Randy Edeker
Chairman of the Board
Randy Edeker is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Hy-Vee, Inc., a position he has held since 2012. He also served as president from 2012-2021.
A 40-year veteran of Hy-Vee, Edeker began his Hy-Vee career in 1981 as a part-time employee at the Hy-Vee store in Chariton, Iowa. He quickly progressed through the ranks at Hy-Vee, working at stores in Lincoln, Nebraska; Davenport, Iowa; Milan, Illinois; and Kirksville, Missouri, before getting his first store director assignment in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1993. In 1999, he joined the southern region as director of operations and later became assistant vice president of operations.
Edeker was named vice president of marketing for Hy-Vee in 2004. In 2006, Edeker was promoted to senior vice president of retail operations, and in 2008, he became executive vice president and chief operating officer. Stockholders elected him to the position of president in 2009.
Edeker serves as an executive committee member and a member of the board of directors for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, chair of the Food Marketing Institute and serves on the board of directors for Topco Associates.
Edeker was named 2014 Retailer of the Year by the Iowa Grocery Industry Association and 2014 CEO of the Year by Retail Leader Magazine. In 2016, Edeker was awarded the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s Industry Collaboration Leadership Award for his excellence in promoting collaboration among industry trading partners. In 2018, Edeker was named one of Mass Market Retailers’ 50 Most Influential People in mass market retailing for his adaptability and innovation, and again in 2020 for Hy-Vee’s response to COVID-19, which included adapting company operations and services to meet the diverse and evolving needs of customers. In January 2019, Food Marketing Institute awarded Edeker with the 2019 Sidney R. Rabb Award for his commitment to the consumer, community and the overall industry. In 2020, Edeker was named one of Mass Market Retailers’ Greatest Retailing Executives of All Time for the way he has shaped the future of retail. In 2021, he received three Globee CEO World Awards for best-in-class leadership, innovation and services amid the COVID-19 pandemic; the Legislative Champion Award from the Iowa Pharmacy Association for his advocacy for the profession of pharmacy and his service on Iowa’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board Public Health and Healthcare workgroup formed in response to COVID-19; and the CEO of the Year Prometheus Award from the Iowa Technology Association.
He and his wife, Dawn, have two daughters and sons-in-law, seven grandchildren and reside in the Des Moines area.