Roughly five months after naming dual CEOs, West Des Moines-based grocer Hy-Vee announced that one of them has stepped into a role as one of two presidents of the company — while the other will retain the CEO title and become a vice chairman of the company's board of directors.

The shuffling in the executive suite began in late July, when Hy-Vee announced Aaron Wiese, who was then a vice-chairman at Hy-Vee, would succeed Randy Edeker, who stepped down after serving as CEO and president but retained his post as chairman of the board.

The change was set to become effective Oct. 1, but in mid-August, Hy-Vee announced that Jeremy Gosch, the company’s then co-chief operating officer and chief marketing officer, would be named co-CEO.

A company spokesperson explained the move by saying the company always had intended to announce both Wiese and Gosch as CEOs but had wanted to give each his "own moment of recognition."

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Hy-Vee's presidents to report to Jeremy Gosch

On Dec. 21, however, the company announced that three top executives, including Weise, will now report to Gosch, who will be the company's sole CEO. Wiese, as one of two company presidents under Gosch, will oversee Hy-Vee's health and wellness subsidiaries, as well as distribution and technology, company spokesperson Tina Pothoff said.

The other president will be Donna Tweeten, overseeing marketing, merchandising, private brands and digital development, Pothoff said.

The third executive reporting to Gosch will be Chief Operating Officer Kevin Sherlock. Sherlock started his Hy-Vee career in 1986, was named executive vice president of merchandising and advertising in 2018 and became the executive vice president and chief merchandising officer in June.

David Livingston, a supermarket industry analyst, described consolidation of the CEO role as a return to "normal." He noted that morale at the company has been low after Hy-Vee eliminated more than 415 jobs from its corporate office in West Des Moines.

"You just need to get one person making logical sense at the top. Makes a lot of sense," Livingston said. "There's a lot of politics at the top."

Hy-Vee restructures leadership into 'areas of focus' as company expands

Hy-Vee operates 285 grocery stores in eight states and has about $12 billion in annual revenue.

At the time the co-CEO arrangement was announced, Edker said the combined job of CEO and president had become too large for one person.

“We’ve reached a point where one person can no longer hold the title of chairman, CEO and president for the entire company,” Edeker said in a statement in August. “We have become more than just a grocer. With our focus on health and wellness, pharmacy, restaurants, grocery, distribution and digital assets, it’s time we evolved our leadership structure to best position the business for the future, which is why Jeremy will also serve as a CEO for the company.”

Asked to explain the change, Pothoff in an email said, "As we continue to expand as a company, our leadership has now been restructured into areas of focus."

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Gosch graduated from Aplington-Parkersburg Community High School in Parkersburg and received his bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Iowa.

He began his Hy-Vee career in 1995 as a part-time clerk at the Lantern Park Plaza Hy-Vee in Coralville. For 12 years he worked in retail operations management roles, including as store director at multiple locations.

In 2012, Gosch was promoted to assistant vice president of operations for Hy-Vee's northeast region. Six years later in 2018, he became the executive vice president, co-chief operating officer and chief marketing officer.

Last year was a busy year for Hy-Vee. The company launched new divisions and went online with its retail platforms, including WholeLotta Good, Hy-VeeDeals.com and RexBox RX.

In December 2021, Hy-Vee announced plans to build a distribution center in Nashville, Tennessee, build two stores in the Nashville metro area, one in Knoxville and one in Memphis. Hy-Vee also plans to build stores in Huntsville, Alabama; Louisville, Kentucky; and Indianapolis.

In March, Hy-Vee announced the location of its first Nashville-area store. But Livingston, the supermarket industry analyst, said Hy-Vee will be in a disadvantageous position when competing against grocers like Publix and Kroger that have established customer bases there, Livingston said. Hy-Vee also likes to promote employees from within, but amid a nationwide labor shortage, it could be tough to open stores outside its established area without relocating "a lot of people," he said.

"Normal logic says they shouldn’t leapfrog into new areas because they have no name recognition," Livingston said. "Publix and Hy-Vee historically, they've been really good companies to work for."

Dozens of grocery chain expansion plans have failed because "someone with a big ego thinks they know more than everybody else and they don't" is in charge, Livingston said. Hy-Vee's return to one CEO may be a sign that the company plans to curtail those expansion plans.

"I'm thinking they want to get back and run things like a normal grocery company," he said.

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Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hy-Vee names Jeremy Gosch as sole CEO, abandons two-CEO plan