Wayne Altschul Named Director of Private Brands

Author: IGA News

Chicago, IL - IGA today announced Wayne Altschul has been named director of private brands, a new position within IGA. Altschul, who began his appointment mid-February, reports directly to Dave Bennett, IGA USA senior vice president, procurement and private brands.

Utilizing his diverse and extensive background in the manufacturing and wholesale grocery industry, Altschul will direct and manage the day-to-day responsibilities for advancing the growth of the IGA Private Brands program. In this capacity he will guide private label brand strategy, including the development of products and promotional programs, and communicate that strategy to IGA Licensed Distribution Centers and IGA vendor/manufacturers.

Altschul began his 21-year career in the food industry as a marketing assistant at General Mills working on the Gold Medal brand. Over successive years, he worked at ConAgra on Banquet and at Martha White Foods. Altschul also served as head of Fleming’s private label program for five years where he was responsible for marketing, sales and procurement of the company’s entire brand portfolio, including its IGA program. At Fleming, Altschul lead the development of new label graphics for its BestYet brand, and also upgraded quality specifications for all private label grocery products. Most recently, Altschul owned two small companies in Texas, one in the food service staffing business and the other in auto services. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

"Wayne brings an excellent background in brand and package development from his experience with General Mills, and we are certain that his skills will prove to be a major asset as we continue our mission to define, position and shape the image that IGA Brand products project in the marketplace,” Dave Bennett said. “We’re excited to have him join the IGA team as we prepare to roll-out our new look for IGA Brand."

“I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to be involved with IGA Private Brands, especially during a time when private label is becoming a more important choice for our consumers,” Altschul said.

IGA is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $21 billion per year. The Alliance includes nearly 4,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more than 55 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers encompassing everything from grocery to equipment items. IGA has operations in 46 of the United States and more than 40 countries, commonwealths and territories on all six inhabited continents.