Tonya Gurganus’ career with Food Lion is a testament to what can happen when professional commitment is paired with a dedication to service. For more than three decades with the company, the Lander University alumna has built a career defined by leadership and business acumen, as well as a deep-rooted belief in giving back to the communities she serves.
That philosophy was on full display during her recent visit to campus, where Gurganus returned to connect with Lander business students taught by Dr. Kara McAlister, an assistant professor of management in Lander’s College of Business and Technology. Alongside her message about perseverance and professional growth, she brought tangible support of compassion through a donation of more than 700 items for Lander’s Bear Necessities Food Pantry, which often serves as many as 100 students weekly.
As manager of strategic initiatives for Food Lion, Gurganus works with the company’s 112 stores in 10 states. “Since Food Lion opened in the 1950s as a small, local business in North Carolina, we have been committed to the towns and cities where we’re located,” she said. “We are very passionate about helping end hunger in communities. Since 2014, we have served over one billion meals … we believe in the value of service and volunteer work.”
From Customer Service to Corporate Service
Gurganus’ career with Food Lion began at age 16 at the register, where she learned firsthand the value of customer service and hard work. Starting as a cashier, she advanced in the company’s ranks, taking on new responsibilities and leadership roles along the way.
A major part of her story, she said, includes her college life at Lander. Recruited in 1992 to play for Lander’s softball team, Gurganus majored in business administration and continued working at Food Lion. “The company worked with my schedule, which helped me to continue working for them even though I had classes and softball games and practices,” she said.
“Truthfully, I never intended to stay at Food Lion, but I was offered a full-time job as I was graduating, and I grew to appreciate the company’s values. I stayed and built my career with Food Lion.”
Along with Adam Beasley, a Food Lion store manager in Greenwood, Gurganus talked with students about the company’s “Count on Me” culture, which focuses on caring for its employees, customers and communities through several distinct pillars – “know what to do, make it easy, do your part, and do it all with care.”
Beasley discussed a tradition that began among store managers to compete against each other to pack food boxes that are distributed to local food banks. “We see this sense of caring even in our stores,” he said. “Food Lion emphasizes caring about people, not just sales. It’s a special job. It’s a family. I started out as a part-time associate at age 18. Food Lion gave me opportunities for professional development, and now I manage a store with 85 employees.”
Connecting the Classroom with Real-World Leadership
Having the Food Lion executives speak to her class is an incredibly important opportunity, McAlister said, because it connects classroom learning to real-world leadership.
When students hear directly from alumni and business leaders, “they see what career paths actually look like and understand how concepts like culture, leadership and growth play out in practice,” she said. “It also helps students envision themselves in those roles and recognize that their career journey can start exactly where they are today.”
McAlister said she hopes the students, who helped unload the food items and stock the Lander food pantry’s shelves, “take away both inspiration and perspective. Tonya’s story -- starting with Food Lion as a teenager and advancing to a corporate executive – demonstrates that growth comes from hard work, consistency and embracing opportunities,” McAlister said. “I also hope they saw how organizations can scale significantly while maintaining a strong, family-like culture centered on people and community.”
The donation to the food pantry made the visit especially impactful, she said. “Students didn’t just hear about values like service and community. They witnessed them in action. Seeing more than 700 food items delivered and then helping unload and stock them reinforced the importance of giving back. It helps students understand that leadership extends beyond business success to community responsibility.”
“Like Home”
When a student asked Gurganus, “when did you realize Food Lion was like home,” she said the realization came when she was working as a customer front-end manager. “I was in my 20s. I got into the job and working with the customers who came in the store and the employees meant a lot to me. I started loving my job, and within seven years I knew this was where I was meant to stay,” she said.
Each store has a valuable role in the community, helping in times of crisis and disasters, she said, noting the work that the company did to provide food in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024.
“We serve our towns and our communities, and we are there when people need us,” she said.
By embracing service at every step, Gurganus discovered that the true value of her job was not just in what she did, but in the difference she made – a lesson she now is sharing with Lander’s students and future business leaders.