People who know incoming Publix CEO Todd Jones say it’s no surprise that the energetic and ambitious grocery executive was picked to lead the tightly held company.
Shortly after being named regional director for Jacksonville in 1999, Publix leaders sent Jones to Cornell University to learn the ins and outs of the international supermarket game, said Burt Flickinger, who taught the course.
“He told me, ‘Jacksonville is the last market Winn-Dixie is number one, but it won’t be long before Publix is on top here,’ ” said Flickinger, now a supermarket industry consultant with Strategic Resource Group.
That commitment and drive is a hallmark for the 53-year-old successor to the Publix top spot, according to analysts and others who know him. An acquaintance in Lakeland said Jones rises at 3:30 a.m. every morning, goes to the gym and gets to work by 5:30 a.m. He may need that drive as he steps into the CEO role at a time when traditional supermarkets are failing and niche players are stealing their business.
Jones will take over as CEO from Ed Crenshaw, who has been the top executive for eight years. It’s the first time in the company’s 85-year history someone outside the founding Jenkins family would lead the company. Jones, who started as a Publix store clerk in New Smyrna Beach, will take the reins on May 1.
Industry sources said Jones was a natural choice at Publix, a company-bred executive who understands the Jenkins’ philosophy.
“You hear a lot of great things about how knowledgeable he is within the business,” said Jon Springer, retail editor for Supermarket News. “He is a hands-on guy. He’s worked in every part of the industry and he’s a doer as well as a leader.”
Publix declined to make Jones or any other company leaders available for interviews. Publix is a private and employee-owned company, and rarely makes its executives available to the media, spokeswoman Maria Brous said.
Jones married his New Smyrna Beach sweetheart Suzette Simonelli at 21. A series of promotions eventually took him to Jacksonville 17 years after he started with the company.
It only took a few years for Jones and Publix to capitalize on the decline of Winn-Dixie, a supermarket that was once the biggest in the Southeast. Winn-Dixie filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and has significantly decreased its store count across the state.
Success in Jacksonville put Jones on the executive track. He was named Publix’s president in 2008, second in line only to Crenshaw.
Jones has lived in Lakeland since 2005 with his wife, Suzette, and has a son and a daughter. He lives in a gated community in a home he bought in 2008 for $1.6 million and is a registered Republican.
He earned $1.06 million combined in cash and stock in 2014, according to federal filings.
Lakeland-based Publix is the nation’s sixth-largest grocery chain with $30.6 billion in sales in 2014 and 180,000 employees at 1,113 stores. The Fortune 500 company holds a dominant lead in the Orlando and Tampa areas, taking about 42 percent of the area’s grocery business, according to industry research group the Shelby Report.
But the Publix territory has seen growth of Whole Foods, Fresh Markets and Trader Joe’s stores in recent years.
Jones and his wife have been active in the Lakeland community, said Kurt Elmhorst, the acquaintance who commented on Jones’ early rising habits. Elmhorst is an area financial adviser and former Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce chairman. Elmhorst and Jones worked together on a handful of fundraisers in the Lakeland community, including events for the United Way of Central Florida.
“He leads by example and he wants to beat everyone into the office,” Elmhorst said.
Elmhorst said Jones is “full of energy” and is a very hands-on executive, frequently visiting area stores.
“I’ve been at social events with Todd and Suzette, and Todd will get a phone call because of an emergency at one of the stores, and he’ll drop everything,” Elmhorst said.
Springer said there was little doubt Jones would be picked to replace Crenshaw, another career Publix employee. Crenshaw had the additional advantage of being the cousin of former CEO Charlie Jenkins, Jr. and the grandson of founder George W. Jenkins.
Crenshaw will become chairman of Publix’s board of directors when he retires at the end of April, a board still controlled by five Jenkins family members.
As company president, Jones and Publix watched many of the country’s biggest supermarket chains file for bankruptcy, Flickinger said.
Jones helped guide Publix through the Great Recession that was particularly hard on the supermarket world, Flickinger said. Publix kept its service-first mantra and also fended off competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart and Aldi.
Publix has become the envy of the industry, with gross margins of nearly 6 percent while competitors are registering only 1 or 2 percent, said Steve Kirn, executive director of the David F. Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at the University of Florida.
Kirn said Jones isn’t being brought in to transform Publix.
“Publix has a formula that works pretty well, and they seem to find ways to innovate within their organization,” Kirn said. “They understand the southeastern United States market and it’s very hard for other companies to come in because they have so many stores.”
karnold@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5664
