2023 Power of Private Brands Report: From the Consumer | October 24, 2023

Pam Ofri, Own Brands Director of Product Development and Operations, is responsible for managing a team of 25+ employees, covering New Product Development, Innovation, Category Support, and Analytics. Pam was the recipient of the 2021 Store Brands Operations Women of the Year award for spearheading over 208 category line reviews which facilitated the launch of over 2400 private label items, leading the Own Brands Innovation pillar to increase millennial consumers, and championing a partnership with GAP to develop cost savings tactics across her category management team. Pam began her career at Wakefern developing the Own Brands Sourcing team, responsible for launching an electronic RFP system to foster 15%+ savings, and accomplishing over 100 bids. Pam directed the launch of Wakefern Engage, our Own Brands supplier portal to bring live scorecards to all our vendor partners.

Mark is the Senior Vice President of Sales at Catania Oils which is located in Ayer, MA.  He has been with the company for over 28 years, helping the company expand to become a national player in the food business.  Catania Oils is a processor and packer of plant-based oils servicing the Retail, Foodservice and Bulk classes of trade.

 Mark has spent his entire career in the food business, first working in retail with the Market Basket grocery store chain.  He also worked for the retail food broker Toomey-Delong as well as the distributor for Wise Potato Chips. 

 Mark and his wife have four children and reside in Windham, NH.  

David Orgel is a food industry expert, business journalist and speaker who was the longtime chief editor of Supermarket News. He is principal of David Orgel Consulting LLC, focused on enhancing content and thought leadership for organizations in the food, retail and consumer packaged goods industries. 

Steve Markenson leads FMI’s research & insights practice. Markenson is a market research executive with 30 years of progressive experience in his field – from research assistant to president of a full-service national market research firm – and his diverse experience includes research design, information/data collection and analysis and strategic planning.

In his role at FMI, Markenson oversees the research & insights practice at FMI, specifically the study design, survey fielding and efforts with outside knowledge partners and FMI subject matter experts. He leads the discovery process on the latest industry trends and operational insights that champion FMI as a credible voice of the food retail industry.