Running the Race: Leadership, Motherhood and Momentum with Nora Stabert
This Mother’s Day, WISE is celebrating the women who are running the race of leadership and motherhood with purpose, resilience and momentum, and few embody that journey more powerfully than Nora Stabert, whose career journey reflects ambition, resilience, and the evolving reality of modern-day motherhood.
From management consulting to helping grow a multigenerational family business, leading transformative acquisitions, serving as Chair of the National Pasta Association, and now leading Ingredients & Co-manufacturing and Foodservice sales at Winland Foods, Nora has built a career defined by strategic leadership and continuous growth. Along the way, she also completed an executive MBA at The Wharton School while raising two young daughters (Dolly – 7 years old; Paige – 5 years old) with her husband of 10 years (Nemo). Her story is a reminder that leadership and motherhood are not competing identities. For many women, they make each other stronger.
What makes Nora’s perspective especially meaningful is how openly she connects motherhood to the way she leads. She shares that becoming a mom has strengthened her resilience, sharpened her adaptability, and reinforced the importance of showing up with consistency, even when energy is low and life feels full. Those lessons have shaped a leadership style that is engaged, hands on, and grounded in building sustainable momentum for her team. She offers a fitting analogy through running, describing leadership as setting the pace and providing direction while staying mindful of the terrain ahead and the need for a sustainable rhythm. That balance of speed to execution, momentum with endurance, and keeping a team aligned and supported over the long term is a philosophy that carries through both her leadership and her life.
Some of Nora’s most pivotal career moments unfolded alongside major milestones in motherhood. She returned from maternity leave as the acquisition of A. Zerega’s Sons was underway, running the acquisition process and leading the transformational integration effort. During the uncertainty of the pandemic and supply chain disruption, she navigated one of the most challenging periods in business while also raising an infant and a toddler at the same time, a season many working parents will immediately recognize as both joyful and demanding. Managing the pressures of a global operating environment while parenting two very young children tested endurance in every sense, but also shaped her growth as a leader. In many ways, endurance has been a theme throughout her life, from training for Ironmans earlier in her career to maintaining what she calls “consistent morning runs,” a simple practice that remains central to how she starts her day and creates steadiness amid complexity.
For many working mothers, balance can feel elusive. Nora offers a refreshingly practical perspective - rather than chasing perfection, she focuses on priorities and non-negotiables: reasonable sleep, weekly grocery trips and family movie nights matter just as much as professional commitments. It is not about doing everything at once, but making sure the important things get done. She also finds small ways to stay productive in the margins, including using flights to process emails no matter the time of day, a habit many colleagues likely recognize from her early-morning and late-night messages.
Her approach to growth is equally intentional. Staying intellectually curious is important to her, whether through leadership development, industry insights, or staying informed through resources like the Food Institute Podcast, Marketplace Podcast, and concise daily news summaries (e.g., CNN’s 5 Things). That curiosity reflects her belief that personal, professional, and family goals can coexist, even if achieving them requires constant recalibration.
When asked what advice she would give women growing careers while raising families, Nora’s message is both practical and empowering: “Have an idea of what you want and be clear about the things you are not willing to give up.” For her, that has meant setting personal rules that protect what matters most -- never miss birthdays, prioritize running five days a week, and structure travel around early morning departures and late-night returns to minimize nights away from home. Those boundaries are not limitations, but tools that help make ambition sustainable. Just as importantly, she encourages women to give themselves grace when life feels chaotic. Plans change. Kids get sick. Work intensifies. And in those moments, self-comparison can become a trap. As Nora reminds us, comparison is the thief of joy.
There is also lighthearted wisdom in how Nora describes motherhood, bringing her back to foundational lessons adults sometimes overlook. With a nod to Bluey and Daniel Tiger, she reflects on how parenting has reinforced timeless principles around communication, emotional awareness and respect. As a self-described family of weekend warriors, moving from parks to museums to sporting events, she knows the pace of family life can bring plenty of challenging emotions, but she sees those moments as practice. Communicating clearly, channeling emotions productively and leading with respect are values she works to instill at home and ones she intentionally brings back to work each day. It is a powerful reminder that leadership lessons do not only come from boardrooms or business schools; sometimes they come from the backseat of a family car or a conversation after a tough toddler moment.
Perhaps that is the heart of Nora’s story this Mother’s Day -- working motherhood does not diminish leadership. It can deepen it. It can sharpen resilience, strengthen empathy, clarify priorities and remind us that success is not measured by perfection, but by purpose.
As WISE celebrates mothers across our community this month, Nora’s story is a powerful reminder that women do not have to choose between ambition and family. Sometimes the very experiences that challenge us most are the ones that make us even stronger leaders. Furthermore, sometimes leadership begins with something as simple as a morning run, a family movie night, a lesson from Bluey, or giving yourself grace when life does not go according to plan.
Finally, Nora credits that her leadership is supported by her village – her accomplishments and goals would not be possible without her husband (Nemo), parents (Bill and Stephanie) and amazing Winland team!