, sales-building programming, shopper and digital marketing support and strong advocacy, as they engage with this critically important trading partner. Bill will continue to report to Larry Thennes. - Mike Huberfeld, currently Director-Sales, Deli/Meat/Seafood/Foodservice/Bakery, is promoted to Director-Fresh Foods. Mike is starting his 18th year at RDD, and has served in a number of diverse roles contributing to the growth and success of the department, including business management for several major clients. Through the years, Mike has worked side-by-side with Bob Carley to broaden RDD’s category and client portfolio. With consumers showing greater interest in prepared meals and fresher, healthier foods, we anticipate significant growth for this department in the years ahead, thus, we will rename the department, “RDD -Fresh Foods”. We look forward to Mike’s leadership and insights to fuel this growth. Mike will report to Larry Thennes.
Please join me in congratulating Bob on his extraordinary career of service, and Bob, Bill and Mike on their well-deserved promotions!
– Bob Cignarella