{"id":10,"date":"2026-09-02T20:36:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeridiangroupusa.com\/?page_id=10"},"modified":"2026-09-02T23:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:22:25","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/themeridiangroupusa.com\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Duane<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Duane Martin<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Duane Martin has spent his career running P&L for some of the largest and most complex organizations in retail and distribution \u2014 rebuilding more than once when the easy path wasn’t available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As President & EVP of IGA North America and IGA Global, Duane grew U.S. sales from $7.1B to over $8B \u2014 while reducing store count to strengthen the value of the brand \u2014 and grew IGA’s total global revenue from $16B to $22B. Earlier, as Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Universal Food & Beverage Company, he led a public reverse merger and raised more than $25M in institutional capital. Most recently, as Chief Growth Officer of International Food Specialist and then at McLane Global, he inherited a distributor program and rebuilt it into a multi-million-dollar Master Distributor operation \u2014 growing customer count over 100% and increasing margins along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, as Managing Partner of The Meridian Group USA, Duane works as a hands-on, de facto EVP for companies that need senior operating and AI-integration expertise without a full-time hire \u2014 spanning CPG brand strategy, supply chain resilience, and board-level governance. He is also Managing Partner & Board Member of Martin Properties, a role he’s held for over 17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duane trained in IGA’s executive partnership program with Campbell Soup Company at the Wharton School, and has served on advisory boards for Coca-Cola, U.S. Special Olympics, and IGA’s Red Oval council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Boardroom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Duane founded the Newlin Martin Foundation \u2014 named for his father \u2014 supporting rural 4-H youth, and has hosted an annual Christmas Charity Gala since 1999 benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network and the Wounded Warrior Project. He also owns and works with horses \u2014 an experience that’s shaped how he thinks about leadership: a horse can sense hesitation or bluff before you’re even aware of it yourself, and boards and executive teams aren’t all that different. As Duane puts it, trust is felt before it’s earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Duane Martin Duane Martin has spent his career running P&L for some of the largest and most complex organizations in retail and distribution \u2014 rebuilding more than once when the easy path wasn’t available. As President & EVP of IGA North America and IGA Global, Duane grew U.S. sales from $7.1B to over $8B \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - The Meridian Group USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/the-meridian-group-usa-141464c.ingress-daribow.ewp.live\/index.php\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - The Meridian Group USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Duane Martin Duane Martin has spent his career running P&L for some of the largest and most complex organizations in retail and distribution \u2014 rebuilding more than once when the easy path wasn’t available. 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