High Caliber of Retail RDs Named as Year Award Finalists

April 13, 2022
Announcements

A talented group of retail dietitians were nominated for this year’s Retail RD of the Year award, showcasing the amazing talent and work of these individuals in driving health and wellbeing as a public health initiative and business priority. The runners-up for this year award are:

Angelle Cloud, RDN, LDN, ShopRite Louisiana C-store chain. With the expanded assortment of foods now being offered in convenience stores, there’s definitely a need for dietitians in this space. While her role is similar in some regards to other retail positions, Angelle has responsibility for communication with regulatory authorities, menu labeling, creation of HACCP plans, ServSafe training at the company, and is a member of the company’s Emergency Response Team. Additionally, she works on foodservice marketing plans, food photography, and planning for corporate catering events. In her own words, Angelle indicates “These past 12 months have been about growth, development and coming out of challenges stronger. As stated above, I have used every opportunity and outlet given to me to its fullest.”

Julianne Gallo, MS, RD, ShopRite (Inserra Supermarkets). Within the current climate, Julianne has found a way to reach their three core audiences – associates, customers, and the community – split between virtual and in-person formats. In the past year, she held more than 150 complimentary nutrition consults, established five new community engagements, and continued education sessions, cooking classes and demonstrations. One of Julianne’s proudest and longest running programs is her Future Shoppers program. Each month throughout the school year, she teaches a nutrition lesson to the entire fourth grade at a local school, covering MyPlate, hydration, exercise, label reading, and budget shopping. Prior to COVID, a year-end field trip to her store included a mock shopping trip where groups were given a budget of $50 to shop for one day's meals for a family of four. To adapt to the current environment, it’s now a virtual field trip, highlighting their online shopping platform, with groups going through ShopRite's Shop from Home e-commerce website and building a shopping cart with the same guidelines as the previous in-person field trip.

Allison Primo, MS, RD, LD, Schnucks Supermarkets. Allison is currently responsible for the Health and Wellness strategy for Schnucks Supermarkets. Her role is to align with all internal stakeholders and drive the health agenda for Schnucks, as well as find methods of communicating health to their customers. Allison is described in her letter of recommendation as “an extremely skilled colleague, open to suggestions and providing meaningful feedback. She is determined and very capable in her role leading Schnucks Health and Wellness strategy. Allison has the fortitude and vision to bring Schnucks further into the view of retail innovation.”

Deanna Scheid, RD, SpartanNash. As a team of one, Deanna is responsible for developing and executing health and wellness strategy from budget management, content development, media outreach, community partnerships, and omnichannel marketing tactics, for SpartanNash's 150 corporate retail stores and 1,200 independent retailers. In his letter of recommendation, Eric Rouleau comments “Deanna is a leader. In her role, she has needed to be both a strategic leader in the role of dietetics here at SpartanNash, as well as the manager of the programs that supports her wellness strategy. Her business and industry knowledge have moved health & wellness forward at SpartanNash. Her negotiation and promotion skills has allowed Deanna to form wellness partnerships with vendors who haven’t partnered with a retailer on campaigns.” He continues, indicating Deanna is knowledgeable, passionate, and collaborative, all of which are important skills in a retail role.

Elisa Sloss, RD, LD, Hy-Vee, Inc. As Vice President of Hy-Vee HealthMarkets and Dietitians, Elisa is responsible for the sales, merchandising and educational efforts of the company's HealthMarkets, a distinct store-within-a-store concept that offers items for customers focused on a healthy lifestyle or managing specific conditions through diet. She directly oversees a team of 10 HealthMarket supervisors who manage the 190+ HealthMarket locations across Hy-Vee's operations. Over the past year, Elisa has also managed the company's retail dietitian program, which comprises 50 corporate and in-store dietitians, and is a key part of the chain's health and wellness efforts. In addition to Elisa's passion for innovation and growth, her leadership abilities are also a key reason why she has been so successful. She has a unique ability to both motivate and inspire her team for success, while fostering personal growth and connections at the same time. Elisa keenly understands the importance of relationships and uses her innate ability to connect on a personal level to inspire her team to try new things and be willing to bring forth big ideas.

Please join us in recognizing the amazing work and talent of these award finalists!