Cathy Burns still sees challenges for women
Cathy Burns still sees challenges for women
International Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Cathy Burns has had a career of breaking through the glass ceiling, but she faced biases along the way and believes headwinds still exist for women.
Burns grew up in Bangor, ME, graduating from Bangor High School and moving on to the University of Maine at Orono, where she achieved a double major in marketing and management. While in high school, she took a job as a bagger with Shop n’ Save that ultimately led to a 30-year career in retail. Upon graduation from college, Burns was recruited by Hannaford, Shop n’ Save’s parent company, to participate in a prestigious year-long training program. The program identified future leaders for the company and pointed Burns toward a retail career in upper management.
She succeeded along the way moving through the ranks of store manager, district manager, director of strategy and execution, and then as vice president of fresh merchandising, which included fresh produce and the other perishable departments. Soon after Delhaize America purchased Hannaford, Burns was promoted to senior vice president of fresh merchandising and distribution. She was named chief operating officer of Food Lion, a Delhaize brand, in 2006, and became its president in 2010.
In 2013, Burns joined the Produce Marketing Association as president and shepherded the association through a merger with United Fresh. She now serves as president and CEO of the resulting IFPA.
As she surveyed her career, Burns noted that early on she was the benefactor of working for a company with a progressive attitude toward women executives — but there were challenges. “I was blessed that Hannaford gave women opportunities to succeed and were supportive of women executives advancing,” she said, “but there were headwinds as I attempted to move forward.”
She specifically recalled a career assessment by the retailer’s industrial psychologist, who wrote that although she has a “firm handshake,” building a family is no doubt in her future. Burns said men being assessed would not have it questioned that their careers would be impacted by their families. “Of course, women can have both a career and a family. I have. That is an unconscious bias that still exists.”
Reflecting on her years as a female executive working with many men executives, she advised women today to “speak up. Be respectful but have confidence in your voice.”
Burns noted that women are often talked over and must work harder to make sure they are heard. “Don’t be afraid to put your ideas on the table,” she said, adding that most men do not appear to have that problem. “Often, their confidence outweighs their contribution.”
Surveying the landscape for women in the workplace, Burns said it has absolutely gotten much better since she began her career, but there is still a lot of work to be done today, and raising up women has to be a concerted effort. “In terms of representation (in upper management), we still have a long way to go. The gap is still there.”
She believes there are a number of actions that can be taken to help close the gap. In the first place, Burns is a strong advocate of women who have succeeded lending a hand to other women, especially in coaching and mentoring. She is pushing IFPA in that direction. “We (women executives) need to lean in more quickly and lift up other women,” she said, noting that it is a personal goal of her own to be more proactive in helping women in the workplace.
Burns added that promoting women, especially in the food sector, is a great strategy for business success. After all, she noted, “our consumer base is heavily weighted toward women.”
In examining the situation facing the female sector, Burns does express disappointment that some of the same challenges she faced are still there. “It hurts my heart that women are still facing the same bias I faced 30 years ago,” she said. “Back then, I would have thought we would be beyond that point by now.”
Largely because of that reality, Burns and IFPA are moving forward actively to raise up women. Burns said for many years the association has been holding women in produce receptions for the various events to help women meet each other and network. Now IFPA is upgrading those events and adding programming to address some of the issues women are facing. She believes it is extremely important to continue to hold women-focused events for both networking and programming, as well as elevating women in the produce space.
IFPA is also launching a mentor/mentee program that is paring dozens of women for the purpose of facilitating the women-lifting-women concept.
But men shouldn’t just sit on the sidelines, according to IFPA’s top executive. “Allyship is also very important,” she said. “The only way we can eliminate the gap is to get men involved. I often talk to men and ask them how they would feel if their daughters were being discriminated against.”
Burns added that it is a matter of numbers. There are many more men in leadership positions in the produce industry than women so women need these leaders to see them and their talents.
In another sense, IFPA is leading the way through its actions. Burns noted that 50 percent of the IFPA board of directors are women. She said that speaks to the fact that there are many qualified women in the produce industry — and there’s room for lots more.
