Laura Shapira Karet

President and Chief Executive Officer, Giant Eagle, Inc.

An accomplished and inspiring retailer leader, Laura Shapira Karet leads and oversees Giant Eagle, Inc., one of the nation’s largest multi-format food, fuel, pharmacy, and convenience retailers with approximately 33,000 Team Members and $10 billion in annual sales. Karet was appointed Chief Executive Officer on January 9, 2012. Giant Eagle is one of Forbes magazine’s largest private corporations. Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with more than 470 corporate and independently owned and operated supermarkets, and fuel and convenience store locations throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia, western Maryland and Indiana. Prior to leading the company’s day-to-day operations, Karet served as Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Executive Vice President. In that role, Karet developed and managed Giant Eagle’s short and long-term strategic business plans, set the direction for the Company’s corporate priorities and was also directly responsible for the manufacturing ventures, including its fresh food production facilities. Karet joined Giant Eagle in 2000 as Vice President of Marketing and was later promoted to Sr. Vice President of Marketing and President of New Formats. During that time, Karet led the development, branding and implementation efforts behind the launch of the new innovative Market District format in 2006. Prior to joining Giant Eagle, Karet held executive marketing and branding positions at Sara Lee and Procter and Gamble. Karet is deeply committed to community economic and workforce development, food insecurity, and early childhood education. She is an active member on the board of directors for various organizations, including: Food Marketing Institute (FMI); Common Threads; The Pittsburgh Foundation; United Way of Allegheny County; Allegheny County Parks Foundation; and Holy Family Institute. Karet previously served on boards for the National Organization on Disability (NDO), Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, The Institute for Transfusion Medicine (ITxM), Carnegie Museum and Carnegie Science Center. Karet is also a Trustee on the Committee for Economic Development (CED) of The Conference Board and is the Chair of The Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Previously, she served as Chair of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. A native of Pittsburgh, Karet graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor’s degree in English and resides in the Pittsburgh area with her husband and three children.