Deb Conklin, President & CEO, KeHE
🔑 Deb Conklin, President & CEO, KeHE
Conklin had a long break-in period as she took the reins from KeHE CEO Brandon Barnholt, with the former Reddy Ice Company CEO sitting on the key natural food distributor’s board while Barnholt ended his 15-year tenure. Since then, she’s led the company through an important expansion, as it picked up DPI Specialty Foods in California. With UNFI in disarray following its own executive reshuffling and a tough quarter, and KeHE in the driver’s seat at Kroger and Publix, could she take the longtime second-place natural foods distributor to the top?