Friends of George Graziadio Golf Tournament

2009 Best Friend Award Honoree

Alfred A. Plamann

The Graziadio School is proud to bestow the 2009 Best Friend Award to Alfred A. Plamann, president and chief executive officer of Unified Grocers, Inc.  As a founding member of the Graziadio School Board of Visitors and longtime friend of George Graziadio, Al has earned this award with our greatest appreciation.

Al was named president and CEO in September 1999 when Los Angeles-based Certified Grocers of California, Ltd. merged with United Grocers, Inc. of Portland, Oregon. Prior to the merger, Al served as president & CEO of Certified Grocers of California for six years and also spent four years as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer.

Prior to joining Certified in 1989, Al had a distinguished 13-year career with Atlantic-Richfield Company (ARCO) in Los Angeles.

Currently he serves on the board of the Food Marketing Institute as well as the National Cooperative Grocers Association. Al serves on the Washington, D.C.-based National Cooperative Bank board of directors. In February of 2004, he was inducted into the CGA Hall of Achievement.

He is a member of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (board member), the Town Hall of Los Angeles (board member), the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University (board of visitors member), Weingart Center Association, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to the homeless in Los Angeles and is a former chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Al holds a B.S. in accounting and real estate from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton). He and his wife, Nancy, live in the Los Angeles area.

The Graziadio School is honored and proud to have Al as our 2009 "Best Friend."