Arlington, VA – The National Grocers Association (NGA), is pleased to announce that the NGA Board of Directors has recently approved the appointment of the following individuals to fill two recent vacancies on its Board:
- Julie Bitter, Vice President of Customer Development, Unilever
- John T. Derderian, President, Allegiance Retail Services, LLC
In her role at Unilever, Bitter is responsible for selling the broad Unilever portfolio from Breyers Ice Cream to Dove Body Wash in the Southeastern US Supermarkets and in a portion of the Northeast. She leads and develops a team of sales professionals in creating and delivering upon collaborative joint business for growth with her customers, leveraging category management, shopper insights, and supply chain. She has been in the role for two years. Prior to joining Unilever in 2013, she had a successful 22 year career in sales at Kraft Foods.
Derderian is currently President of Allegiance Retail Services, LLC, a supermarket cooperative of just under 100 stores headquartered in central New Jersey. He joined Allegiance in February, 2012, as Vice President; Sales, Marketing and Member Development. Prior to joining Allegiance, Derderian spent 33-years at Pathmark Stores, Inc., holding several Senior Management positions – and leaving in 2008 as Executive Vice President; Business Strategy & Marketing, and, was an Officer of the company.
“I am pleased to welcome Julie and John to NGA’s Board of Directors,” said Peter J. Larkin, president and CEO of NGA. “Both bring broad industry experience and insight that will be of great value to the Board as we work to develop future strategies to advance our organization and the independent supermarket industry.”
