The Grocery Manufacturers Association Manufacturing Excellence Conference, co-located with Pack Expo on Nov. 1-2 at McCormick Place in Chicago, will feature a retailer-manufacturer panel that will include members sharing success stories related to green shopping.

Panelists include:

• Jeanne von Zastrow, senior sirector, sustainability and industry relations, FMI (von Zastrow serves as the lead executive on sustainability for the Food Marketing Institute. In January 2006, she initiated FMI’s Food Industry Sustainability Initiative, with the mission to identify key sustainability issues, prioritize the issues and develop the tools and resources needed for the industry to understand, respond and implement sustainability within their companies.)

• Ellen Feeney, vice president, responsible livelihood, White Wave Foods (Feeney oversees her company’s corporate sustainability initiatives, which are key tenets of WhiteWave’s mission and values. She is responsible for the creation and implementation of strategic environmental programs, community involvement efforts, non-profit alliances and Values In Action (VIA), WhiteWave’s signature engagement program to promote sustainability practices and volunteerism.)

• Michele Halsell, managing director, Applied Sustainability Center, University of Arkansas (Halsell has served as the managing director for the ASC in the Sam M. Walton School of Business since 2007. She became a peer counselor in the Office for Non-Traditional Students at the university in 1994. In 1996, she joined Student Support Services as a Student Development Specialist. In March 1999, she accepted the position as the managing director for the Graduate School of Business. Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, she worked in marketing as an assistant product manager at Tyson Foods.)

• Kim Lymn, senior manager, packaging, Target (Lymn is senior manager of packaging at Target, where she is working to create a best-in-class retailer packaging development team. Kim has been at Target for five years and has over 25 years of packaging development experience. Prior to Target, Kim was the director of packaging development at General Mills and the associate director of packaging at Kraft. She has focused on guest-centric packaging development and building strong partnerships with packaging suppliers throughout her career.)

• Wesley Bean, senior director, strategic sourcing, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. (Bean is responsible for sourcing of Winn-Dixie’s store operations, corporate services and logistic categories. He is also responsible for leading the company’s activities around sustainability. Previously, Bean served as the director of strategic sourcing for Wal-mart global procurement. He was responsible for leading several board of directors initiatives, including the creation of the Global Indirect Spend Center of Excellence, which leveraged the buying potential of Wal-Mart across its international markets for indirect commodities)   

For more information about all the sessions at the GMA Manufacturing Excellence Conference go to: http://www.packexpo.com/pei2010/public/Content.aspx?ID=1075