Buzz

Eric Richer La Fleche, COO, Metro Inc., will succeed Pierre Lessard as Metro CEO next April. La Fleche has been executive vice-president and COO since January 2005 . . . The University of Alberta's school of business has honored Edward Kennedy, president of The North West Company, with the Henry Singer Award. In a related story, Financial Post Business magazine (November 2007) placed Kennedy 39th in its CEO Scorecard list, the highest in the grocery distribution industry. Lessard of Metro Inc. was next in 64th position while Alain Bouchard of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. came 73rd. Other top-rankers: Paul Sobey of Empire Co. Ltd. (97th), Richard Evans of Alcan (112th), Graham Roome/D. Rowe of FPI (115th), J. Schreiber/ Glenn Murphy of Shoppers Drug Mart (135th), Lino Saputo Jr. of Saputo Inc. (139th), Michael McCain of Maple Leaf Foods (153rd), S. Bromley/Jeremy Kendall of SunOpta Inc. (157th) and Christopher Lischewski of Connors Bros. Income Fund (172nd). Galen Weston of George Weston Ltd. was 174th, Jean Coutu/F. Coutu of The Jean Coutu Group Inc. were 180th ... The 12-store Colemans Food Centre in Newfoundland was declared the winner of GS1 Canada's 2007 Canada Supply Chain Efficiency Award at the Grocery Innovations Canada trade show and conference in Toronto in late October . . . Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors' (CCGD) Quebec regional council members gathered in early November to honour Robert Cloutier and to bid him a fond farewell after more than 35 years of service with the food distribution industry, including 13 years as president of the CCGD Quebec regional council . . . Mark Ayer, director, health, power and food, Procter & Gamble, will move to Singapore on Jan. 1 as director, global operations, Global SK-II. He will be responsible for global sales, marketing and operations planning for P&G's SK-II line of prestige skin care products . . . The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has announced that Geri Kamenz will remain president of the organization for another year. . . Russell Cohen has been elected chairman of the board of the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores. Cohen is executive vicepresident, industry and government affairs at Katz Group Canada Ltd. . . . Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Canada has appointed Robert Armstrong president. . . The National Association of Convenience Stores has elected Richard Oneslager as the association's chairman in 2007-08 . . . Theresa Russell of Loeb Val-Est in Val Caron, Ont, won the Canadian Grocer magazine's prize draw (Canon camera) at the Grocery Innovations Canada trade show and conference. Ed Ogden, owner, Valu-Mart Danforth in Toronto, won an Ipod . . . Promosalons, which promotes SIAL Paris trade show and conference, now does the marketing for Europain, another food-related show in Paris (March 29 to April 2). The show features international bakery, patisserie and ice cream . . . Gay Lea Foods' salted and unsalted butters have been awarded the Grand Champion title in the 2007 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair's butter competition. Judges evaluated the competitors on taste, texture and overall quality . . . According to a Financial Post Business magazine survey, Paul Sobey of Empire Co. Inc. was compensated $1,604,000 in 2006, Pierre Lessard got $1,642,000 and Lino Saputo Jr. received $1,398,000. Michael McCain's compensation was $1,172,000. Galen Weston's was $3,984,000 and that of Galen G. Weston was $6,770,000. Jean Coutu's was $807,000... Vincent DeDomenico Sr., who invented Rice-A-Roni with his brothers, died in October at the age of 92. Dr. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, has died at the age of 80 . . . John Annetta, senior vice-president and general manager of White Rose Frozen Food Company, has been elected chairman of the board of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association . .. Some 120 years before Canada was born, Antoine-Claude Maille founded the House of Maille. To celebrate the 260th birthday of its founding, the company expanded its line of condiments in Canada, adding Creamy Dijon and Green Mustard... The 22nd Annual Quebec Product Marketing Association's (QPM A) Oyster Party in late October drew more than 500 people. Chris Kyriopoulos (Metro Richelieu) was event chairman. The tradition was started in 1947 by Ghislain Perron (Metro Richelieu) when he gathered 50 participants to a tavern in Anjou, Que. QPMA has a membership of 500 businesses... Revlon's iconic red lipstick and Mazda's popular Miata sports car joined in Revlon's hot Summer Contest, with three lucky winners driving home Mazda Mx-5 Miatas in October. The contest, which rang from June to August, was promoted through instore displays, with product and contest information available.