LOS ANGELES – April 30, 2024 –The USC Marshall School of Business will honor Greg McNiff, President and Chief Operating Officer of Stater Bros. Markets as its 2024 Executive of the Year.

Every year, the USC Executive of the Year award is presented to a food industry executive who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and commitment to education. Both a Food Industry Management (FIM) program supporter and a Marshall alumni parent, McNiff will accept the award and serve as the keynote speaker at the May graduation banquet, where USC will celebrate graduating students from the FIM Class of 2024.

“Greg joins a long list of highly respected servant leaders honored as Executive of the Year.” - Dr. Cynthia McCloud, director of Marshall’s Food Industry Programs.

McNiff’s commitment to education extends beyond his role at Stater Bros. He actively participates in advancing education initiatives within the food industry, serving as an advisor to the executive team of the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC), an organization that raises funds and provides scholarships for Marshall’s food industry programs. In 2019, he received the Illuminators Educational Foundation Torch Award for his support in advancing education in the food industry.

“It is my distinct honor to be recognized as this year’s USC Marshall Food Industry Management Program Executive of the Year,” said McNiff. “The food industry’s future leaders will require real-world skills and visionary thinking to see challenges in new ways and to find innovative solutions. The teammates that Stater Bros. Markets sends to the FIM program are fortunate to tap into the knowledge provided by the program’s world-class team of educators. Teammates return to us as proud new members of the Trojan family with the discipline to question, think, and re-think about decisions to be made in our industry. We are proud to support the FIM program, in conjunction with the WAFC, as they deliver on their mission to ‘Advance the Food Industry through Education and Leadership.’”

McNiff has entrusted USC Marshall with the professional development of a number of Stater Bros.’ successful leaders, sending them to the 4-month FIM program, the 4-day Food Industry Executive Program (FIEP), and the Master’s program in Food Industry Leadership.