Schnucks names Jada Reese chief people officer

Schnucks Markets has named Jada D. Reese as leader of its human resources activities in her new post as chief people officer.

Reese will oversee department functions that include teammate recruitment, retention, labor relations, training and development, diversity, equity, inclusion efforts, and culture and values integration. 

She also will be a member of the company’s Strategy Team, a 10-member team of executives tasked with leading the overall direction and execution of the company.

“As we live our mission to nourish people’s lives, we know it begins with our most important resource – our nearly 12,000 teammates,” Schnucks Chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement. “Jada’s broad industry leadership experience in human resources, along with her values-based approach to empowering teams, will help us to position our teammates for success in everything we do to serve our customers.”

Prior to joining Schnucks, which operates 114 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, Reese held human resource leadership roles at major St. Louis companies, including BJC HealthCare, Express Scripts and Anheuser-Busch. She most recently was senior vice president, human resources, at Clayton, Mo.-based Enterprise Bank & Trust. 

Reese’s past responsibilities included ideating and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies; overseeing mergers and acquisitions integrations; developing employee recruitment and retention programs; leveraging thought leadership activities; and instituting change management programs, the company said.

Reese holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Missouri S&T and a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University.  She also is a graduate of the FOCUS St. Louis’ Leadership program and is a St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellow.

The hiring of Reese is just the latest employee-related initiative by Schnucks. Earlier this month, the retailer announced it was expanding its Schnucks Flexforce program to 26 areas in Illinois along with two stores in Indiana and three in Missouri. The initiative, which was launched in the St. Louis area last October, allows employees flexibility in choosing their shifts and store locations.