Schraad Team Members Recognized as 2026 Women of Influence by The Shelby Report
Shelby Publishing, responsible for both The Shelby Report and The Griffin Report, has recently announced the 2026 slate of honorees for the 21st annual Women of Influence in the Food Industry. Six Schraad Sales and Marketing team members have received the recognition. From Retail Strategy, to Business Development, from Customer Service to Data Analytics, Schraad Sales and Marketing is proud to see this group of established professionals and innovators awarded for their hard work.
Read on to learn more about the award itself, and information about each recipient.
From Shelby Publishing on the Award:
“The Women of Influence program is open to retailers, wholesalers/distributors, trade associations, suppliers, solutions providers and sales and marketing agencies.
The honorees represent companies coast to coast and have various backgrounds and experience. The categories include manufacturers, brokers, distributors, retailers, chefs, convenience stores, organizations/associations and restaurants.
These women trendsetters are qualified for inclusion due to their leadership, skills and dedication. All these women are an inspiration to others – and all are making a difference in the food industry today.”
Schraad's Women of Influence 2026 Honorees
Nellie Carlson - Sr. Director of Retail Strategy
Nellie is a strategic and results-driven leader with more than 21 years of experience in the CPG industry. As Sr. Director of Retail Strategy at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she oversees retail operations across key markets, including the entire state of Texas—the company’s largest market by revenue—as well as a major Midwest-based account. She manages relationships with multiple top 20 clients, ensuring retail execution consistently meets key performance objectives and delivers measurable value.
Since joining Schraad in 2025, Nellie has led transformative changes to the company’s retail team structure across Texas. Within her first four months, she implemented a dedicated retail coverage model that increased field coverage by more than 50% in the first month alone. She also directed the launch of five new retail-only contracts, creating immediate momentum and opening additional opportunities for client representation in 2026.
Nellie’s leadership is grounded in strong communication, collaboration, and operational discipline. She identified opportunities to improve how field teams structure store-level tasks, allowing representatives to focus on high-impact execution while generating more meaningful insights for clients.
With five direct reports and more than 30 indirect field team members, Nellie prioritizes training, process improvement, and knowledge sharing to build high-performing teams. Through continuous evaluation of reporting, execution, and strategy, she ensures her teams remain focused on delivering measurable results and long-term growth for both clients and the organization.
Kacy Springer - Creative Development Project Manager
Kacy is a collaborative leader who bridges the gap between sales and marketing to strengthen both creative execution and business growth. As Creative Development Project Manager at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she works across departments to elevate the quality and impact of the organization’s creative work while ensuring projects remain aligned with strategic sales objectives. Her ability to bring teams together around a shared vision helps streamline complex projects and produce stronger results for clients and partners.
In addition to her marketing leadership, Kacy also contributes as a Business Development Manager, where she is known for her solutions-focused approach to gaining and maintaining distribution. By prioritizing clear communication and strong relationships, she helps clients navigate challenges and identify opportunities that drive long-term success from farm to shelf to table.
Kacy’s leadership style centers on collaboration, positivity, and a strong focus on people. She works to create alignment between teams that may traditionally operate separately, helping ensure ideas move forward efficiently and with shared purpose.
Outside of her professional role, Kacy is deeply committed to serving her community. She volunteers preparing and serving meals for first responders through her church, coaches girls’ volleyball and softball, and helps organize youth track meets. She also leads a weekly Bible study, mentoring others and fostering personal and spiritual growth. Through both her work and community involvement, Kacy consistently brings people together and inspires those around her.
Casey Martin - Sr. Client & Customer Support Specialist
Casey is a strategic operations leader focused on strengthening client experience through scalable systems, empowered teams, and operational excellence. As Sr. Client & Customer Support Analyst at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she plays a critical role in ensuring the company’s rapid growth is supported by a strong operational foundation that allows teams and clients to succeed.
Recognizing that sustainable growth required a more structured support framework, Casey led the restructuring of the Customer Service and Orders department. She implemented scalable processes, developed training programs, and authored operational guides that help team members better understand their roles and consistently deliver value to clients. Her work has helped transform the department into a more proactive and reliable partner for both internal teams and external stakeholders.
Casey also leads new client onboarding and serves as a trusted resource for complex vendor and customer challenges. By analyzing workflows and identifying operational gaps, she continually refines processes that improve efficiency, strengthen communication, and reduce the risk of critical details being missed.
Her leadership philosophy is rooted in the belief that customer service is a direct reflection of a company’s values. By investing in people, strengthening systems, and fostering collaboration across teams, Casey helps create an environment where service excellence drives stronger partnerships and long-term organizational success.
Emilee Albright - Category Insights Manager
Emilee is a data-driven leader who brings strategic insight and analytical expertise to category management. As Category Insights Manager at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she transforms complex market data into actionable strategies that drive measurable business growth. Through advanced analytics, cross-functional collaboration, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior, she helps guide category strategy, strengthen product positioning, and uncover new revenue opportunities for both clients and retail partners.
Emilee plays a key role in translating insights into clear, impactful business decisions. By analyzing syndicated data, market trends, and shopper behavior, she provides teams with the clarity needed to prioritize opportunities and execute strategic plans with confidence. Her ability to connect data with storytelling helps align teams across sales, marketing, and leadership around shared growth objectives.
Her leadership style emphasizes curiosity, accountability, and continuous learning. Emilee works to create an environment where teams feel empowered to ask questions, explore insights, and use data to guide decision-making. Through training and collaboration, she helps colleagues better understand how to leverage insights tools to strengthen category performance and long-term strategy.
Outside of work, Emilee is deeply committed to building community. From hosting weekly gatherings that bring people together to supporting neighborhood initiatives such as a community garden and local service projects, she actively invests in creating connection and support within her community.
Lisa Lam - Retail & Data Systems Specialist
Lisa’s influence comes from her ability to solve complex operational challenges while enabling others across the organization to succeed. As a Retail & Data Systems Specialist at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she designs and maintains the retail execution infrastructure that connects field activity to measurable business outcomes. Her work ensures field teams focus on the right stores, leadership has reliable data for decision-making, and execution strategies translate effectively into results.
In just a few years in the industry, Lisa has demonstrated exceptional results-oriented performance. She led the rebuild of the company’s retail execution “Route List” infrastructure, standardizing how more than 5,800 stores connect to 95 territories and multiple customer and distributor networks. This transformation reduced manual data reconciliation by roughly 96%, saving teams an estimated 15–20 hours each week while improving store coverage visibility from about 60% to more than 85%.
Lisa’s leadership is grounded in collaboration, mentorship, and clarity. She partners closely with sales, retail operations, and analytics teams to ensure systems reflect how people actually work in the field. She also maintains internal documentation and mentors’ peers and new hires, helping preserve institutional knowledge and build solutions that strengthen the organization over time.
Nicki Zuber - Business Development Manager
Nicki is a relationship-driven leader with more than 26 years of experience in the CPG industry. As a Business Development Manager at Schraad Sales & Marketing, she focuses on building strong partnerships with both clients and customers to drive meaningful business growth. Her approach combines strategic thinking, collaboration, and a commitment to clear communication, ensuring that brand objectives and customer needs remain aligned.
Nicki has built a reputation for developing trusted relationships by prioritizing transparency, responsiveness, and problem-solving. By listening closely to customers and working collaboratively with clients, she helps identify opportunities that strengthen brand performance while delivering value for retail partners. Her ability to navigate challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset allows her to consistently support long-term growth and successful partnerships.
Throughout her career, Nicki has maintained strong connections across teams and organizations, recognizing that open communication and collaboration are essential to achieving lasting results. Her leadership style emphasizes partnership, accountability, and a shared commitment to success.
Outside of her professional role, Nicki is dedicated to supporting her community. Each year she participates in the Walk for Vision and the Trolley Run, events that benefit the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired. These causes are especially meaningful to her, as close friends are affected by eye diseases, and her involvement helps raise awareness and support services that improve lives.
Congratulations from Schraad Sales & Marketing
Congratulations again to members of the Schraad Team, as well as the other honorees recognized for Shelby Publishing’s 21st Annual Women of Influence in the Food Industry.
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