Full Name
Cathy East
Job Title
Vice President National Merchandising Meat & Seafood
Company
Albertsons Companies
Speaker Bio
Cathy East is the Vice President of National Replenishment and Planning for the Albertsons Companies supporting the Meat, Seafood, Deli, Food Service, Starbucks and In Store Bakery departments across all Regional Divisions. In her role, Cathy is responsible for oversight and standardization of best practices within decentralized replenishment and planning teams in more than 20 distribution centers across the enterprise. She is a valued member of Supply Chain leadership, responsible for managing inventory, reducing waste, strategizing collaborative purchasing and planning for and meeting retail demand while maintaining the highest food safety and quality standards throughout the distribution network.
She began her career as a Production Supervisor for IBP (now Tyson) and held positions in both operations and quality control where she gained valuable industry experience working on several major initiatives including the development of the first HACCP documentation in a beef production facility as well as standardizing yields for close trim products. She then moved to a similar role within Safeway, Inc. before transitioning to procurement in 2006 when she was named Group Director of the Meat and Seafood Product Supply Department. Upon the acquisition of Safeway by the Albertsons Companies, she was promoted to her current role of Vice President.
Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a major in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Missouri – Columbia. Although raised in a big city, she has become a passionate advocate of animal agriculture and serves as the lead member of Albertsons Companies Animal Well Being Committee. Cathy served as the first female co-chair of the Annual Meat Conference in 2018 and 2019 and is a recent board member addition to the newly formed Women in Meat Industry Network (WIMN). She also serves as the Chairperson of the Retail Advisory Committee for the National Pork Board and is a member of Colorado State’s Ag Next Industry Innovation Group. She has been named to Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery in 2015, 2016, and 2018 and 2020.
She began her career as a Production Supervisor for IBP (now Tyson) and held positions in both operations and quality control where she gained valuable industry experience working on several major initiatives including the development of the first HACCP documentation in a beef production facility as well as standardizing yields for close trim products. She then moved to a similar role within Safeway, Inc. before transitioning to procurement in 2006 when she was named Group Director of the Meat and Seafood Product Supply Department. Upon the acquisition of Safeway by the Albertsons Companies, she was promoted to her current role of Vice President.
Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a major in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Missouri – Columbia. Although raised in a big city, she has become a passionate advocate of animal agriculture and serves as the lead member of Albertsons Companies Animal Well Being Committee. Cathy served as the first female co-chair of the Annual Meat Conference in 2018 and 2019 and is a recent board member addition to the newly formed Women in Meat Industry Network (WIMN). She also serves as the Chairperson of the Retail Advisory Committee for the National Pork Board and is a member of Colorado State’s Ag Next Industry Innovation Group. She has been named to Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery in 2015, 2016, and 2018 and 2020.
