Former Hy-Vee CEO Randy Edeker to retire from supermarket giant

Randy Edeker, who started as a part-time employee at the Chariton store in 1981 and eventually became CEO and chairman of the board of Iowa’s largest employer, will officially retire from Hy-Vee on July 31 after 43 years with the company.

Edeker was elected president of the company by shareholders in 2009 and appointed chairman of the board and CEO in 2012. In 2022, Edeker became executive chairman of the board, a position from which he will retire.

Jeremy Gosch is now chairman of the board and CEO of Hy-Vee.

According to Tina Potthoff, Hy-Vee’s Senior Vice President of Communications, Edeker transformed the grocery chain from a mid-sized regional supermarket chain into a national retail brand with nearly $14 billion in sales, more than 570 retail locations and more than 75,000 employees.

Potthoff said Edeker has guided Hy-Vee through some of the most difficult times in the company’s history, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and expanded operations into new business areas such as e-commerce and retail media.

“Additionally, he took our health care operations to new levels and was a tireless advocate for the pharmacy profession,” Potthoff said in an emailed statement.

In addition to Hy-Vee, Edeker has also led retail operations and served as chairman of several boards, including the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), FMI – the Food Industry Association and Topco Associates, Potthoff said.

Edeker has received widespread recognition for his work in the industry, including: FMI’s Sidney R. Rabb Award in 2019; being named one of Mass Market Retailers’ Greatest Retailing Executives of All Time in 2020; receiving the Iowa Pharmacy Association’s Legislative Champion Award in 2021; and being honored with the Chain Drug Review’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the NACDS’s Sheldon W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, Potthoff said.