Mark Baum, FMI

Mark Baum fell in love with the food industry in high school, when he worked as an in-service deli specialist at Finast Food Stores on Long Island. More than 45 years later, after helping guide the industry through its biggest transformations, he left FMI – The Food Industry Association last month.

As senior vice president and chief collaboration officer, Baum brought food industry leaders together to identify key issues, then mobilized them to solve problems and create opportunities that benefited the industry and consumers. He also led FMI’s commercial practice groups, which drive growth across the store through the association’s Total Store Collaboration framework.

Baum helped guide FMI’s shift from a retailer-focused association to one with product suppliers among its core members and board. The change came just before the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling FMI to bring the entire industry “under one roof” for the first time.

Baum has supported the industry through decades of change — from UPC adoption and store automation to Efficient Consumer Response, category management and the Trading Partner Alliance, which developed Smart­Label. More recently, he has been proud of FMI’s thought leadership on artificial intelligence, including frameworks that demystify the technology and help members “win the battle for agentic ­consumers.”

Before joining FMI, Baum led the CPG/retail practice at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, was executive vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and served as president and chief executive officer of the Association of Sales & Marketing ­Companies.

Baum says the most rewarding parts of his career were building teams and mentoring colleagues.