Veteran IT consultant Jason Buhrow is joining Midwestern grocer Hy-Vee as chief data officer.
West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee said Tuesday that Buhrow is slated to start at the company on April 19. In the newly created role, he will oversee the development and governance of data strategy across the company, which totals annual sales of more than $11 billion.
Hy-Vee noted that Buhrow also will be charged with driving innovation in enterprisewide data science, analysis and visualization.
“We are excited to welcome Jason to the Hy-Vee family and are confident that his extensive experience in information management and strategy will enable Hy-Vee to continue delivering amazing customer experiences by leveraging data and analytics,” Randy Edeker, chairman, president and CEO of Hy-Vee, said in a statement.
Buhrow (left) brings extensive experience in retail, insurance, finance, nonprofits and
manufacturing, according to Hy-Vee. He comes to the company after more than seven years at FBL Financial Group, most recently as vice president of information technology, a role he held for nearly five years. He joined FBL in January 2014 as a systems app manager and then was promoted to director of IT in November 2015 before being appointed vice president of IT. Operating under the consumer brand Farm Bureau Financial Services, West Des Moines-based FBL provides financial products distributed by Farm Bureau agents.At Hy-Vee, Buhrow joins FBL alumnus Casey Decker, who came to Hy-Vee last fall as chief information officer, taking the CIO reins from Matt Ludwig, who shifted to a new position as chief supply chain officer.
Before his career at FBL, Buhrow served as director of IT consulting at accounting and tax consultancy RSM US LLP (formerly McGladrey) and as team lead at Berkley Technology Services. Prior to that, he also was an IT analyst at wholesale printing company Colorfx.
Overall, Hy-Vee operates more than 275 stores in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
