PALM BEACH COUNTY FOOD BANK ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
Former Sbarro CEO to serve as Interim Executive Director
Palm Beach County, Fla. (June 16, 2020) – The Palm Beach County Food Bank (PBCFB) announces today that Executive Director Karen Erren plans to leave the organization this summer to pursue opportunities closer to family in the northeast. Marti LaTour, chairman of the board, announced that the board of directors has established a search committee to hire a successor and has named long-time board member, Jim Greco, as Interim Executive Director to guide the organization during this transition.
“Thanks in large part to the leadership of Karen Erren over the last three years, the Palm Beach County Food Bank is very well positioned to continue to grow and to serve those in need in our community,” said LaTour. “We have a strong interim leadership team in place that gives the Food Bank the time and flexibility to identify and recruit the right person to lead our organization into our next chapter.”
The board of directors has named Jim Greco as Interim Executive Director to work with Erren for a smooth transition and then lead the organization until a successor is hired. Greco has nearly 30 years of senior leadership experience in food manufacturing and the restaurant and beverage industries. He was most notably Chief Executive Officer at Sbarro, one of the world’s leading Italian quick service concepts with over 1000 locations in 40 countries. Greco has been a member of the board of directors of the Palm Beach County Food Bank since 2013, is Chair of the Facilities Committee, and is a prior board member of the Connecticut Food Bank.
“Our county has hundreds of thousands of hungry families, and the Palm Beach County Food Bank provides almost 200 local community partners and programs, including food pantries, soup kitchens and residential housing programs with nutritious food to help meet the need,” said Greco. “We have a strong board and strong leadership team to help guide us through this transition period.”
The Food Bank’s executive board who will support Greco consists of Marti LaTour, Board Chair, who has 36 years of executive food distribution experience at Pepsi-Cola; Bill Kramer, Treasurer, CPA and retired Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida; Mark Busse, Secretary, and Director of Executive & Corporate Communication at NextEra Energy, Inc.; Debbie Pucillo, Capital Campaign Chair, retired judge and philanthropic community leader; and Laura Russell, Development Chair, and Cheney Brothers executive.
“I am deeply grateful to the Palm Beach County community for the past three years and for welcoming me with open arms,” said Erren. “The best is yet to come for this organization in its work to alleviate hunger in Palm Beach County. I will miss this exceptional team and this community, but in these uncertain times, my priority is to relocate closer to family.”
The entire Board, staff, and community thanks Erren for her passion and perseverance in serving those in need in our County. Under Erren’s leadership, the Food Bank’s base of support increased 10-fold and raised $2.2 million of the Food Bank’s $3 million “Grow with Us” capital campaign goal to fund a new venue for the organization’s distribution center and administrative headquarters. Currently in the COVID-19 crisis, Erren has led the Food Bank in distributing three times the volume of food to provide for the increased need in our county.
“Typically, the Food Bank distributes 5 million pounds of food annually. This May alone the Food Bank distributed almost 1.5 million pounds of food,” continued LaTour. “This greatly accelerated increase in distribution has been done with social distancing restrictions, reduced volunteers, and in a building that no longer meets our needs. Our continued focus during this transition will be on feeding the growing number of our hungry neighbors and finalizing our fundraising for the new facility to ensure our future growth to keep up with the need.”
The Palm Beach County Food Bank is nearing completion of a “Grow with Us” capital campaign to move to a new building. The new 28,000-square-foot facility expands storage capacity with proper shelving, a new cooler and freezer, loading docks and ample parking. If you wish to support the capital campaign or provide funds to procure food please call the Food Bank at 561-670-2518 or visit www.pbcfoodbank.org.