Iowa City, Iowa – National Co+op Grocers (NCG)—the business services cooperative for retail food co-ops across the United States—announced C.E. Pugh has been named its Chief Executive Officer.
Pugh joined NCG in 2008 and has most recently served as Chief Operating Officer in addition to serving as the co-op’s Interim CEO since April 2018. He previously was General Manager of La Montañita Co-op Food Market in Albuquerque, N.M., for six years and has served as an executive in the grocery industry for more than 40 years.
As part of their selection process for a new CEO, NCG’s Board of Directors formed a search committee featuring representatives from its member co-ops of various sizes and regions and engaged a global executive search firm.
“After a deliberate process and thoughtful consideration, we were proud to unanimously select C.E. as our CEO and look forward to him getting right to work on this next phase of our co-op’s journey,” said NCG Board Chair, Dan Gillotte of Wheatsville Co-op in Austin, Texas. “We were inspired and excited to hear C.E.’s thoughts and plans for NCG, both now and in the future. He has an established track record of success in our industry and a deep spiritual passion for the work we all do every day.”
“NCG employs and serves the most committed and talented people that I know, and it has been an honor to join them in growing the cooperative economy,” Pugh said. “I can think of no greater endeavor than working with the NCG board, staff and membership to ensure a thriving and dynamic future for our sector,” Pugh added.
About NCG
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 145 member and associate co-ops operate more than 200 storefronts in 37 states with combined annual sales of nearly $2.1 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a Certified B Corporation. Find a map of NCG member and associate co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.strongertogether.coop.
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