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Mueller-Yurgae Associates, Blue Bunny’s George Tracy also recognized at IGIA annual dinner
More than 400 grocery industry leaders attended the 16th Annual Iowa Grocery Industry Association Hall of Fame Dinner Tuesday, November 3, at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel, where the IGIA honored its Retailer of the Year, Supplier of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award winners.
Earning this year’s Retailer of the Year award was Ric Jurgens, the chairman, president and CEO of Hy-Vee, Inc. Jurgens is in his 40th year with the West Des Moines-based grocery chain. The native of Des Moines, Iowa, first started working for Hy-Vee in 1969 at the company’s store in west Ames as a college student at Iowa State University. He spent eight years at the store level before moving into the corporate sector in 1977, which included serving as president of Perishable Distributors of Iowa – one of Hy-Vee’s subsidiaries located in Ankeny, Iowa – from 1986-96.
Jurgens was promoted to his current position in 2003 when Ron Pearson, the 1995 IGIA Retailer of the Year recipient, stepped down as Hy-Vee’s CEO and appointed Jurgens his successor. He is just the third person to lead the grocery chain, which ranks the 26th largest among retailers and wholesalers in North America.
Jurgens is the fifth Hy-Vee employee to earn the Retailer of the Year award from the IGIA since Pearson received the honor in 1995. In addition to being involved with the Iowa Grocery Industry Association since the early 1980s, Jurgens currently represents the food industry nationally as chairman of the Food Marketing Institute and vice chairman of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation.
Claiming the honor of 2009 IGIA Supplier of the Year was Mueller-Yurgae Associates. Headquartered in Grimes, Iowa, Mueller-Yurgae Associates is a family-owned business that has been operating since 1975 when Fred Mueller and Phil Yurgae founded the company. The food broker has three other offices in the Omaha, Kansas City and Denver areas with a total of 118 full-time employees that help service its 255 principals.
The Iowa Grocery Industry Association also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for the first time since 2006. This year’s recipient was George Tracy, who is currently employed by Blue Bunny. Tracy has more than 40 years of experience in the grocery industry, including 27 at former Des Moines-based food broker Sales Force Companies, where he served as the organization’s president for 15 years.
The Ankeny resident’s extensive professional background is matched nearly equally by his involvement in the community, which plays a factor in earning this honor. Tracy is a member of the Ankeny School Board and Coaches vs. Cancer board, among others. He also served as a high school basketball referee and softball umpire for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and has been inducted into its hall of fame for both.
Other individuals honored at the dinner included Norm Gorder, of Burke Corporation; Pat Hagan, of Fareway Stores, Inc.; and State Representative Geri Huser. Gorder was named the 2009 IGIA Volunteer of the Year while Hagan and Huser were presented with this year’s Grocers Political Action Committee and Legislative Leadership Awards, respectively.
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