Hy-Vee President Donna Tweeten to Retire
Longtime retail leader and nationally recognized marketing icon Donna Tweeten has announced her retirement from Hy-Vee, Inc., effective Jan. 24, 2025.
In 2022, Tweeten became the first woman in Hy-Vee history to serve as the company’s president.
She has guided Hy-Vee’s brand and image strategy and helped double the size of the Iowa-based grocery chain during her tenure. Under her leadership, Hy-Vee also became the first retailer to engage in a name, image, likeness (NIL) contract with basketball star Caitlin Clark, as well as sign partnerships with Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, and U.S Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East.
“No one has shaped the Hy-Vee brand with such skill, precision and creativity more than Donna Tweeten,” said Jeremy Gosch, Hy-Vee’s chairman and CEO. “Throughout her career, Donna has served as an innovator, trailblazer and creative thinker in nearly every aspect of Hy-Vee’s operations. There’s no doubt that her influence will be felt across Hy-Vee for decades to come.”
Tweeten came to Hy-Vee with an extensive background in advertising, working for such firms as Davis Harrison Dion–Chicago, Anderson Communications and serving as the president and chief creative officer of The Meyocks Group, Hy-Vee’s agency of record.
She joined Hy-Vee in 2006 as assistant VP, communications and was promoted to assistant VP, marketing in 2009. In 2011, she was selected as VP, brand image. Tweeten was promoted to VP, marketing/communications in 2013, and in 2014, she was named SVP, chief marketing officer. In 2016, she was promoted to EVP and elected to Hy-Vee’s board of directors, and later that year she became EVP, chief marketing officer/chief customer officer. In 2020, she was also named chief of staff. In 2022, Tweeten transitioned to EVP, chief of staff, chief merchandising officer and then was promoted to EVP, chief of staff, chief marketing officer. In late 2022, Tweeten was promoted to her current role as president of Hy-Vee.
Tweeten has received a number of honors throughout her career including being named one of Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Grocery in 2011, 2013 and 2019, and received the publication’s highest honor, the Top Women in Grocery Trailblazer award, in 2023. In 2022, Tweeten also earned the Top Women In Store Brands Lifetime Achievement honor for the wide array of initiatives she helped launch.
She has also been nationally recognized for her influence in the advertising and sports marketing industries, including being named a 2024 Champion of Change by ADWEEK and receiving Ad Age’s Leading Women Forward award. This year, Tweeten also received FMI’s Esther Peterson Award for Consumer Service.
Tweeten received her bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa and obtained certification from the Kellogg School of Management’s Executive Leadership program at Northwestern University in Illinois.
The retail leader plans to consult and continue to mentor others after her retirement from Hy-Vee.
Employee-owned Hy-Vee operates more than 570 business units across eight Midwestern states, with sales of more than $13 billion annually. The West Des Moines, Iowa-based company has more than 75,000 employees and is No. 38 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
