Garnes Rises to the Challenge

In 2018, Monica Garnes took the reins as president of the 122-store chain Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona. Formerly a corporate VP at the division’s parent, The Kroger Co., Garnes rose to her position through hard work, natural leadership abilities, strategic planning and good decision-making.

Garnes—Kroger’s first African-American division president—attended the University of Rhode Island on a basketball scholarship and earned a degree in business administration.

“I’m from Columbus, Ohio. I went to Rhode Island during my college visits and loved it there,” she said. “I played basketball all four years. When I graduated, I moved back home to Columbus with Mom and Dad and started looking for a job. I didn’t have a job lined up from college and knew I wanted to be in the management field, leading people.”

As a recent college graduate, Garnes couldn’t have known how fateful her visit to the Kroger booth at a local job fair would be. A math test and three interviews later, Kroger hired her into the management training program in 1995.

In the 1990s, there weren’t many female role models in the industry’s leadership ranks. The company employed quite a few female assistant managers but not many store managers. When Garnes started out, the executive team was all male.

“As I came up through my career, there were numerous instances where I was the only female or only female of color,” she said. “We had a president who came to us in Columbus, (retired SVP) Marnette Perry, and it was like the gates opened. There was a buzz in the air about how exciting it was to have a female leading the division; she was a very dynamic woman.”

Changing culture

In 2003, David Dillon was named Kroger CEO; he was replaced by CEO Rodney McMullen in 2014, when Dillon retired.

“I think their vision was to see our workforce reflecting the communities we serve, including how many female shoppers we have and how many female associates we have working in our stores,” Garnes said.

“They had a great vision to find talented female leaders and give them the opportunity to rise throughout our company. It started at the top with a commitment to something they felt was important. I feel that Dave and Rodney were instrumental in changing the face of Kroger executives in our company.”

As the company has evolved over time, more female leaders have come on board and now Garnes herself has become an example of achievement. “My hope is that people who are coming up through the organization see the female presidents and vice presidents and that we can serve as mentors and role models for them.”

As the first African-American female VP and first African-American division president for Kroger, Garnes is well aware that many more will follow in her footsteps.

“I look forward to the day when we don’t have those firsts,” she said.

Value of teamwork

Understanding the value of teamwork and personal development began early for Garnes. She was just a fourth-grader in Ohio when she started playing basketball.

“My sister was 18 months older, in the sixth grade, and I remember her coming home and telling Mom and Dad she wanted to play on the basketball team. Often we want to do what a big brother or sister are doing, so I said I wanted to play, too.”

Garnes continued playing throughout high school, starting on the varsity team in her freshman year and serving as captain of the team for two years. This initial experience in building leadership skills through sports was strengthened after she relocated to the University of Rhode Island (URI) on a four-year basketball scholarship. She was a four-year starter and two-year captain in college.

Even as a young person, Garnes was admired and noted for her tendency to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. She learned the importance of rallying together with her team to accomplish a goal. She looks at her Fry’s team as she looked at her basketball team—as a close group and extension of her family.

“I can accredit my time playing basketball and the whole background and foundation I got from URI for where I am today as a leader,” she said.

“I recently got back from Rhode Island, and I was reconnecting with my teammates. It’s a sisterhood, and even if we haven’t seen each other for years, as soon as we see each other it’s like we never left college,” added Garnes.

Character-building

Athletics was character-building and reinforced Garnes’ traits of determination and maintaining a calm, level head when fighting through adversity. “In athletics, if you’re all over the place and not in control of your own emotions, that’s not a recipe for success on the court. That’s easily translatable for me into the business world.”

Her university background in sports and academia served as a strong foundation for Garnes’ business career. From time management to teamwork, her education provided the disciplined approach needed for future endeavors. “These things just naturally evolved for me, and there are things

Lucia helped guide Garnes early on

Bruce Lucia, former Atlanta division president, retired from Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. in September 2018 after 44 years with the company. Lucia earned a reputation as an outstanding leader, a unifier and mentor to many.

Lucia kicked off his long career as a clerk with Kroger Atlanta in 1974. After graduating from the University of Georgia, he served in various roles in the Atlanta division. From 1987-96, he assumed leadership positions in the Nashville, Central, Columbus and Michigan divisions and was named Michigan division president in 1996. The following year he was appointed president of the Columbus division before returning to Atlanta as president in 2000.

Lucia continues his traditional community volunteer work in Atlanta and has lived parttime in Florida since his recent retirement. He enjoys leisure activities with his wife and family and said he may consider consultant work in the future.

Lucia met Monica Garnes, now president of Arizona-based Fry’s Food Stores, when he was VP of operations and merchandising in Kroger’s Columbus, Ohio division. Garnes was co-manager of a nearby Kroger store in Gahanna, a suburb of Columbus, where Lucia lived at the time.

Mentor and friend

Lucia served as a mentor to Garnes, taking frequent walks with her through the store, providing insight, guidance and advice. They have had a very good, long-term business relationship, Lucia said. “She was always so willing to learn; she wanted to learn the business. She had a really positive attitude.”

Garnes’ leadership qualities were apparent early on. “She had a great aptitude for the business, and she was a quick, quick learner. From what I saw in her, she had really nice people skills; people enjoyed working around her. They didn’t feel like they were working for her—they felt like they were working together. To me that was a huge strength,” Lucia said.

After a year and a half as VP, Lucia was

GARNES from page 15

I did in those four years that translate naturally into business.”

Garnes’ background was valuable, for instance, when she relocated in 2013 to Fry’s in Arizona for the first time, after 18 years of management in Columbus. A new market, different environment and new people reminded her of picking up at age 18 and leaving her familiar surroundings to move across the country and start out on her own. “I can look back on all those things now and say I’m so thankful for my time at Rhode Island.”

Lucia’s valuable support

As a young woman stepping into the Kroger organization, Garnes was well-equipped to negotiate her way through the system but at times needed guidance and support from advisors and mentors along the way.

“The first person that comes to mind to thank is Bruce Lucia. He is a retired Kroger president. Most recently he was the president in Atlanta (for about 18 years). He was in Columbus as a vice president and came back as the president in the Columbus division,” said Garnes.

Garnes served as a Kroger assistant manager at a store in Gahanna, Ohio, early in her career. Lucia lived in Gahanna, a suburb northeast of Columbus, where he worked. Garnes appreciates the opportunity she had to see the Kroger division president on a regular basis. “He coached me and really helped teach me the business along the way as an assistant manager.”

Back then, she continues, there weren’t any African-American female store managers in Columbus, although there had been some in the past. Garnes felt that taking on a manager role would give her an excellent foundation to step into other roles within the company, and Lucia was very supportive of her goals.

Please see page 18

Raymond recalls Garnes’ star quality

Gary Raymond, former VP of operations for The Kroger Co., retired in 2011 after a long and successful career in the grocery business. In 2001, he relocated from Ralphs Grocery Co. in California to The Kroger Co. in Michigan. Soon thereafter he assumed his position at a Kroger division of 130 retail stores in Ohio and West Virginia. Previously he had served more than 31 years with Ralphs, which became Kroger’s largest subsidiary.

“Around 2001, we merged with a number of companies under Ron Burkle, and then the entire group was acquired by Kroger. At that time, that brought the total to about 2,900 stores for Kroger,” Raymond noted.

After the merger, Raymond was based in Michigan for about a year. “We combined the Michigan and Ohio stores, and that’s when I ran into Monica Garnes. At the time she was doing public relations and was very good at her job; she knew everybody in town.”

Raymond had no previous experience with Kroger when he landed the corporate job. “I wasn’t even familiar with the layout of their stores until later, but I had shown the acquisition group around the L.A. and San Diego marketing areas. We struck up the conversation of making the change to join the Kroger side and that worked out pretty well for me,” he said.

Tough to get recognized

“It was a pretty easy transition when I came to Columbus. It’s a great town in spring, summer and fall, but you just don’t need to be there in the winter. The town is built around the college and is very interesting and scenic. The stores were great with great people, but I could tell right away that it was a Kroger organization. Everybody knew everybody, but they had at that time just over 300,000 people,” Raymond said.

“It was tough to get recognized as an upcoming management candidate outside your marketing area, unless you participated in events that were more chain-wide developmental programs. Monica had the experience as a store manager and was very good at a public relations job, but she wanted more. She approached me about her future, and we both agreed that she needed a higher-level job on the operations side and the perishable side. She was a very successful district manager for me.”

Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in the U.S. and has been around since 1883. To make it there is an accomplishment. “I saw her as a talent,” Raymond said. “Kroger has a lot of ties to people that have been in the industry for a long time. To break out, you’ve got to do something special. They service so many areas and they’ve got almost 3,000 stores now.”

Change in trajectory

Garnes said, “I thought I may end up leaving Kroger and pursuing something else, and Bruce was instrumental in saying, ‘Monica, I’ve seen you grow throughout your career; I see your work ethic.’ He wanted me to stay at Kroger and said he saw bigger and better things for me. I went on to be promoted to store manager in Worthington, Ohio, and that changed the trajectory of my career.”

Even though Garnes would have chosen to become manager of the Gahanna store, the store she transferred to turned out to be just the right place for her to get her start in store management.

“I learned a lot. I was able to get some great results and really get my sea legs in terms of how I was going to show up as the store manager. Down the road, I ended up getting promoted to the store in Gahanna. It was a bigger-volume store, and I realized that had I gotten that store as my first assignment,

I may not have been as prepared to take on the complexities of that particular location,” she said.

“Sometimes you just have to trust the process and realize that the organization has a great plan and path for you and knows best in terms of preparing you to take on bigger challenges. It set the foundation to stop pushing, get in the role you’re doing, do the best job you can, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Taking it to the next level

Retired VP of operations, Gary Raymond, was an influential mentor for Garnes. “Gary Raymond had a long history in the Ralphs division. When Kroger acquired the Ralphs company, Gary came down as our VP of operations and really was a great help to me in terms of supporting me, teaching me the business at another level and giving me opportunities. He was the person that promoted me to district manager. I was in public relations, became a district manager and then went on to be produce

Garnes stood out and was promoted among the very diverse, capable team Raymond led at the time. “There was one other female district manager out of a total of seven. It was a good fit for her. The people liked her; they liked her as the store manager. She is high energy, very approachable and very coachable.”

Star on and off the court

Garnes was a basketball star at the University of Rhode Island. “She was a four-year starter for Rhode Island in Division I athletics, and a two-year captain. This is somebody that left her hometown at 18 or 19 years old for the first time. She did well outside the area, came back and wanted to be employed there because her parents were there. Her parents are great people,” Raymond said. The college sports and education experience served Garnes well later in life. “It showed in the business—in her methodology and how she approached issues. She was a problem-solver. When she didn’t have the experience, she had a basket full of questions.

She found the answers she needed to accomplish the task, and she was very successful in the job she had while I was there.”

“She’s just a remarkable young lady and she has accomplished a lot because of her inner drive. She knew where she wanted to go and had a game plan. She was local to Columbus and has a very supportive family. It was a great fit for her at the time because she knew the people; she knew all the celebrities in town. If we did a charity event, she knew them by first name. She was a person that people liked to be with,” Raymond recalled.

Constructive guidance

Garnes stands out in the industry as an African American, female division president. Kroger has been bringing women on board executive management positions for some time now. “They have presidents that were women. In the last 20 years, they’ve made inroads in recruiting and training,” Raymond said.

“I think that served them well. They’ve been recruiting and trying to develop people from the different marketing areas because they go from West Coast to East Coast and they get a lot of talent. In the East, they recruited management straight out of college,” he added.

“These people coming in with college degrees were happy to go to work for Kroger in their towns. But to get to the big organization and rise in the senior structure of that company—that took some doing. I think she’s positioned herself well, and I think she’ll continue to do well. She’s got the drive.”

Raymond provided constructive guidance to Garnes as she moved through the corporate levels, and he knew she had what it takes to succeed. “She just needed to make sure she was getting the exposure she needed by going to the right jobs. There are certain jobs that earn someone a lot of credit, and she was willing to take the tougher jobs,” Raymond said.

“She’s a very approachable-type person. I can’t see anything that would bend her arc of success. She is headed up.”

McKinney applauds Garnes’ ‘trailblazer spirit’

Steve McKinney is SVP of The Kroger Co. and responsible for eight retail supermarket divisions: Dallas, Food 4 Less, Fry’s, Houston, King Soopers, Louisville, Mid-Atlantic and Ralphs. McKinney contributed the following responses about Monica Garnes.

When did you first work with Monica?

I first worked with Monica in 2013 when I returned to Fry’s as the president of the division. Monica was the VP of merchandising at that time.

What was your first impression of her?

My first impression of Monica was that she was a strong people person, smart, energetic and a good collaborator. I realized early on that Monica was a strong communicator, with a clear and direct style.

How did you interface with Monica and when did you see her leadership qualities?

Monica and I worked closely for a year and her leadership qualities were apparent immediately. She also possessed a strong sense of urgency and had the ability to collaborate with people to resolve issues and lift them up. She was able to lead the team and bring them along the process, valuing their input and sharing the “why” of any situation.

What separated her from other employees?

Her attitude sets her apart from other employees. She has a “can do” winning attitude that is inspiring and motivating. Monica is someone that you know whatever she is working on, she is going to make it a success.

Monica is the first woman of color to rise to president of a Kroger division. How do you think this will impact the organization and what does Monica offer Kroger that can be mimicked in other divisions?

Monica has truly been an inspiration for many. She is a trailblazer and takes that responsibility very seriously. She mentors a lot of people within the organization, helping them understand how to achieve their full potential regardless of their gender or race. Monica has a strong sense of purpose and she brings others along on the journey.

Any final thoughts?

She is a genuine and strong leader that is going to continue to excel. She consistently inspires me and many others personally and professionally. Monica embodies the trailblazer sprit that has always been at Fry’s and she leads our associates as they honor the past and create the future.