National Sales Manager, GPO's, Foodservice

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At Lactalis in the USA, we're committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive-whether you're just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we're proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani Italian cheeses and ricotta, President specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone's cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond cheddar, and Parmalat milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi's, Stonyfield Organic, Brown Cow, Oui, Yoplait, Go-Gurt, :ratio, Green Mountain Creamery, and Mountain High, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun, Gopi, and Arz.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values-Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone's unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy

From your PASSION to ours

Midwest Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a National Sales Manager, GPO's, based remotely.

The National Sales Manager for the Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO's), is responsible for strategic account management, partnership development, and revenue growth across key GPO's, including: Vizient, Premier, HPSI, Avendra, and others, with a focus on their primary end-user segments: Healthcare (Hospitals, Senior Living) and Lodging/Hospitality. This Leader develops value-added solutions for GPO administration and ensures our products are positioned competitively to meet the unique quality, regulatory, and service needs of these highly specialized channels. This Leader executes the national strategy, manages the day-to-day relationship at the headquarters level, and drives field-level engagement to ensure program activation and adherence.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

Account Ownership: Serve as the primary, day-to-day headquarters contact for key decision-makers across the Healthcare & Lodging GPO space and manage the customer relationships at their headquarters. Develop and implement national strategies to increase sales, drive new product adoption, category penetration, and achieve maximum contract compliance.

Contract Management: Negotiate and manage annual operating plans, national contracts, and promotional calendars, ensuring maximum recovery of trade spend and compliance targets.

Field Execution: Work closely with the Broker team to ensure the national programs are accurately executed at the local site level and that all operational issues ("last mile" issues) are resolved promptly.

Channels Expertise: Develop and execute tailored sales strategies for the Healthcare and Lodging segments, considering specific challenges like food safety standards, specialized logistics, and patient/guest satisfaction metrics.

Collaboration/Internal Influence: Partner cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Finance, and Marketing to align internal resources to meet the complex needs and timelines of these customers.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing or a related field. Culinary background a plus!
• Minimum of 8+ years of B2B or Foodservice Sales Experience.
• Commercial Acumen: Proven Ability to manage a trade budget and possess a strong understanding or Foodservice procurement mechanics.
• Excellent communication, presentation skills, storytelling-strong influencing skills both internally and externally.

Behavioral / Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Agility: Possesses a future-oriented perspective; anticipates complex market shifts in the Non-Commercial space and develops agile, long-term strategies to capitalize on new opportunities and mitigate threats.
• Drives Results: Exhibits a strong sense of urgency and ownership; relentlessly focused on achieving and exceeding P&L and sales targets through rigorous execution and accountability.
• Cultivate Innovation: Challenges the status quo; drives creative ideas and develops unique value propositions to win business and grow market share in mature accounts.
• Influencing & Negotiation: Inspires trust and followership both internally and externally; possesses superior leadership-level communication and negotiation skills to secure profitable agreements and align diverse stakeholder interests.
• Customer Centricity: Builds and sustains deep, collaborative relationships with customers at all levels, acting as a credible partner and industry expert.

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affirmative Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations