Jeff Noddle
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Noddle is the executive chairman of SuperValu
Supervalu (United States)
SuperValu Inc. is a United States grocery retailer and distributor. The corporation, headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has been in business for over a century. It is the third-largest food retailing company in the United States , and ranks #51 on the Fortune 100 list.On June 2, 2006,...

, which is the third-largest grocery retail company in the United States, as of 2008, and a leading food distributor. He has served as CEO from June 2001 to June 2009 and has been with SuperValu since 1976.

In addition to this role, Noddle serves on several industry and corporate boards. He serves as a member of the boards of directors of Donaldson Company
Donaldson Company
Donaldson Company, Inc. is a vertically integrated filtration company engaged in the production and marketing of products used as a means to improve performance efficiency and air quality...

, Inc., Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one of the leading diversified financial services companies in the U.S. Ameriprise Financial engages in business through its...

, Inc., The Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

, Chairman of the governance committee of the board of directors of the Independent Grocers Alliance, Inc. (IGA), and the Academy of Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University. In addition, he is a member of The Business Council, a national organization of CEOs.

Noddle is also active in Minneapolis civic affairs, currently serving on the Greater Twin Cities United Way board of directors and executive committee, the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management’s Board of Overseers, and as a member of the executive committee of the Minnesota Business Partnership.

History

The boys' mother, Edith Noddle, who died in 2003 at age 91, was a first-generation American whose family emigrated from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Jeff learned his civic duty from this woman. She set up a metal box with a coin slot at home and family members contributed spare change until the box was full. Then the money was taken to the synagogue, which distributed it to the needy.

Their father, Robert Noddle, came to the United States in the early 1920s from Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 when he was in his late teens. He worked with a cousin in the scrap metal business in Nebraska City. Later, he moved to Omaha, where he operated a grocery and liquor store near 24th and Leavenworth Streets. Robert Noddle also owned a miniature golf course, and eventually went into the real estate business, working with a brother who was living in California. Robert Noddle died in 1963 at age 60.

Young Jeff sacked groceries in high school at the former Central Market, 16th and Harney Streets, where his mother once worked as a cashier. He worked at Hinky Dinky
Hinky Dinky
Hinky Dinky was a supermarket chain based in Omaha, Nebraska, that operated mainly in Nebraska and Iowa.-History:The Hinky Dinky grocery store chain was started by Jule, Henry and Albert Newman, brothers, and Ben Silver, a cousin, in Omaha in 1925. Another supermarket chain already existing was...

 stores and warehouses during the summer while a student at the University of Iowa, where he graduated with a business degree with an emphasis on marketing. He has also attended the Wharton School
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...

's Executive Advanced Management Program and the Levinson Institute.

He married Linda on September 1, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois.

He earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Iowa in 1969. He started out by following his two older brothers through school and into the grocery business in Omaha area. Harlan Noddle was chairman of Noddle Development Co., which developed shopping centers all over the United States. He was an Omaha business and civic leader before his death from pancreatic cancer in December at age 69. Allan Noddle, was on the executive board of Royal Ahold
Ahold
Ahold is a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.-History:...

, a Netherlands-based, international food service and supermarket company. Before retiring and returning to Omaha in 2002, Allan oversaw Ahold's stores in Central America, Latin America, Asia and the Asia Pacific.

He started his grocery management career at Grocer Sales, Western Division, Supermarkets Interstate moving from a trainee to director between 1971-1976.

At SuperValu

Jeff joined SuperValu as director of retail operations in 1976 and worked for their J.M. Jones division in Champaign, Ill. During his time there, he held a number of positions, including Director of Merchandising and Vice President of Marketing. Between 1982 and 1985, Mr. Noddle served as President of SuperValu's Fargo division and its former Miami division. After 1985, he served as the Corporate Executive Vice President of merchandising. Hitting his stride in 1995, he then served as President and Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...

 of Wholesale Food Companies (SuperValu), until 2000. Mr. Noddle served as President of SuperValu, from 2000 to June 2005 while also serving as COO from 2000 to 2001 and as Chairman since May 2002.

In the industry

He served as Chairman of the board of directors of The Food Marketing Institute
Food Marketing Institute
The Food Marketing Institute is an organization that conducts food safety, public affairs, education, research, and industry relations programs for food retailers and wholesalers.  FMI's membership consists of approximately 1,500 companies in 50 countries, ranging from large multi-chain stores to...

 (FMI).

Outside the industry

Mr. Noddle has been an Independent Director of Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one of the leading diversified financial services companies in the U.S. Ameriprise Financial engages in business through its...

 Inc. since September 30, 2005. He has been Director of Donaldson Company Inc.
Donaldson's
Donaldson's, also known as The L. S. Donaldson Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a defunct department store company.-History:The L. S. Donaldson Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, was founded in 1883 by Scottish Immigrants. Built in 1884, the building was known as "The Glass Block" because of its...

, since 2000.
He served as a Director of General Cable Corp., from 1998 to December 2, 2004.

As a supporter of the Jewish Foundation, Noddle is also the 2009 chair for the Twin Cities United Way's fundraising effort.

Awards

  • 2008 Executive of the Year
  • 2009 Herbert Hoover
  • SuperValu Executive Chairman Jeff Noddle has been named the Network of Executive Women's Outstanding Champion for 2009. Noddle will receive the award on August 31 during a consumer products industry luncheon at the Grocery Manufacturers Association Executive Conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Outstanding Champion award is presented each year to a senior-level consumer products industry leader who has consistently championed the mission of the Network of Executive Women (NEW), created diverse, high-performance work teams, demonstrated the business imperative of diversity and inclusion, and challenged the industry to remain an employer of choice.
  • In August 2009, Jeff was inducted into the Minnesota Grocers Association's Hall of Fame.

Pending sources


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK