Trade group honors former Kroger group VP

PHOENIX, Ariz.— TheGlobal Market Development Center, the trade group for health, beauty, wellness and general merchandise retailers, announced that it has awarded its2011 Lifetime Achievement Award to Terry Cox, retired group VP at Kroger, at its Health Beauty Wellness Marketing Conference in Phoenix,Ariz.

According to an organization press release, GMDC annually presents the award to "a person who hascontributed significantly to the general merchandise or health beauty wellness industries, as wellas to GMDC through his or her leadership." The organization said Cox, who retired from Kroger in 2001, was an advocate of GMDC and Kroger's support of the organization.

"Terry brought terrific leadership to both GMDC and our industry throughout his years ofinvolvement with the association. His thought leadership was extremely valuable and as aGMDC board member, he had a great talent for listening to the concerns of everyone and doingwhat was best for the industry at large," said GMDC CEO and president Dave McConnell.

Cox joined Kroger in 1962 as a part-time clerk in Columbus, Ohio. He held a variety ofmerchandising positions in several Kroger retail divisions before becoming director of marketingin the company's grocery merchandising department in 1987. In 1989, Cox was named president of Peyton's Inc., Kroger's drug and general merchandise procurement anddistribution subsidiary. Later that year, he was promoted to VP drug/GM merchandising. Cox was promoted to group VP in 1999.