Cathy Cooksley
Retail Specialist – Ft Myers Division

Cathy Cooksley joins the Seidman Hudon team as a Retail Specialist with a concentration in Southwest Florida.  Her retail expertise and impeccable work ethic are a compliment to our growing team.

Cathy has lived in several regions of the United States.   She was born in West Virginia, raised in Ohio and in 1966 she moved to Naples Florida with her family.  She started working at Publix as a retail associate, which is where she met her husband Mike.  She worked for Publix Supermarkets for thirteen years and in 1984 she retired to spend more time with her two sons Nick and Kagen, which she believes are her best accomplishments.

She was a stay at home mom for two years before she had the urge to work again.  She was offered a part-time opportunity with Morris Foods a food broker in the Southeast.   Her leadership abilities did not go unnoticed and within a short period of time she was supervising six retail representatives.   She led a successful team with integrity, a commitment to strong work ethics, and respect for others.  

While working at Morris Foods she was introduced to the distributor side of the business.  They were related to Hi-Grade Distributing and this exposed her to Winn-Dixie and U-Save where she eventually made headquarter calls.    The direction she was taking with the company put her in a position where she would need to relocate.  After discussion with her husband they decided to stay in the area they had grown to enjoy and she embarked on a new career with Specialty Partners.  Cathy had a successful ten-year career with Specialty Partners, which is now Acosta Sales and Marketing.

In her free time, she enjoys biking and kayaking with her husband through the many canals and mangroves Florida has to offer.  She also enjoys quilting, a hobby her mother passed along to her with a special frame built by her great-grandfather. Cathy and Mike love the mountains of North Carolina and hope to retire there some day and become “snowbirds”.