Fareway beefs up its omnichannel strategy with new leadership promotions

Looking to strengthen its leadership team and advance the grocery retailer’s omnichannel strategy, Fareway Stores Inc. on Thursday announced several corporate promotions. The Boone, Iowa-based grocery retailer is also gearing up for its new store opening on March 1 in West Des Moines, Iowa, Fareway told WGB. The store will be located at 9080 Mills Civic Parkway.

The leadership promotions include Aaron Irlbeck, who has been promoted to SVP of campus operations. Irlbeck joined Fareway in June of 1992 as a part-time employee at the Carroll, Iowa location. He then had stops in Fareway’s Storm Lake, Iowa and Urbandale, Iowa stores, where he was promoted to assistant store manager.  In 2005, Irlbeck joined the corporate office in Boone, Iowa, and held various management roles within the buying department before being promoted to SVP in 2018. In 2019, he was promoted to SVP of digital commerce, leading e-commerce sales and the online shopping team.

John Cramer has been promoted to VP of e-commerce operations for the grocery retailer. Cramer began his career with Fareway in 1990. Cramer worked in the meat department before advancing to assistant manager and then to a manager position. In 2012 he became a corporate supervisor. Cramer has been involved in the development and launch of Fareway’s e-commerce program and was elected to retail VP in February of 2021.

Chad Hickcox has been promoted to regional VP. Hickcox began his career with Fareway in 1991 as a carryout in Webster City, Iowa. In 1995, he graduated from Iowa Central Community College with a degree in food marketing management and in 1996 was transferred to Fareway’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 2000, he was promoted to assistant manager at the grocery retailer’s Altoona, Iowa location. After several years in various locations, he was promoted to regional supervisor at Fareway’s Omaha, Nebraska location.

“These officers are important members of our team, having been instrumental in supporting and executing Fareway’s strategy,” Fareway CEO Reynolds W. Cramer, who will be honored in April as a 2022 inductee to the Iowa Business Hall of Fame, said in a statement. “They contribute greatly to our core and expanding operations and will be important to our continued success. We are excited to identify, foster, develop and grow talent at Fareway; and Aaron, John and Chad are three excellent examples of that.”

Fareway, which is a family-owned business, has 133 stores in seven states. The Midwest grocer also operates stand-alone meat markets and last year opened its first Fareway Meat Market in Minnesota.