Liza Salaria

Practice Lead – Category Management & Foodservice

Business Strategy, Category Management, Pricing Optimization, Wholesale Category Management/Buying, Fresh Food Program Development, Innovative Merchandising Solutions, Small Format Store Design & Branding

Liza brings innovative leadership to Impact 21, inspiring teams to think differently and push the boundaries of traditional industry norms. She taps into her expertise in small format merchandising, marketing, branding, and business strategy to help companies realize their business objectives. Liza’s deep background in merchandising, paired with her knack for strategic thinking, enable her to lead merchandising and marketing strategy that results in achieved sales and gross profit goals. Liza extends her expertise, particularly in fresh food program development, as a NACS speaker.

Liza applied her aptitude for guiding staff and clients, along with her industry savvy, to several senior leadership roles. She served as Senior Director of Brand Concept Development at Sunoco, with past experience as Senior Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising at Mid-Atlantic Convenience Stores and various senior merchandising roles at Giant Eagle.

Liza also brings a wealth of knowledge to wholesale distribution, having over ten years of experience leading wholesale procurement teams in three distribution verticals: grocery, foodservice, and convenience. She has led supply chain projects for companies transitioning from third-party wholesale to internal supplied – establishing procurement teams, wholesale programs, and financial structure

Native to Pennsylvania, Liza graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration in Finance. She has attended many business leadership programs from Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell universities. Liza has returned to her home state of PA, though her career first led her to Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Liza believes in playing an active role to improve living conditions to those that are most in need. She founded Zaden, connecting the world to the exquisite hand-embroidered clothing designs of Kashmir India one stitch at a time. Her teenaged sons keep her busy between track meets, soccer games, and piano recitals. She finds time for herself through running, yoga and relaxing with friends by the fire-pit on weekends.