November 19, 2024

Odem takes over as director of Creston Hy-Vee

By BAILEY POOLMAN

Jeremy Odem started at Creston Hy-Vee Jan. 20, when he accepted his first store director position. Odem, who has been with Hy-Vee for 18 years, plans to move to Creston with his wife and children and be active in the community.

Creston Hy-Vee now has a new store director.

Jeremy Odem, 32, started Jan. 20. He has worked for Hy-Vee for 18 years.

“I’ve actually worked for Hy-Vee since 1998, where I started as a bagger at the front, like a lot of us at Hy-Vee have,” Odem said. “It was a dream of mine to become a store director, and this was my time. I applied and was selected to lead this team.”

Chuck Irelan, former store director, resigned in January and took another position with Hy-Vee.

Odem was born in San Diego, California.

His parents were from Hampton, and when his father was discharged from the United States Marines, they moved to Des Moines.

After that, his father took a job in Omaha, where Odem has lived since he was in eighth grade.

Odem worked at one of the Hy-Vee stores in Omaha as manager of perishables. But, Odem has worked his way up from bagger to upper management in the nearly 20 years he’s been with the company.

“Now I’m in charge of the whole operation, but it’s a team effort,” Odem said. “In my old job, in this job, anywhere in Hy-Vee, you’re working with the people. So, I’m working with more departments, with every area of the store.”

While in Omaha, Odem said life ran at a faster pace, but that one thing he noticed was how people here are more focused on the task at hand.

“The people of Omaha had a lot going on, more so with everything, kind of like now with social media and all the different medias that are around you, you’re constantly thinking of lots of different things,” Odem said. “Here in Creston, everybody’s got a little more focus on the people and they care a little bit more. I’ve been able to shake more hands and have conversations with people and slow it down, so it’s been more meaningful.”

The transition has been fairly easy, Odem said, and he hopes to be able to use his education in communication and mass media from Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs and adapt it to small-town Iowa.

“What I plan to use here at Hy-Vee is how to communicate with people in the marketing aspect, and how to deliver a message in 15, 30 seconds and make it impactful,” Odem said. “In a small town, in Creston, Iowa, I think that’s going to be huge, how you can relate to people.”

Odem plans to get involved with the Chamber of Commerce in Creston, as well as other organizations.

Once their house in Omaha sells, he and his wife Ashlee and two children, Braden, 5, and Haddie, 3, will reside in Creston.

“This will be my wife’s first move out of Omaha,” Odem said. “She spent her whole life there, but she’s looking forward to it. She’s excited.”