Bill McEwan

William G. "Bill" McEwan is President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Sobeys Inc., the second largest Canadian grocery retailer and food distributor.

A native of Trail, British Columbia, at 15, McEwan had a part-time job bagging groceries at a local store; he liked it so much that after a year-and-a-half at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, he went back to the business full-time.

Since then, McEwan has spent more than 30 years in the grocery retailing and consumer packaged goods industries, with Super Valu, Ferraro's Limited, Coca-Cola (where he was vice president market development, Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd.) and The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P). At A&P, McEwan was senior vice president of grocery and non-food merchandising for the company's Canadian operations, before being appointed president and chief merchandising officer in 1996. He was later appointed president and CEO of the company's U.S. Atlantic Region.

Since joining Sobeys in November 2000, McEwan has overseen the development and execution of the company's long-term strategic plan. McEwan is also on the board of directors for CIES - The Food Business Forum, and is a past chairman of the Grocery Industry Foundation Together (GIFT) in Canada.

In November, 2005 McEwan was presented the Golden Pencil Award, The Food Industry Association of Canada's highest distinction.

He lives with his second wife Donna in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.