Elizabeth City, N.C. — Recognition at the highest level of a company doesn’t happen by accident. Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) alumnus MJ Hudson, a 2012 graduate, has been named Food Lion’s Store Manager of the Year for the Raleigh region—an honor recognizing his leadership, team performance and community impact.
For Hudson, the award carries weight because of who helped decide it.
“Being named store manager of the year was an honor, mostly because it is a selection heavily weighed by peer votes,” Hudson said. “Knowing that my peers recognized the work my team and I put in last year was rewarding.”
Hudson leads with intentionality, discipline, and a people-first mindset. But his story didn’t begin in the manager’s office.
A native of Havelock, NC, he began his career with Food Lion at 17 years old while attending Craven Community College. He started working at Food Lion as his part-time job “for pocket money.” His responsibilities included getting carts, bagging groceries and cleaning floors and bathrooms—work he says laid the foundation for everything that followed.
Within his first year, he was promoted to stocker and then grocery manager, beginning a steady rise through the company’s leadership ranks.
After earning his associate degree, Hudson transferred to ECSU as a nontraditional student, majoring in physical education with a concentration in fitness. While balancing coursework and work responsibilities, he stepped down to part-time status, but never stepped away from long-term growth.
After graduation, Hudson moved to Durham, NC.
“I returned to grocery manager,” Hudson said. “A year later, I was promoted to evening manager.”
Then, the climb continued.
“Three years later, I was promoted to assistant store manager. Three months after that, I was promoted to store manager, where I am now in year six.”
Hudson’s 21-year career has been one built on readiness.
Hudson credits his time at ECSU for sharpening the leadership skills that now define his management style. As keeper of exchequer and membership intake coordinator for Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. (spring ’10), he developed planning and organizational skills.
According to Hudson, these experiences helped him build the trust necessary to lead people.
Over two decades in retail management, Hudson says growth has required humility and awareness. Among the biggest lessons he has learned: “Remain coachable. I won’t know everything, and I can always get better.” He also emphasizes the importance of recognizing that not everyone develops at the same rate.
Hudson finished his advice with one more rule: “Shake every hand everywhere you go. You never know who knows who.”
Those lessons guide his leadership daily. He motivates his team by sharing performance metrics—showing “where we are winning and where there is opportunity to get better,” Hudson said. He supports his team with encouragement, training and celebrating “everything down to the smallest positive. It motivates people to want to do more.”
In 2026, Hudson took on the role of Towns and Cities Ambassador, serving as a community service coordinator focused on combating food insecurity through food pantries, food bank volunteerism, pop-up shops, food drives, and seasonal in-store fundraisers.
“As a community leader, we are the towns and cities we serve,” he said.
Across grocery store aisles, Hudson’s leadership is measured in sales figures, in the people he develops, in the communities he serves, and in the example he sets.