Ralphs, P&G execs to chair women's leadership event

CHICAGO — The Network of Executive Women on Friday named Donna Giordano, president of the Ralphs division of Kroger, and Monica Turner, general manager of market strategy and planning for Procter & Gamble, co-chairs of the NEW Executive Leaders Forum 2013.

"The Network is fortunate to have the input of Donna and Monica as they draw on their life and career experiences to ensure the Forum's status as a premier industry event," stated Trudy Bourgeois, president of The Center for Workforce Excellence. "One of the first female presidents of a grocery banner, Donna Giordano has been a true pioneer," she said. "[And] women like Monica Turner have the skills and traits necessary for the future growth of their organizations and the industry as a whole. Monica is ready and willing to lead with boldness and courage."

The seventh annual NEW Forum will be held July 23 to 25 at the Terranea Resort in Los Angeles. More than 250 executives in the consumer products and retail industry are expected to attend the invitation-only event for senior-level women, NEW noted.

As president of Ralphs Grocery, Giordano is responsible for nearly 250 stores in Southern California that employ more than 25,000 associates. Giordano's retail career began in Denver when she joined Kroger's King Soopers chain in 1972 while earning a bachelor's degree in marketing. Turner, a NEW Board member at-large, joined Procter & Gamble as a sales representative in 1987 after serving as a summer intern. In her current role, she leads P&G's U.S. market strategy and planning organization in North America, a unit with more than 400 employees and an annual budget of $80 million.