Trader Joe’s CEO to receive top alumni award


The CEO of Trader Joe’s is slated to receive USC’s highest alumni honor on April 28, the university announced this week.

’69 alumnus Dan Bane, who serves on the USC Leventhal School of Accounting Board of Advisors, will receive the Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement Award, named for the 1931-32 president of the Alumni Association, at the 79th annual USC Alumni Awards at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

The annual award has been given to alumni including former Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher and actor John Wayne. It is given to alumni who demonstrate exceptional commitment to the university.

Trader Joe’s appointed Bane chairman and CEO in 2001 after he served as president of Trader Joe’s West. The company has opened more than 100 new stores nationwide since then.

In 2002, Bane decided Trader Joe’s should start selling bottles of Charles Shaw wine. Now, the company sells about 13 million bottles of Two-Buck Chuck annually, according to a press release.