Randy Edeker, who began his 43-year career at Hy-Vee Inc. as a part-time employee in Chariton, steps down on July 31 as executive chairman of the board of the West Des Moines-based company.

Edeker led his last board of directors meeting on July 18.

The 61-year-old has been preparing for his retirement from Hy-Vee since about four years ago.

“I’ve had a succession strategy in place for the last four years, and I’ve been working to get Jeremy [Gosch] into position to be ready and to remove myself over time,” Edeker said during a recent interview with the Business Record. “As he comes up, my role has diminished. That’s really been my strategy – to work him into a position to take over, and he’s absolutely ready.”

Identifying potential company leaders early in their careers and preparing them for top leadership roles is deeply embedded in Hy-Vee’s culture. The company’s first president, CEO and board chairman, Dwight Vredenburg, identified Ron Pearson as a potential leader early in his career with Hy-Vee, according to historical summaries of the company. Pearson, who retired as board chair in 2006, did the same with Ric Jurgens. Jurgens, who retired as board chair in 2012, did the same with Edeker.

“At most companies that [have] $14 billion [in sales], the board goes out and picks the next CEO,” Edeker said. “At Hy-Vee, we’ve not done that. That may evolve and change, but for now, it falls to the current CEO and chairman to pick the next one and to make sure it’s somebody who is capable and ready to lead.”

In January 2023, Hy-Vee announced that Gosch, then company president, would become its chief executive officer. Gosch, who began his Hy-Vee career in 1996 as a part-time clerk, is now chairman of Hy-Vee’s board of directors. Edeker promoted Gosch into an executive leadership role in 2012.

“I’ve put him through a training regimen, and he’s done exceptionally,” Edeker said.

Edeker’s impact on Hy-Vee

Gosch said Edeker has been a close adviser during the past 12 years, showing him what it meant to be an executive officer at Hy-Vee.

Just as importantly, Gosch said, Edeker “taught me about the soft skills that go with the job. … Often, he would say, ‘It’s not what you say to people, it’s how you made them feel – that’s what they’re going to remember moving forward.’ Conversations like that make you think differently about how you start conversations and how you end them.”

Edeker became Hy-Vee’s fourth president in 2009. He was named CEO and board chairman in 2012.

Among the accomplishments Edeker said he is most proud of is how Hy-Vee evolved as needs of customers changed and advancements in technology were made.

“If I’m proud of anything, it’s that I’ve monitored the ebbs and the flows of the customer,” Edeker said. “It’s helped us to move before they move so we’re where they are going.”

An example is Hy-Vee’s expansion in health care. In 2013, Hy-Vee opened its first micro-fulfillment pharmacy that uses advanced automation technology to fill prescriptions that are then sent to pharmacies. The company now has six centers in five states, allowing pharmacists to spend more time with patients rather than filling prescriptions.

“It doesn’t count pills wrong; it doesn’t pick the wrong pills. It’s just a better way to fill scripts,” Edeker said. “If we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be in the pharmacy business today.”

In 2014, Hy-Vee acquired Amber Pharmacy, a specialty pharmacy solutions provider based in Omaha. Specialty pharmacies help patients manage chronic conditions with a care team that creates a personalized plan for clinical care, insurance and financial administrative assistance. In 2021, Hy-Vee launched a new subsidiary called RedBox RX that provides telehealth and online pharmacy services, shipping prescribed treatments to patients’ homes. In 2023, Hy-Vee opened its first health infusion clinics, one in West Des Moines and another in Chicago. The free-standing clinics offer treatments for rheumatology, gastroenterology, oncology and other chronic conditions.

Pharmacy is Hy-Vee’s largest department, and has been for over a decade, Edeker said.

If the company hadn’t delved deeply into pharmacy “we’d be like other chains – we’d have meat and grocery and that’s it,” Edeker said. “That’s just not a future. It’s a 1950s grocery store.”

Earlier this year, Edeker was recognized for his influence and advocacy in the retail and health care industries, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Chain Drug Review and the W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award – the pharmacy industry’s highest honor – from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Edeker’s future plans

Under Edeker’s leadership, Hy-Vee has grown to more than 570 business units. That includes food, convenience, drug, and wine and spirit stores and medical clinics. Sales have nearly doubled, from $7 billion annually to nearly $14 billion.

“We’ve always had a growth mentality,” Edeker said. “I always have been aggressive. … I pushed the envelope on growth constantly.”

That type of growth will continue under Gosch, Edeker said. “I would predict that in five to seven years, we will have doubled our size [in sales volume]. The strategy that we’ve put in place – and it’s now his strategy – is a good one. You’ll see acquisitions become part of our strategy along with organic growth. You’ll see us build two or three big stores in Indianapolis and two or three in Nashville.”

Edeker said Hy-Vee will also likely acquire additional independent pharmacies.

Edeker said that, while he’s retiring from Hy-Vee, he’ll continue to be involved in areas in which he’s passionate. He’s involved with the Center for American Medicine Independence, a new group whose goal is to improve the United States’ drug supply chain by not relying so heavily on China for pharmaceuticals. He said he’s also becoming involved with the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit organization that works with the private sector to transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity.

“I’ve been in the office way longer than I was in” a store, Edeker said. “My original goal was to become a store director. I did that for a year-and-a-half and then moved to the office where I’ve been for [many] years. There are other things I want to do beyond here, and now seems like a good time to do them.”