The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) announced the Grand Prize winners of the 2008 Store Manager Awards as well as the newly elected 2008 board members at the FMI Show this week plus MARKETECHNICS in Las Vegas:

Ralph Towery, manager of the MarketPlace Foods store in Minot, N.D. -- Category A, companies with 1-49 stores. Towery pioneered special promotions at his store to encourage shoppers to choose MarketPlace Foods as the destination for all their grocery needs. For example, a graduation cake promotion in the bakery department has become so popular that the store needs to bring in a semi-tractor trailer to deliver all the pre-ordered cakes. His dedication to helping his community has always been strong. Towery has been a great supporter of the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in Minot. His store offers a variety of awareness events in which proceeds benefit the local hospital cancer unit. He also served as the chairperson of the committee that built a new baseball field for the local youth program.

Cheryl Rondenelli, manager of a Hannaford Bros. Co. supermarket in Clinton, N.Y. -- Category B, companies with 50-199 stores. Rondenelli has managed Hannaford's Clinton store for 18 months and is noted for always being "on top of her game." The employees at Rondenelli's store are known within the company to work well together. She is passionate about teaching and training her team, and encourages them to never be satisfied with "good enough." She is active in her community and participates in charity walks, fund drives, and event planning for organizations that benefit children, medical research, the local food bank and schools.

Mark Halvorson, manager of a Cub Foods store in St. Paul, Minn. -- Category C, companies with 200 or more stores. Halvorson has been the director of the Cub Foods Midway store for six years. He is quick to offer help wherever it is needed. After the Interstate 35 bridge collapse late last summer, Halvorson immediately organized food, water and other essential supplies for rescue workers and others responding to the tragedy. In the days that followed, he became the point person for coordinating Cub's overall response to the disaster. Employees credit him with creating a family atmosphere in the store. They say they know they can reach out to him for help. He has been known to help an employee pay his rent and encourages his employees to finish high school. Halvorson respects and understands different cultures. His store serves a diverse community whose residents have emigrated from countries including Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, Laos and Vietnam. He draws from this diverse market in hiring people. In fact, more than half the store's associates are foreign-born.

The three grand prize winners were chosen from a group of nine finalists. The other six finalists are:
* Jeffrey Iwamuro, manager of a Potash Bros. Market store in Chicago, Ill.
* Dale Kahn, manager of a BI-LO, LLC store in Cleveland, Tenn.
* Bob Kees, manager of the Sissonville Foodland in Sissonville, W.Va.
* Ramiro Marquez, manager of a Bashas' store in San Luis, Ariz.
* Mitch Streit, manager of a Hy-Vee, Inc., store in Columbus, Neb.
* Janice Yergeau, manager of a Hannaford Bros. Co. store in Hooksett, N.H.

Also announced at the FMI Show was the election of 30 directors to the FMI board. In addition, FMI announced the election of a chair and four vice chairs to its board.

Elected and reelected directors are Joseph Azzolina, Sr., president of Food Circus Supermarkets, Inc., Middletown, N.J.; A.N. John Basha, Jr., vice-chairman of the board of Bashas' Inc., Chandler, Ariz.; Lawrence S. Benjamin, COO of Ahold USA, Inc., Carlisle, Pa.; Bradley W. Brookshire, chairman of the board of Brookshire Grocery Company, Tyler, Texas; James Buchanan, president and CEO of Laurel Grocery Co., LLC, London, Ky.; Daniel G. Coborn, chairman of the board of Coborn's, Incorporated, St. Cloud, Minn.; Richard B. Cohen, chairman and CEO of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Keene, N.H.; Joseph S. Colalillo, president of ShopRite of Hunterdon County, Inc., Flemington, N.J.; Ronald B. Edenfield, president of Wayfield Foods, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.; Steven Goddard, president and CEO of WinCo Foods, LLC, Boise, Idaho; Oscar Gonzalez, COO of Northgate Gonzalez Market, Anaheim, Calif. Thomas M. Honer, president and owner of Harvest Market, Fort Bragg, Calif.; Lee Ann James, president of E.W. James & Sons, Inc., Union City, Tenn.; Anthony Longo, president and CEO of Longo's Brothers Fruit Markets Inc., Ontario, Canada; Ángel Losada Moreno, CEO of Grupo Gigante, S.A.B. de C.V., Mexico City, Mexico; John Lucot, president of supermarket operations and COO, Giant Eagle, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Peter L. Lynch, chairman of the board, CEO and president of Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.; Tokutaro Masui, president and CEO of Kinokuniya Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Norman C. Mayne, president and CEO of Dorothy Lane Market, Inc., Dayton, Ohio; Robert G. Miller, CEO of Albertsons LLC, Boise, Idaho; Richard A. Parkinson, president and CEO of Associated Food Stores, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah; Arthur Potash, CEO of Potash Bros., Chicago, Ill.; Senator Feargal Quinn, president of Superquinn, Dublin, Ireland; Gonzalo Restrepo, CEO of Almacenes Exito, S.A., Medellin, Colombia; David R. Skogen, owner and chairman of the board of Festival Foods, Onalaska, Wis.; Mike Stone, president and CEO of Mollie Stone's Markets, Mill Valley, Calif.; Ruediger Strein, director of OHG Fegro/Selgros, Neu-Isenburg, Germany; Craig C. Sturken, chairman and CEO of Spartan Stores, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.; Bruce Weitz, president and CEO of Kings Super Markets, Inc., Parsippany, N.Y.; and Michael T. Williams, president of Williams' Apple Market, Memphis, Tenn.

Elected as FMI vice chairs were Richard "Ric" N. Jurgens, chairman, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa; Fred Morganthall, president of Harris Teeter, Inc., Matthews, N.C.; Gary Phillips, president and CEO of Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG), Kansas City, Kan.; and Norman S. Rich, CEO of Weis Markets, Inc., Sunbury, Pa.

Steven C. Smith, president and CEO of K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., d/b/a Food City, Abingdon, Va., was elected chair of the FMI board; and Jeffrey Noddle, chairman and CEO of SUPERVALU INC., Minneapolis, Minn., is the immediate past chair.