FMI showcases progress and unity at Midwinter Meeting

SAN DIEGO — Craig Boyan made a compelling case for the centrality of FMI – The Food Industry Association at the organization’s annual Midwinter Executive Conference here last week, asserting “FMI has emerged and grown to be the hands-down leader of our industry.” Recalling a time when that wasn’t always the case, the association’s current chairman and senior advisor at H-E-B (where he previously served as president) traced FMI’s metamorphosis.

By the time Boyan joined H-E-B in 2005, the company had dropped out of the association after executives had come to believe that it no longer represented the supermarket industry as effectively as it should. Then, in a meeting arranged by Publix Supermarkets chief executive officer Ed Crenshaw, they met with Leslie Sarasin, then FMI’s new president and CEO. 

Suitably impressed, they decided they would rejoin the group if certain criteria were met. A memorandum from 2009 spelled out what H-E-B was looking for: FMI needed to prioritize the best interest of consumers and employees; work across the industry to make the food supply as safe as possible and less expensive; and focus limited resources on the most important issues that could be fixed. 

“We would [need to] feel that FMI is a strong and effective advocate for the interests of H-E-B and other companies, even if it required FMI to oppose other industry groups, governmental groups or other companies,” Boyan said. “That we could see a clear path to higher sales and profits as a result of H-E-B belonging and fully participating, and that we hoped if we joined FMI, it would be a good opportunity for me, as a young leader, and my colleagues to get to know the industry better, to have a platform by which we got involved in impacting issues that affected our industry, and to build some context that would be helpful to me in our industry. 

“All that had to be true. And Ed Crenshaw convinced us that this organization and this leader would make that happen. And we trusted Ed and, boy, did we come to love Leslie. We are so grateful.”

Boyan went on to cite examples of FMI’s impact during the past 12 months. “I cannot remember a time where we had anywhere near the number of important issues of real consequence for our business and our industry,” he said. “This incredibly impressive FMI staff has been working really hard on your behalf across all of these consequential issues.” 

Among other challenges, the association successfully fought to preserve the $6 a day benefit for SNAP recipients and limit other cuts in the program; helped lock in changes in tax policy that benefit members; convinced federal regulators to extend the deadlines for implementation of food traceability and technology transition for refrigeration systems; and worked to rationalize the emerging patchwork of state-by-state regulations that affect the industry.

“FMI is a testament to your dedication and the collective spirit of everyone here today,” Boyan said. “We are grateful for your efforts, and I think you can see we had a heck of a 2025, and it’s only going to get more of the same this coming year, so thank you ahead for that.”

For her part, Sarasin asserted that, despite the uncertainty and complexity of the current economic and societal environment, food retailers and their business partners will continue to thrive by adapting to meet the changing needs of their customers.

“As I reminded you at the outset, when you find yourself going through hell, keep going and, most important, don’t abandon hope, that great and enlivening virtue of humanity,” she said. “I firmly believe: If we face our brittle world with the resilience and creativity we demonstrated before; if we confront anxiety with active empathy and remain attentive to one another; if we accept the nonlinear reality of things and remain in the moment, and draw upon our improvisational instincts; if we bond together, honoring the diverse perspectives of those around us, united, we will punch holes in the shroud of incomprehensibly, letting in the light; if we stay hopeful and identify the future as a process, not a destination, then we will emerge from our current challenges, putting ourselves confidently on a path to paradise.” (The word paradise refers to Dante’s Divine Comedy, which Sarasin talked about earlier in her remarks.) 

The 1,800 attendees at the Midwinter Conference embraced that vision. Co-chaired by Emily Taylor, Dollar General’s chief operating officer, and Pamela Stewart, chief customer officer of retail for North America at Coca-Cola Co., the event was notable for its high level of energy and purpose.