PRIDE Centric Resources, the dealer buying and marketing group based in Greenwood Village, Colo., announced Aug. 19 that Pres. and CEO Karin Sugarman has informed the board of directors of her intention to retire after a collective 28-year tenure. Sugarman will remain CEO as the PRIDE board of directors completes a comprehensive leadership review.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I want to thank Karin for her commitment to, and championship of, the organization and the independent dealers,” said Jeff Atkinson, chair of PRIDE’s board. “Her unique perspective and skills helped bring PRIDE through a turbulent time to its current stability. The cooperative is positioned to thrive in the future due to the strength of its members and professional staff. We appreciate that Karin has offered to stay on as CEO to maintain operations and to assist with the transition. We have been working on this process for over a year and look forward to the next chapter for Karin personally and for PRIDE”,
“I have had the honor of working with, and for, an amazing group of people over the past three decades.” Sugarman said. “The strong team we have at PRIDE will continue to serve our community, and I am excited about what these leaders will accomplish in the future. I look forward to taking a step back to spend time with my husband Paul and son Nicholas and to devote more time to civic and charitable activities that have taken a back seat since I rejoined PRIDE in 2016,” said Karin Sugarman.
Sugarman has a long history with PRIDE, going back to its earlier days when it was based in Louisiana. A trained accountant, she spent more than seven years as controller of the group in the 1990s. In 2000, she left to become GM at COYOD, a manufacturer of serving equipment in Savannah, Tenn., then returned to PRIDE as executive vp from 2003 to 2012 after the group moved to Colorado.
She became uncomfortable with the direction of the group as it ramped up its Food Service Warehouse online marketing arm and left to work for Scotsman for a year, then took over as CFO at Ice-O-Matic in 2013.
After the collapse of FSW in 2015 and 2016, the group, which was nearly bankrupt, brought her back as CEO. She negotiated settlements with scores of suppliers who had been affected by the FSW collapse, stabilized the dealer member base and piloted the group back to its current stability. It is a legacy of which she can be justly proud.
She also has been a good friend to me and to scores of others throughout the industry. I’m sure we’ll continue to see her in the future. Heck, she’s still PRIDE’s leader until they find a new one.
