CEO Ric Jurgens to retire June 1

Today at Hy-Vee’s annual meeting, Chairman and CEO Ric Jurgens surprised stockholders with the announcement that he plans to retire from the company effective June 1, 2012.

You can read the official news here, but I thought I’d use this space to share some additional thoughts:

It’s not easy to follow in the footsteps of giants. Ric is only the third person in the 81-year history of Hy-Vee to hold the titles of Chairman of the Board, CEO and President. The first, the legendary Dwight Vredenburg, was the son of co-founder David Vredenburg and served as Hy-Vee’s top officer for 50 years, establishing fundamental operating principles that guide the company to this day. He was succeeded by Ron Pearson, whose vision and drive transformed Hy-Vee supermarkets into one-stop-shopping centers designed to meet the needs of busy lifestyles.

Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Huge, in fact.  But Ric Jurgens not only rose to the challenge, he embraced it, mapping out a bold course to refine the company’s mission and goals while reinforcing the fundamental values that have made Hy-Vee successful: friendliness, helpfulness, honesty, respect and dedication. Under his leadership, Hy-Vee has become the undisputed pacesetter in supermarket health and wellness,  the company everyone else in the industry looks to for ideas and inspiration.

As good a boss as he’s been, Ric has been an even better friend to the people who have had the good fortune to work with him. He takes great joy in the success of others and is a tireless promoter of Hy-Vee, its employees and the communities in which we operate. “Making lives easier, healthier and happier” is more than just the corporate mission Ric Jurgens helped craft — it’s the personal motto by which he lives.

Ric will ask the company’s  Board of Directors in May to elect Randy Edeker, Hy-Vee’s current president and chief operating officer, to succeed him as chairman and CEO. Randy is the perfect choice to build on Ric’s record of success and take Hy-Vee to new heights in the years to come. It’s merely the latest in a long, long line of sound decisions Ric Jurgens has made for the benefit of Hy-Vee during his 42-year career.

Big shoes, indeed.