Katie Penny Named Food City District Manager

Katie Penny Named Food City District Manager
Abingdon, VA. - Thursday, Jan 6, 2022.

Food City recently named Katie Penny as a district manager within the company’s Chattanooga operating division.  A third-generation grocer, Penny brings a lifetime of knowledge and experience to this key role.  

“Since joining our company in early 2020, Katie has excelled in her leadership abilities and shown tremendous growth, having completed our management training program, and become a store manager, running our Signal Mountain store.  She also brings a special focus to our food service operation, having spent 7 years of her career in the hospitality industry,” says Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer.  “Having known Katie all of her life, I know first-hand how passionate she is about people, products, and her teammates.  She will certainly be an asset to our company for many years to come and it’s great to see another member of our family taking a leadership role within the company.”

Penny originally joined the Food City team in 2006, working part-time as a fuel pricing assistant while in high school. She returned to the company full-time in 2020, serving as human relations coordinator manager. Penny was the first person to serve in this newly created position and developed the role through her engagement with the company’s team of in-store human relations coordinators.  She later completed the company’s manager training program and most recently served as store manager for the Signal Mountain Food City in Chattanooga, TN.  Penny served on the company’s in-store design committee, is a founding member of Food City’s EMPOWER program, and is also a member of the company’s Senior Staff executive leadership team.  Prior to joining the company, she spent 7 years in management in the hospitality industry.

Penny graduated from James Madison University with a BBA, with a focus on hospitality and tourism management in 2012.  She received her MBA from the University of Miami in 2019 and completed the NGA Cornell Executive Leadership Development Program in 2021.  Penny currently resides in Chattanooga, TN with her husband, Tres, and their two Great Danes, Levi and Strauss. 

In her new role, Penny will be responsible for the oversite of 9 stores in the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County.  She succeeds Rodney Dillard, who was recently promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations for Food City’s Chattanooga division.  

 

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) operates 138 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia, and Alabama.