JOB FILLED - Member Business Advisor – South East region

• Inspire others by communicating member voice, leading by example, and taking a collaborative approach. 

• Develop strong, direct relationships between INFRA and members. 
• Partner with Business Advisement team to deliver personalized member support. 
• Be aware of, and be able to relate to, the pulse of our industry to our members. 
• Partner to ensure successful new member orientation. 

• Provide regional members with consulting, problem solving, and resource referrals.  
• Maintain and improve stakeholder (staff, members, business partners, associate retailers) engagement and communication internally and externally. 

Existing member business development 

• Leads, or consults on, the development and execution of business development strategies and roadmaps with stages, deadlines, and goals. 
• Achieve relationship-driven member business development/growth goals through a variety of tactics, including but not limited to relationship building, consulting, outreach, store visits, and events. 
• Ensure accurate and easily accessible member data and information. 

• Demenstrate perseverance and bravery in engaging, connecting with, encouraging, and supporting independent business owners and leaders in order to maximize participation. 
• Facilitate inter-member collaboration and community. 
• Support members in their supply agreements with distribution. 
• Lead or participate in regional membership in-person meetings, including operational support, training, and educational events. 
• Conduct training and webinars using existing INFRA tools such as SPINS key account and CoMetrics, targeted specifically at the regional level. 
• Consistently articulate the ROI that INFRA will bring to the member- financially, operationally, and from a values perspective. 
• Continually seek new insights that make things more successful, meaningful, or impactful. 

• Provide regional program support, working to continually increase member participation or program iteration 
• Be a resource for the ongoing development of operational support programs, including follow-up with members after initial store visits 
• Manage and increase participation in pilot group program launches in collaboration with the INFRA team 

• The ideal candidate will possess balanced experience with whole-store and distribution/brokerage knowledge, including at least 6+ years experience in the grocery, natural foods, or equivalent industry required 
• Experience creating business success and growth strategies using a variety of tactics required 
• Conversational or Professional Spanish fluency preferred 
• Knowledge of multi-state business practices preferred 
• Understanding of membership cooperatives or associations, purchasing cooperative organizations, professional services organizations, or food/service organizations preferred. 
• Versatile understanding of how to engage others using a consulting mindset, including facilitation of large meetings, navigating effectively through complex issues, and developing sound recommendations based on effective research. 
• Able to establish great working relationships and communicate effectively with any audience, including confident communication and presentation skills. 
• Digitally savvy, including comfort with a variety of relationship-focused business technology systems, project management tools, CRMs and learning new systems regularly. 
• Enjoy deriving insights from data and using them for smart decision making. 
• Able to manage and effectively prioritize multiple projects and deadlines while consistently delivering high quality results.    
• Experience working with partners in a hybrid (remote + in person) work model preferred 
• Experience with financial comparison and benchmarking preferred 

• How to gain a deep understanding of INFRA’s vision and mission to effectively collaborate to drive change with INFRA, our members, and our partners. 
• How to flexibly apply a consultative mindset to drive member store operational excellence within our diverse, independently owned member base.  
• How to align INFRAs business model with member store solutions that build relationships. 
• How to deepen your understanding of the intricacies of the natural food industry and understand the intersections of manufacturing, distribution, and retail.