Suzanne Ackerman-Berman: the best and the worst of times

Ensuring that millions of South Africans have food on their table is all in a day’s work for Suzanne Ackerman-Berman.

The transformation director for Pick n Pay Group and head of the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation, Ackerman-Berman was the recipient of this year’s Europcar Women in Leadership Award for her monumental efforts to feed the nation of South Africa in lockdown.

As the brains behind the Feed the Nation campaign, she assisted vulnerable families by providing hampers, groceries, and essential items during lockdown, and has since raised more than R80 million to fund it.

Colleagues paid tribute to her at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards held virtually this past Sunday.

“If you want to see leadership skills, watch people in a time of absolute crisis,” said Marc Lubner, the chief executive of Afrika Tikkun. “Suzanne herself contracted the virus, and you would never have known it because she continued to operate by making everyone else’s priorities more important than her own.”

Several others agreed, highlighting Ackerman-Berman’s persistent commitment to helping others and to rallying as much support as she could in pursuit of her goal.

“Suzanne can put herself on any line,” said Hazel Levine, the head of Jewish Community Services in Cape Town. “She has the most incredible determination. She rallied everyone she was connected to, and together with Pick n Pay, she has fed 22 million mouths to date.

“Suzanne, this is such an accomplishment,” she said. “Tonight, you aren’t giving. You are receiving. I’m so proud to witness this moment.”

Ackerman-Berman said that she was deeply moved and honoured to accept the Women in Leadership Award, particularly after the past six months of the pandemic.

“I don’t believe it’s over yet,” she said. “It’s been a terribly difficult time for each one of us, and often in the very worst of times it takes hardship, trouble, and challenges for the best people and personalities to come out.”

Ackerman-Berman recognised the efforts of all those involved in Feed the Nation, from store staff to suppliers.

“I would like to thank our unbelievable teams on the shop floor, the frontline staff who kept our stores open, kept our staff safe, and who kept feeding the community,” she said.

“More than 900 stores have been sourcing, packing, and distributing food hampers over this difficult period. It’s been quite a remarkable exercise where we’ve worked together as a team. We’ve all learned that we need to come together.

“I want to thank my colleagues who allowed me to step up, to step into their space in terms of distribution and operations, and to create this incredible programme with each of them.”

These are outrageous times, said Ackerman-Berman, who believes that we’ve all learned a new way of being.

“Einstein himself said that for evil to perpetuate, a good man must do nothing. I think that what we’ve seen here tonight, with all the awardees, extraordinary work is being done across this nation of ours. It makes us proud to be South African,” she said.

“Thank you to all our customers and to society for helping us to feed the nation.”