After 49 years of service, Wegmans' Senior Vice President of Consumer Affairs has announced her retirement. Mary Ellen Burris has spent the last five decades serving on the grocer's leadership team and will undoubtedly leave her mark on the Wegmans' legacy as a whole.
According to local news source ABC 13 WHAM, Burris began working for Wegmans in 1971 when Bob Wegman decided his growing supermarket chain needed someone who could be the "voice of the customer."
"They gave me an interview, but asked me to write a job description," recalled Burris during the interview. "What would I do if I came to work for them?"
She then went on to write an eight-page job description, writing of a "revolution in consumer thinking" and "bridging the gap between the consumer and the company."
Now, Wegmans' relationships with consumers are tighter than ever before as Burris pushed for an increased consumption of fresh food.
Albert Einstein once said, "Try not to become a (wo)man of success, but rather try to become a (wo)man of value." That value rings true in influential leaders like Mary Ellen Burris.
As Mary Ellen Burris steps into this next chapter, we at Deli Market News congratulate her on an exceptional career and wish her a wonderful retirement.