MMR: Mass Market Retailers, June 22, 2020

MASS MARKET RETAILINGS MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN company called Retail Zipline to provide a digital solution to communicate and send messages to all Hy Vee employees via an app on their phones Anything that we can do in the digital space to give employees and customers the information they need or the ability to order and secure products and services in a contactless manner is definitely desirable Ringena says So when the pandemic broke it really shined a light on different areas we had already been working on in the digital space and in some cases weve accelerated our work or changed WEST DES MOINES Iowa As senior vice president and chief digital officer at Hy Vee Inc Jessica Ringena and her team are responsible for the retailers customer and certain employeefacing digital initiatives Those efforts took on new urgency with the COVID 19 epidemic as Hy Vee sought new ways to communicate with all of its frontline retail employees and offer new contactless shopping experiences for its customers In an effort to allow senior and store level leadership to better communicate with employees Hy Vee partnered with a our road maps to accommodate for the new environment Hy Vee has focused on contactless ordering payment and curbside pickup But the effort is bigger than that We are looking at our entire portfolio of offerings Ringena says and making sure were focusing Communication is key to fulfilling Hy Vees mission Weve accelerated our work or changed our road maps to serve in this new environment on ways to bring that full digital experience to every aspect of the store not just with online grocery but also pharmacy and food service A certified public accountant by trade Ringena joined Hy Vee in October 2015 as assistant vice president and controller In 2017 she was named vice president of innovation and business development In that role she was responsible for working with the retailers strategy and innovation team to provide financial analysis and project support for new retail concepts and initiatives that included helping develop a delivery service associated with its Market Grille restaurants and opening Hy Vees produce and fresh food commissaries Ringena was recently named to her current role of senior vice president and chief digital officer and now her focus is on leveraging digital technologies to enhance the shopping experience for Hy Vees customers both online and in store To that end Hy Vee is working with a company called Bringg to optimize its curbside pickup experience making it faster and more efficient The company is also working to enhance its Aisles Online e commerce offering to make the online shopping experience better with personalized recommendations and a wider variety of products Hy Vee recently added a twohour express pickup option as part of its Hy Vee Aisles Online grocery ordering service that allows customers to pay a fee to pick up their order faster Hy Vee has also rolled out a program to make more prepared meals and heat and eat food options available to its online and curbside pickup shoppers through its Mealtime To Go program Its all part of a larger effort to leverage digital technology to change the way Hy Vee communicates with and serves its customers retailers having gone dark consumers needed to know that Hy Vee stores were open for business and that shelves were stocked with food and other everyday essentials Potthoff oversees the corporate communications team at Hy Vee that proactively solves problems and helps Hy Vee fulfill its mission of making customers lives easier healthier and happier Team members deploy a variety of tools to communicate across multiple media platforms Potthoff says Its one thing to rely on mainstream media for your messaging but when COVID 19 WEST DES MOINES Iowa Communication with residents of towns and neighborhoods in eight Midwestern states served by Hy Vee stores took on a new urgency during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic says Tina Potthoff senior vice president of communications at the grocery chain Especially during the pandemic the No 1 concern that customers had was How are you keeping me safe Is your store taking the necessary precautions to address COVID 19 and if so what exactly are you doing Potthoff says And with malls and many started it was imperative that we utilize every single tool we had to get the word out about what we were and are continuing to do That includes the use of social media news releases Zoom interviews weekly video updates and in store signage all to talk about the new things happening throughout our company Things like preventative measures weve implemented contactless free food giveaway events related to COVID 19 or ways to keep kids occupied at home are all topics we wanted our customers to know about When you have a crisis of this magnitude communication is key and all the avenues must come together so you can best take care of your employees and customers Potthoff initially joined Hy Vee as a senior communications manager after spending nearly two decades in various marketing public relations and TV journalism roles I was determined to get into the world of journalism when I graduated from the University of Notre Dame even though I graduated from the college of business she says After nine years in journalism Potthoff took a public relations job with the Iowa Lottery I would provide people with their winnings People would come in and wed do stories on the winners of the mega jackpots or the Powerball It was exciting to do but that ended when historical flooding hit Iowa in 2008 and the Iowa Governors Office pulled people from certain state government jobs and into a new department created to help the state recover from that disaster she says At that time Potthoff was assigned to the newly created Rebuild Iowa Office and charged with helping to coordinate the recovery from what turned out to be one of the largest natural disasters in Iowas history I went there reluctant to go and saying to myself Im not into disaster work Id prefer to continue to do my positive stories about people winning money she says But I ended up serving as the director of communications for the department There were approximately 30 of us in the office working on rebuilding the state securing funding and communicating with those who had been impacted by the floods The office was only open for three years but by that point I had fallen in love with disaster and emergency management and communications one another on a personal as well as professional basis I am very proud of how adaptable and productive our teams have been For Murphys own agenda there have clearly been some critical priorities that she needed to deal with given the vital role that WBA plays in serving local communities with their health and personal care needs The company has seen dramatic shifts in customer behavior during this period giving it the chance to embrace new opportunities particularly in the digital space which has been exciting and produced valuable learnings DEERFIELD Ill All around the world Walgreens Boots Alliances teams have moved to working remotely during the lockdown shelter period and Annie Murphy the companys global chief commercial officer has been tremendously impressed at how quickly they have adapted They have embraced new technology and completely new ways of working while balancing their incredible commitment to work with new and unexpected challenges like home schooling says Murphy Whats interesting is the way that we have worked hard to build connectivity with The pandemic has fundamentally changed customer behaviors and expectations and as a customer focused business WBA is quickly responding she notes I am working with my colleagues across WBA to dial up our approach to innovation services loyalty and value and recognize the importance of how consumers access our brand both digitally and through our expansive store network in a frictionless way she comments Murphy whose responsibilities include global brands notes that in the U K No7 and Soap Glory have established themselves as highly popular ranges and it has been really exciting to see them expand with great success not only in the U S but also in Asia Both brands have really clear strong customer propositions and offer consumers great value and fantastic quality which makes them a perfect fit for Walgreens She is especially delighted that despite the challenges COVID 19 has brought WBA has delivered its first ever global digital skin care launch for No7 As you can imagine we had to approach this really differently and I am so proud of the teams who have remained determined under such unique and unprecedented conditions to bring yet another game changer initially to our U K and U S customers Working together with our retail partners we have focused on improving our website capacity and introduced a number of new virtual services to ensure our customers can still get the care and advice they expect from our amazing No7 Beauty Advisors Murphy who moved from chief customer officer to chief commercial officer said the fundamental change was taking over the leadership of brands including beauty ranges like No7 and Soap Glory and the Walgreens and Boots store brands I have a fantastic team based in the U S U K and Asia and a fantastic brand portfolio that we believe has tremendous potential for further growth she says It has been a great privilege to take on this additional responsibility Regarding leadership for and of women Murphys passion is clear It is such a joy to see so many talented women flourishing in our organization I am proud that 50 of my leadership team is female and that our overall female representation in my organization is 80 Creating a really inclusive culture is a passion of mine and my leadership team and I work hard to create the conditions where everyone can be at their best WBA is blessed with very strong leadership she adds with such an amazing depth of experience in pharmacy health care and beauty Annie Murphy Global Chief Commercial Officer Walgreens Boots Alliance Tina Potthoff Senior VP Communications Hy Vee Jessica Ringena SVP Chief Digital Officer Hy Vee 50 MMR June 22 2020