Toshiba Innovators Honored as 2026 Shelby Report Women of Influence for Advancing the Next Era of Grocery Retail
The article reports on the recognition of female innovators from Toshiba as the 2026 Shelby Report Women of Influence. These women are honored for their contributions in advancing the grocery retail sector through innovation, operational impact, and community commitment. The awards emphasize the pivotal role of female leaders in transforming the grocery technology landscape.
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Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions celebrates Hye Suk Makley and Dora Merrick as recipients of the 2026 Shelby Report Women of Influence Awards, recognizing their exceptional leadership, innovation, and impact across the food retail industry. Their achievements reflect the strength of Toshiba's talent and the company's continued momentum in retail technology, reinforced by being named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Grocery and Food Store Retail 2026 Vendor Assessment.
Hye Suk Makley is a Mechanical Engineer IV and consistently elevates operational performance by streamlining processes, strengthening cross‑functional collaboration, and driving initiatives that improve customer experience, product quality, and organizational efficiency. Her disciplined, analytical approach is especially evident in her work on self‑checkout systems, where she optimizes end‑to‑end workflows to enhance speed, reliability, and user experience. As a Toshiba Master Inventor with eight issued patents in the retail and food industry space, Makley is widely sought after to solve complex engineering challenges and deliver solutions that create measurable, enterprise‑wide impact.
"Winning in the grocery industry is less about the visible outputs on the shelf and more about optimizing the systems behind them, including engineering resilient supply chains, improving process efficiency, and designing solutions that scale with demand," said Makley. "As a mechanical engineer, being named a Shelby Report Women of Influence reflects the impact of applying technical precision and problem‑solving to an industry where innovation directly sustains communities."
Dora Merrick is a product manager whose career reflects a deep understanding of how technology, operations, and consumer behavior intersect to shape modern retail experiences. As Senior Global Product Line Manager for Self‑Checkout, Merrick guides the evolution of technologies that empower consumers with greater choice while helping retailers improve operational efficiency, reduce shrink, and scale with confidence across grocery, convenience, and hospitality sectors. Beyond her corporate leadership, she drives meaningful community impact by leading Toshiba's volunteer partnership with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and organizing employees to participate in an annual 5K and donating more than $148,000 to help support the families of injured veterans and first responders, Gold Star families and homeless veterans with mortgage-free homes.
"This recognition fuels my commitment to shaping the future of grocery innovation by creating experiences that are faster, smarter, and more intuitive for every shopper," said Merrick. "The grocery industry is evolving at an incredible pace, and I am proud to help lead innovations designed to empower retailers and elevate the customer journey. This award reflects the power of collaboration and the meaningful impact we can achieve by building technology that truly serves people."
The Shelby Report has honored outstanding women shaping the food industry for more than 20 years. This year's nominees represent a diverse range of roles, backgrounds, and regions, each making a profound impact on their companies and communities.
About the company
About Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions empowers retail to thrive and prosper through a dynamic ecosystem of smarter, more agile solutions and services that enable retailers to resiliently evolve with generations of consumers and adapt to market conditions. Supported by a global organization of devoted employees and partners, retailers gain more visibility and control over operations while enjoying the flexibility to build, scale, and transform retail experiences that anticipate and fulfill consumers' ever-changing needs. Visit commerce.toshiba.com and engage with us on: LinkedIn - YouTube - Facebook - Instagram: @toshibacommerce; X/Twitter: @ToshibaCommerce Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Tec Corporation, which is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
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