Milling & Baking News - August 28, 2018 - 14

almost 100% vertically integrated in
dairy and about 65% in baking, its second largest manufacturing category.
Baking encompasses both the traditional commercial baking sector plus
its in-store business.
"We partner with other suppliers
for some of the products to manufacture," Ms. Sharp said. "But we work
very closely with those co-packers
on product specs and innovation and
so on, so even though they are manufacturing some of our products, we
still have a very large baking science
team that works with them on product development."
Innovation extends beyond new
products, Ms. Sharp said. As part of
the company's Zero Hunger|Zero
Waste initiative, Kroger in January announced the start-up of a wastewater
treatment system featuring an anaerobic digester at its food manufacturing
plant in Greensburg, Ind. The $9.5 million anaerobic digester captures biogas
from food byproducts at the plant and
converts it into energy while also enhancing air quality. The unit provides
25% of the energy used by the plant.
In taking a leadership role at the
A.B.A., Ms. Sharp follows a rich history established by her Kroger predecessors. Timothy Kelbel, a longtime
manufacturing executive at the retail
company, was chairman of the A.B.A.
in the 1990s. More recently, Kroger
had senior level leadership board representation for many years.
"Once I joined the team Calvin

THE KROGER CO.

News Feature

Kroger operates several baking plants.

(Kaufman) said, 'You know it makes
sense for you to take that role and
represent Kroger manufacturing,' so I
did," she said. Within two years Ms.
Sharp had been asked to serve as treasurer, and four years after that she was
elevated to the role of A.B.A. chair.
Over the last several years, including her time in A.B.A. leadership
positions, the financial health of the
A.B.A. has improved considerably,
with membership increasing year
after year.
"That doesn't happen without really having a platform and a plan to
add value for the memberships," Ms.
Sharp said. "We've talked about this
a lot, recently with the strategic plan
development. In today's economic environment, companies have to make
choices about where they spend their
money. When it comes to managing
expenses, whether it's the A.B.A. fees
or I.D.F.A. (International Dairy Foods

Kroger Simple Truth has grown to become the largest natural and organic brand in the United
States, according to the company.

THE KROGER CO.

14 / August 28, 2018

Milling & Baking News

Association) fees or other industry
organizations, if companies don't see
those adding value to their business,
then they have to make other choices.
It's up to A.B.A. and the board guiding the team to ensure that the work
that they are doing is relevant to both
the industry at large but also individual businesses that have to make
those decisions."
Priorities during her term as chair
will center on execution against the
A.B.A. strategic plan unveiled earlier
this year, Ms. Sharp said. The need to
set her focus hard on policy priorities is a central element of the strategic plan.
"As a board, our role is to make sure
that the team stays focused on the plan
and that we're regularly reporting out
to the membership as to where we are
on the deliverables," she said. "But we
always need to be flexible and nimble
and adjust if needed."
To maximize the group's power,
the A.B.A. will need to partner with
likeminded groups/industry on issues even more than in the past, Ms.
Sharp said.
"We're spending a lot of time on
finding those other organizations
who will be partners," Ms. Sharp
said. "Whether it's G.M.A. (Grocery
Manufacturers Association), whether
its I.D.F.A., whether its AIB and F.M.I.
(Food Marketing Institute), and how
do we define the swim lanes so that
you're not overlapping, so you're
making the best use of everybody's
resources. And resources being expertise as well as financial resources.
And that was valuable not only for the
team but also the membership, saying
'Yeah, there are a lot of people that we
could purposefully partner with to get
things done in a bigger way.' And I
think we are going at that in a bigger
way than we have in the past."
Robb MacKie, president and chief
executive officer of the A.B.A., said
this approach was a valuable message
for the A.B.A. staff.
"That whole concept for the staff is
really an eye-opening message from
Erin, which is great," he said. "These
are the needs, but A.B.A. doesn't
have to do it all and create it all itself.
We've leveraged the other organizations and industries."
As an executive in an industry
that is not first and foremost baking,
Ms. Sharp has a broader perspective
regarding possible partners for the
A.B.A.
"As a company we play across the
whole store, and as a manufacturer we
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