Longtime Hy-Vee executive Jay Marshall has been elevated to the position of vice chairman for the grocery chain, the latest step in his 38-year career with Hy-Vee. The company also announced the retirement of Brett Bremser, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. With Bremser’s retirement, current Hy-Vee Executive Vice President Darren Baty will take on the key role of executive vice president, chief merchandising officer. Baty will oversee merchandising as well as other areas of the company, such as health and beauty, floral, procurement and advertising.
Craig Clasen, Hy-Vee’s senior vice president of retail business development, also retired on Jan. 1. Clasen oversaw several vendor and supplier relationships while also vetting new, innovative products and companies.
Marshall will serve as vice chairman of Hy-Vee, while also continuing to oversee the operations of Hy-Vee’s supply chain and subsidiaries. In this position, he will assist Hy-Vee Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Randy Edeker, alongside Hy-Vee’s board of directors, with leading the company through today’s rapidly changing retail climate.
“While Jay will oversee key areas of our company, he will also work on the larger challenges facing the retail industry today,” Edeker said. “Jay has worked in and led virtually every area of Hy-Vee throughout his career, and he is a great and trusted leader. I am confident that he will do an excellent job in this new role.”
Marshall has been with Hy-Vee since 1982, filling a variety of leadership roles at both the store and corporate level. Most recently, he has served as executive vice president, co-chief operating officer, and president, Hy-Vee subsidiaries/commissaries, for the past two years. With this change, Hy-Vee’s Executive Vice President Jeremy Gosch will continue to serve as the company’s chief operating officer.
Bremser started with Hy-Vee in 1981 as a part-time clerk at a Hy-Vee in Council Bluffs, and spent several years in various management positions at Hy-Vee stores in the Omaha area. He received his first Hy-Vee store director assignment in 2002 at the Overland Park South Hy-Vee. In 2005, he was selected to lead the Perry store, and in 2007 became director of the Urbandale Hy-Vee store. He served on the Hy-Vee board of directors in 2008 before becoming an officer of the company as assistant vice president, advertising, in 2010. In 2012, he became vice president, center store, and the following year added overseeing general merchandise, HBC and fuel operations. In 2013, he was promoted to senior vice president, merchandising. Bremser was named senior vice president, western region, in 2014, and in 2015 he was promoted to executive vice president, western region. He moved into the role of executive vice president, perishables, in 2016 and was promoted to his current position as chief merchandising officer in 2017
