Food Lion Deepens Commitment to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Retailer Joins CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ Commitment

SALISBURY, N.C., Feb. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food Lion, already a leader in fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, announced today that Meg Ham, president of Food Lion, has joined the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ coalition. The organization is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance this important work.

In signing this commitment, Food Lion joins a partnership of more than 1,500 CEOs pledging to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace environment where associates have a sense of belonging and feel comfortable discussing diversity and inclusion.

“At Food Lion, our value of care is at the center of everything we do, and one of the ways we care for our associates is by nourishing a sense of belonging,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. “Joining the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion coalition gives us a greater opportunity to share and learn best practices from organizations who share our commitment to growing a diverse and inclusive environment. The towns and cities we serve are diverse, and a diverse workforce makes us a better neighbor.”

As a signatory of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, Food Lion is dedicated to working collaboratively to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace through conversation, engagement, and collaboration among organizations, and is committing to four actions:

1. Continue to cultivate workplaces that support open dialogue on complex, and sometimes difficult conversations about diversity and inclusion
2. Implement and expand unconscious bias education
3. Share best known – and unsuccessful – actions
4. Create and share strategic inclusion and diversity plans with our board of directors

To learn more about the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, visit CEOAction.com.

Food Lion has a long and proud history of fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. Last month, Food Lion earned its 12th consecutive perfect score on the 2021 Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. Additionally, the National Business Inclusion Consortium named Food Lion among the Best-of-the-Best corporations in America committed to diversity and inclusion for a fourth consecutive year.

Food Lion also supports nine internal business resource groups, comprised of associates committed to ensuring a sense of belonging for all associates in the organization.

Further, in September 2020, Food Lion announced it had made significant donations to long-standing community partners to support their work to racial equality and justice. All funding was earmarked for related initiatives, including scholarships and internships for Black and African American students, education and social engagement in the Black and African American community, Census participation and voter registration, development of diverse suppliers, education for children on civil rights, police community relations, virtual town halls and community engagement series.

For more on Food Lion’s commitment to supporting a diverse and inclusive workplace, click here.

About Food Lion
Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., since 1957, has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 77,000 associates. By leveraging its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations, Food Lion is working to own the easiest full shop grocery experience in the Southeast, anchored by a strong commitment to affordability, freshness, and the communities it serves. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has donated more than 750 million meals to individuals and families since 2014 and has committed to donate 1 billion more meals by 2025. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com or job applicants may visit www.foodlion.com/careers.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a886d536-a9a3-4ac6-8a7d-1d5dcf92bb93