Longtime Hy-Vee Veteran Jurgens Sets 2012 Retirement

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Ric Jurgens, the chairman and chief executive officer of Hy-Vee here, who helped the company re-define its mission statement, is now preparing to redefine his own personal mission.

Speaking at last week’s annual meeting of the employee-owned company, Jurgens, 62, said he plans to retire on June 1, 2012. He asked the company’s board of directors to elect as his successor Randy Edeker, 49, who is currently president and chief operating officer.

Hy-Vee operates 235 stores in eight Midwestern states, with sales of $7.3 billion for the fiscal year that ended Oct. 2.

Jurgens told SN he does not contemplate a post-retirement future working as a consultant or doing any industry work for that matter.

“If I thought I’d be a consultant or do any other job after I retire, I would not retire,” he said. “I love Hy-Vee as much as you can love a company, and I am very proud of the people here, and I would not leave all this if I thought I might do some other job.”

He said he plans to spend more time with family and pursuing his hobbies.

“I consider myself a very blessed man. I hate to leave home in the morning, but I love to come to work. And I hate to leave work at night, but I love to go home. I have a pre-disposition to like life, and I enjoy whatever I do.”

Jurgens has been with Hy-Vee for 42 years, starting as a part-timer at Hy-Vee while attending college, then moving through store positions to become a store director and later a regional manager.

He was named president of Perishables Distributors of Iowa, a Hy-Vee subsidiary, in 1986. He returned to the parent company in 1995 as senior vice president and chief administrative officer.

In 2001 he succeeded Ron Pearson as Hy-Vee’s third president; in 2003 he was named CEO; and in 2006 he succeeded Pearson as chairman.

Asked what he considers his greatest accomplishment as CEO, Jurgens told SN, “Trying to pin it down to one thing would be an exercise in futility. But after having led the company the last few years, I believe I can retire knowing full well that the people are in place to keep the company strong, to protect the employees I love and to protect the legacy we tried to create over the history of this company.”

Reflecting on Jurgens’ tenure, Edeker said, “Ric helped us refine our mission and our vision, and he never let us lose sight of the fact everything we do as a company is done in service to the customer. Even in the midst of the economic downturn, he encouraged us to be proactive and find new ways to improve the customer experience in our stores.”

Jurgens acknowledged that the revised mission statement drafted under his leadership “is designed to make people’s lives easier, healthier and happier.

“When we wrote the statement, we originally talked about making customers’ lives easier, healthier and happier, but we changed it to encompass all people because we believe a Hy-Vee store should be an oasis for everyone from the strains of life.”

In keeping with that philosophy, Hy-Vee has become an industry leader under Jurgens’ watch in the area of personal health — installing dieticians at every store and being one of the first chains to introduce the NuVal nutrition-labeling system in 2009.

Jurgens, who served two years as chairman of Food Marketing Institute, was also involved in launching the industry’s Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and its front-of-package labeling initiative; and he is currently co-chairing an effort to make Iowa the healthiest state in the U.S. over the next five years.

Asked about his interest in health, Jurgens said he’s always been an exercise devotee, which meshed with the increased focus on health among consumers.

“I believe a company like Hy-Vee can make a difference because we are perfectly positioned to make a difference — and if you can make a difference, then you should make a difference.”

Jurgens said he believes anyone can be replaced. 

“When I became CEO, I was asked if I’d be as good a CEO as Ron Pearson or [company founder] Dwight Vredenburg, and I said I’d be as good collectively with the rest of management as we were under Ron or Dwight, and we have been — not because of my leadership but because we know we’ve worked as a team and that together we made a difference.”