Jan 12, 2009
ARLINGTON, VA – January 12, 2009 – Milton Sender, chairman and co-founder of Daymon Worldwide, Inc., received the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) 2009 William H. Albers Industry Relations Award today. FMI Chairman Steve Smith presented the award to Sender at the association’s Midwinter Executive Conference in Orlando, FL.

     Sender helped build Daymon into the world’s leading company specializing in the sales and marketing of private label products. “Daymon encouraged suppliers to innovate and improve product quality. The company helped retailers use private label to enhance their brand as merchants of high-value products. Retailers now use their store brands to make a competitive statement,” Smith said.

     “Consumers appreciate this value, especially in today’s economy,” Smith added. Private label products now account for about 20 percent of supermarket sales, up from 3-5 percent when Daymon was founded in 1970.

     “Milt is a driving force behind FMI’s new private label initiative,” said Smith. FMI launched this program in November 2008 to provide industrywide leadership, education and advocacy for private brand products. This June, FMI is introducing a Private Brands Summit featuring research and education. Later this year, FMI will hold a Private Label Business Conference, where trading partners can plan strategies and tactics to maximize private brand sales.

     Sender serves on the Board of GS1, a global technology standards organization, and is working to ensure that private label products meet international standards. For example, he is focusing on the new GS1 DataBar, a code that code carries more information than the U.P.C. but takes up less space. This code will facilitate efforts underway to develop traceback systems for different commodities.

     Sender made a commitment to fund cancer research after the disease took the life of partner Peter Schwartz. Schwartz’s widow and Daymon provided the initial money to launch research on early cancer detection at the Massachusetts General Hospital. This Research in Cell Biology and Cancer project is teamed by 22 scientists focused on fighting prostate and breast cancer.

The William H. Albers Award was introduced in 1955 in honor of the first chairman of the Super Market Institute, one of FMI’s predecessor organizations. Sender is the 65th recipient of the award.