People, Planet, & Profit – Retailing’s Triple Bottom Line – Featuring Mark Baum – Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer, FMI

Join Suzy Monford for People, Planet, & Profit, a series dedicated to the premise that all modern retail can create a triple-bottom-line economic engine that advances purposeful jobs, a healthier planet, and communities that thrive.

Each conversation explores the people, businesses, and innovations that are catalyzing change and influencing global retail today.

Suzy’s guest for this conversation is Mark Baum, Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer at FMI.

About Mark Baum
Mark Baum currently serves as Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer for FMI – The Food Industry Association. In this role, Baum engages retailer, manufacturer, supplier, and service provider C-Suite executives to further trading partner collaboration, leading to operational improvements and growth opportunities across all segments of the food retail supply chain.

Baum is known for his intricate knowledge of almost every aspect of the food, beverage, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and retail industry. He is also recognized as one of the foremost experts in the design, management, and execution of strategic and commercial sales, marketing, and merchandising models across consumer facing industries.

Additionally, Baum is a Managing Partner of MARCAT Group, LLC, an advisory firm specializing in the active outdoors marketplace. Prior to that, he was a Partner and led the CPG/Retail Practice at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants (NASDAQ: DTPI), now owned by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP (PwC). Earlier, he was Executive Vice President of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). Formerly, Baum was the President & CEO of the Association of Sales & Marketing Companies (ASMC). He joined GMA in 2001 after leading the merger with ASMC.

Earlier in his career, Baum served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Retail Insights, a division of Maclean Hunter Media/Progressive Grocer Associates – producers of Supermarket Insights, Convenience Store Insights and Restaurant Insights – and prior to that, held significant management positions at Food Distributors International. Baum’s career in the food, beverage, and CPG industry spans over 35 years and began at Paragon, a New York based snack food/candy distributor.

Mark Baum serves on the Board of Directors of KeyImpact Sales & Systems, a national foodservice broker in the United States. He is an Industry Venture Partner (IVP) with Loft Growth Partners, a private-equity firm, providing growth capital and industry expertise to emerging branded consumer products businesses. To promote diversity initiatives, Baum is a Founding Champion of the NextUp, a CPG/Retail industry organization dedicated to providing career opportunities for women and minorities. Baum also is a Director on the Board of Oswego State University (NY), his alma mater.

About Suzy Monford
Suzy Monford is the Founder & CEO of Food Sport, an international consultancy that works with leading global retailers and technology providers to innovate and architect modern, lifestyle retail across supermarkets, food, fitness, and apparel companies.

She is the former Group Vice President of Fresh, and of eCommerce for Kroger, as well as banner President of QFC Grocery in Seattle.

Suzy has served in multiple senior executive leadership roles in the U.S. and Australia including CEO of PCC Community Markets, CEO of Andronico’s Markets, CEO of Cheers Inc., Head of Innovation Woolworths Supermarkets, Head of Innovation Coles Group Supermarkets, Chief Strategy and Marketplace Officer of Focal Systems, Director Foodservice H-E-B and H-E-B Central Market.

Series Sponsors
The People, Planet, & Profit – Retailing’s Triple Bottom Line group and series is proudly sponsored by: