Connecting with others through communication is a hallmark of Gary Cottingham’s managerial style. His nominators cite his authentic communications that combine the big picture, effective storytelling and encouragement of feedback.

<div> <p paraid="1576037094" paraeid="{59d0d7bc-74d5-4d8d-a6d1-78b2b6033ff4}{160}"><strong>Category&nbsp;B:&nbsp;Gary Cottingham <br /> The GIANT Company, Chambersburg, PA&nbsp;</strong></p> </div> <div> <p paraid="147997818" paraeid="{59d0d7bc-74d5-4d8d-a6d1-78b2b6033ff4}{190}">It&rsquo;s&nbsp;fitting that Gary Cottingham is a youth baseball coach who helped his team win a state championship. This store manager&nbsp;understands the importance of being a team player, keeping your eye on the ball, seeing&nbsp;opportunities&nbsp;to take a new&nbsp;base and&nbsp;strategically&nbsp;calling&nbsp;plays&nbsp;to score points and win, whether it&rsquo;s by a bunt or grand slam.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5 paraid="348020794" paraeid="{59d0d7bc-74d5-4d8d-a6d1-78b2b6033ff4}{216}">A Winning Momentum</h5> <p paraid="348020794" paraeid="{59d0d7bc-74d5-4d8d-a6d1-78b2b6033ff4}{216}">At the helm of a store in Chambersburg, PA,&nbsp;Cottingham&nbsp;and his team hit 7.9%&nbsp;comparative&nbsp;sales growth in 2019&nbsp;while also driving item&nbsp;growth&nbsp;by 5.2% and&nbsp;customer growth by 5.4%.&nbsp;Also last year,&nbsp;his&nbsp;store&nbsp;knocked&nbsp;it&nbsp;out of the park with a record sales week&nbsp;in produce, seafood,&nbsp;beer&nbsp;and wine,&nbsp;floral&nbsp;and&nbsp;pharmacy&nbsp;and&nbsp;double-digit&nbsp;comparable sales improvements in&nbsp;deli, bakery and floral.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1675217879" paraeid="{d7289cf5-478b-4d6d-a35e-ad65950674b7}{35}"><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/image-1-giant-direct-launch-3.tmb-large-350-.jpg?sfvrsn=10d9defd_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="image-1-giant-direct-launch-3" title="image-1-giant-direct-launch-3" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />Continuing&nbsp;the winning&nbsp;momentum, he&nbsp;has&nbsp;led the company in&nbsp;customer&nbsp;count, total&nbsp;sales&nbsp;and percentage of store sales for the new&nbsp;GIANT DIRECT&nbsp;service&nbsp;that allows customers&nbsp;to shop online for pickup or delivery.&nbsp;He is one of&nbsp;those&nbsp;store managers&nbsp;who&nbsp;loads&nbsp;groceries&nbsp;into your car,&nbsp;gives&nbsp;your kids an&nbsp;apple&nbsp;or&nbsp;banana while&nbsp;they wait&nbsp;with you&nbsp;and&nbsp;tucks in a note from the store team into a&nbsp;small&nbsp;token&nbsp;gift.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5 paraid="204650661" paraeid="{d7289cf5-478b-4d6d-a35e-ad65950674b7}{127}">A Hallmark Managerial Style</h5> <p paraid="204650661" paraeid="{d7289cf5-478b-4d6d-a35e-ad65950674b7}{127}">Connecting with others through communication is a hallmark of Cottingham&rsquo;s managerial style.&nbsp;His&nbsp;nominators&nbsp;cite his authentic&nbsp;communications&nbsp;that combine the big&nbsp;picture,&nbsp;effective&nbsp;storytelling&nbsp;and&nbsp;encouragement&nbsp;of feedback.&nbsp;In customer&nbsp;interactions,&nbsp;Cottingham turns any&nbsp;negative&nbsp;feedback that his store receives &ndash; and such&nbsp;complaints&nbsp;are&nbsp;infrequent&nbsp;&ndash; into an&nbsp;opportunity&nbsp;to talk with&nbsp;shoppers&nbsp;and resolve their issues, preferably in person.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="843295137" paraeid="{d7289cf5-478b-4d6d-a35e-ad65950674b7}{187}"><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/image-3-pulse-meeting-with-team.tmb-large-350-.jpg?sfvrsn=3af3755b_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="image-3-pulse-meeting-with-team" title="image-3-pulse-meeting-with-team" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" />Meanwhile, through&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;meetings&nbsp;with the store&rsquo;s leadership team, which often include team-building exercises, he drives action through collaboration.&nbsp;He&nbsp;created a store newsletter&nbsp;that outlines important information and transparency, resulting in an&nbsp;above-average total&nbsp;store&nbsp;engagement&nbsp;of 80&nbsp;%. Moreover, 94% of his staff&nbsp;reported&nbsp;that they have a clear&nbsp;understanding&nbsp;of company&nbsp;objectives.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1529391513" paraeid="{d7289cf5-478b-4d6d-a35e-ad65950674b7}{245}">He has been recognized for his results and skills.&nbsp;His peers&nbsp;chose him to serve as the lead for the&nbsp;company&rsquo;s&nbsp;Store&nbsp;Managers&nbsp;Council, where he leads a team of high-performing&nbsp;store managers&nbsp;to help solve&nbsp;challenges&nbsp;and effect change. In addition, he&nbsp;is&nbsp;a key-carrier trainer for new&nbsp;hourly&nbsp;team members&nbsp;interested in&nbsp;having total store&nbsp;responsibility.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="881291262" paraeid="{657d5ad8-faeb-45e4-bb10-33c5bfac6eee}{48}">Diversity&nbsp;initiatives&nbsp;are important to Cottingham, who serves on a new&nbsp;business&nbsp;resource group&nbsp;for team members&nbsp;called MOSAIC.&nbsp;&nbsp;His&nbsp;priorities&nbsp;extend&nbsp;to&nbsp;the community, where&nbsp;he&nbsp;served&nbsp;as&nbsp;vice&nbsp;president&nbsp;of the National Black MBA in&nbsp;Harrisburg&nbsp;and&nbsp;has&nbsp;coordinated&nbsp;programs and&nbsp;scholarship&nbsp;opportunities&nbsp;for&nbsp;teens and&nbsp;young adults. He also led the&nbsp;revamp&nbsp;of a park in an inner-city Harrisburg&nbsp;neighborhood&nbsp;with 500&nbsp;community&nbsp;volunteers.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="123417318" paraeid="{657d5ad8-faeb-45e4-bb10-33c5bfac6eee}{136}">You might say that&nbsp;Cottingham&nbsp;steps up to the plate&nbsp;every&nbsp;day&nbsp;with a winning attitude.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1356945683" paraeid="{657d5ad8-faeb-45e4-bb10-33c5bfac6eee}{162}"><menu><span style="font-size: 24px;">&ldquo;Passionate, purposeful, empathetic, strategic, and inspirational are just a few words that Gary Cottingham embodies. Gary approaches every day with the expectation that he will achieve greatness through his team.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></menu></p> </div>

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