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John Shields
Since his 1993 retirement as
President and Chief Executive Officer of First National
Supermarkets, Inc., John Shields has remained active in a
variety of retail and consumer-related businesses. Mr.
Shields is currently the Lead Director of Ganeden Biotech, a
manufacturer of pro-biotic products selling at retail under
the Digestive Advantage label and as an ingredient in
pro-biotic foods. He is also Vice Chairman of the Board of
Directors of EcoSMART Technologies, a manufacturer of
botanical herbicides and pesticides. From 1996 to 2007, Mr.
Shields served on the Board of Wild Oats Marketplace, Inc.,
and was Chairman from 1996 to 2004. From 1997 to 2002, he
was Chairman of the Board of Homeland Stores, Inc.,
Oklahoma’s leading supermarket chain. Mr. Shields also
served on the Boards of two urban development banks,
Southshore Bank of Chicago, and Shorebank of Cleveland, and
as a special advisor to the CEO of Arhaus, a privately
owned, nationally operated, upscale furniture store chain.
From 1966 to 1983, Mr. Shields was employed by Jewel Food
Stores in Chicago, with officer responsibilities as VP Sales
and Advertising, VP Sales - Chicagoland, VP Store Operations
- Midwest Division, VP Research and Development, VP Produce
and Floral, and VP General Merchandise. He has been an
active private investor in a variety of new retail concepts,
including floral superstores, natural herbal and dental
products, Applestix, retail software, specialty toy
retailing, urban “fresh stores,” retail real estate, organic
dairy products, pasta manufacturing, home improvement
stores, veterinary telemedicine and affordable housing. Mr.
Shields has also been very active in leadership and civic
organizations, earlier, as a member of the Boards of
Cleveland Tomorrow, Greater Cleveland Roundtable, Health
Hill Hospital for Children, Minority Economic Opportunity
Center, Leadership Cleveland, Cleveland Scholarship, Young
Presidents Organization, Committee for Public Art and the
Dean’s Advisory Committee of the Goizueta School of Business
at Emory University. He continues to serve on the Boards of
Cleveland’s Neighborhood Progress, Inc., and the Telluride
Historical Museum. Mr. Shields’ successful development of
inner-city supermarkets has been recognized in the Wall
Street Journal and the Harvard Business School Bulletin. He
was honored alongside Finast Supermarkets with the Business
Enterprise Trust’s Business Enterprise Award in 1993 and, in
1999, with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award by the
Emory University Goizueta School of Business. Mr. Shields
received a B.B.A degree with Honors from Emory University in
1964, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of
Business in 1966 where he was a J. Spencer Love Fellow.
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