Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/679173
R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s S u n d a y, M a y 2 2 , 2 0 1 6 9 6 FEEDING AMERICA BEGINS CLINICAL TRIAL OF DIABETES INTERVENTION Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization, has begun a new clinical research trial to help low- income Americans better manage and control type 2 diabetes. The trial is taking place at three Feeding America member food banks: the Houston Food Bank in Texas, The Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, California, and Gleaner's Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan in Detroit. Feeding America is partnering with the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Urban Institute to conduct the trial. Diabetes affects over 29 million adults and children in the U.S. today, and research shows that individuals who are low-income and food-insecure have an increased risk of developing diet-sensi- tive chronic diseases, like type 2 dia- betes, and are at higher risk for poor management of these chronic diseases. The clinical trial – named the Feeding America Intervention Trial for Health – Diabetes Mellitus (FAITH-DM) – is being overseen by Dr.Hilary Seligman, lead scientist and senior med- ical advisor at Feeding America. Seligman is one of the nation's foremost experts on the health implications of food insecurity. Her work focuses on the inter- section between food insecurity and health, particularly on the prevention and management of chronic disease. "This is a giant step forward for our organization. Recent studies show us that millions of low-income Americans need our grocery and meal programs on a con- sistent, ongoing basis to help feed them- selves and their families. Research also tells us that low-income and food-inse- cure households have significantly high- er rates of nutrition-related diseases than the general public," said Diana Aviv, Chief Executive Officer of Feeding America. "Our study 'Hunger in America 2014' found that 33 percent of the house- holds we serve include at least one per- son with diabetes. We believe the time has now come that we must address the health needs of those we serve." FAITH-DM is a two year, random- ized controlled trial that spans from 2015-2017. This new research trial builds on the results from a previous observa- tional study conducted by Feeding America between 2011 and 2014. The findings of that study were recently pub- lished in the November issue of "Health Affairs." The goal of FAITH-DM will be to determine to what extent food bank- based interventions can improve glycemic control for clients living with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. The study will also investigate how effective the intervention is on improving other dia- betes outcomes. There are four major components of the FAITH-DM intervention: Screening for diabetes and monitoring of glycemic control; distributing diabetes-appropriate food, amounting to enough food to last one or two weeks per distribution; refer- ring clients who lacked a usual source of medical care to primary care providers; and providing diabetes self-management support and education. The clinical trial is funded by a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. KROGER NAMES NEW PRESIDENT FOR FRED MEYER STORES The Kroger Co. announced the retire- ment of Fred Meyer President Lynn Gust and the promotion of Jeff Burt to succeed him. Burt previously served as president of Kroger's central division. Fred Meyer Stores, based in Portland, Oregon, offers one-stop shop- ping at 132 multi-department stores in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Lynn Gust to Retire After 45 Years of Service Lynn Gust retired from the company after 45 years of service, effective January 31. "Throughout his distinguished career, Lynn as always led by empowering, encouraging and supporting others," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Lynn is widely respected throughout our compa- ny and industry for his passion for peo- ple, the food business, and the communi- ties we serve. The entire Kroger family wishes Lynn and his family all the best in retirement." Gust started his career with Kroger in 1970 as a parcel clerk at Fred Meyer's Fourth Plain store in Vancouver, Washington. In 1972, he entered Fred Meyer's food management program and advanced to serve in a variety of leader- ship roles in the division, including Food Department Manager, Training Coordinator, Grocery Buyer and Director of Grocery Sales and Merchandising. He also attended the Cornell Food Executive Program in 1994. After serving as group vice president for the food group, he was named Senior Vice President of the store operations group in 2003. Gust was named Executive Vice President of Corporate Merchandising and Advertising in 2006, followed by Vice President of Operations in 2011. He was promoted to President of Fred Meyer in 2012. Under his leadership, Fred Meyer reached $10 billion in annual sales for the first time. Also under his leadership, Fred Meyer was recognized twice as one of Oregon's "Best Places to Work" by the Portland Business Journal, and twice as one of Oregon's "Healthiest Places to Work" by The Oregonian. Following his retirement, Gust and his wife, Julie, will continue to be active in many community organizations in Portland and beyond, including serving on the Board of Trustees for Randall Children's Hospital. Jeff Burt Promoted to President of Fred Meyer Stores Kroger promoted Jeff Burt to serve as President of the company's Fred Meyer division. He is currently president of Kroger's central division, which operates food stores primarily in Indiana and Illinois. His successor will be named at a later date. "Jeff is a strong, dynamic leader who brings out the best in our associates," said McMullen. "His enthusiasm for serving our customers combined with both broad and deep experience in our business – including in the Pacific Northwest – will serve our Fred Meyer team well. We are grateful he agreed to take on this important role." Burt began his career with Kroger in 1986 as a management trainee. He has held a variety of leadership positions with the company in Cincinnati, Florida, Indianapolis and Seattle, including Store Manager, Produce Merchandiser and Vice President of Merchandising and Operations. In 2004, he was named Corporate Vice President of deli/bakery merchandising and procurement, before being promoted to group Vice President of perishables merchandising and pro- curement in 2010. He served as President of Kroger's central division since 2013. OPTIMIZE YOUR ENERGY COSTS WITH CLOUD-BASED MANAGEMENT BY NIMBUS 9 Lucas Schiff, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nimbus 9, Inc., tells us how his Colorado-based software company can help you manage your energy costs. RDN: Tell us about Nimbus 9 and what you are bringing to NRA 2016. LS: Nimbus 9 (N9) is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We develop cloud-based software for managing and continually optimizing energy consump- tion within commercial buildings. We have a tight focus on lighting and HVAC, as these two typically represent the largest energy loads. This will be our first year attending NRA, and we will be debuting our ener- gy management solution. This includes wireless LED lighting from our partners, our control-from-anywhere platform and energy monitoring and optimization solution. RDN: Who's your target market? LS: Our solution is built for restaurants, retail, hospitality and general commercial buildings. We understand the unique requirements of each of these sectors and have constructed our platform to be flex- ible to those needs. From one platform, we are able to cover all lighting types and HVAC. We are the first solution to con- nect indoor front of house, back of house, outdoor and parking lighting and can also work with a myriad of HVAC systems. What is unique about these markets is that owners typically have more than one location. Since we use a cloud-based approach, all locations can be managed from one account, from one web portal, from anywhere in the world. We chose cloud over traditional on-premise solu- tions in order to offer a continuous stream of feature updates and upgrades, as well as support for the life of the serv- ice. RDN: How do your prod- ucts or services enhance your customers' ability to compete in the market- place? LS: N9 started from day one designing our products with cost in mind. We understand that in order for our solution to deliver value, we have to pro- vide great return on investment. That is why we have structured our costs around the actual energy used and saved. This gives us the unique ability to have little to no upfront costs for the end user. In short, we instantly improve the bottom line of low-margin businesses through energy savings and optimization on a monthly basis, and we lower main- tenance costs to almost nothing. This in turn allows our customers to either pock- et the money saved or decrease pricing for their products and/or services to be more competitive. Not insignificantly, the N9 solution also contributes to your property's ambiance. We enhance the look of a property through better lighting, and individual control for each fixture gives you the ability to customize the look and feel of the property with the touch of a button. RDN: You've spoken a little about the costs. Can you expand on that? LS: As I mentioned, cost has been a very large focus of ours. We designed our technology to have as little upfront costs as possible. Our software is cloud-based, which means it runs as an ongoing service fee. There's no large capital outlay. This also gives our cus- tomers the latest and greatest software ongoing and requires zero software updates on their part – you don't need to hire a computer guy to install new soft- ware just to change your lighting design or get a new feature. For the hardware components, such as LED fixtures, we offer zero cash upfront financing options and tie the total cost to the energy savings. What this does is ensure that our customers are saving more on their energy than they're paying to finance their lighting equipment, so there's no cash-flow constraint. For more information, visit Nimbus 9 in booth #484. After the show, visit www.nimbus9.co.