"we have amazing careers and pay opportunities [at Joe V's]. You get to decide where your career goes, and we’re excited to help you figure that out."
Let’s start with, what’s your H-E-B story?
After working for a large retailer for 10 years and relocating out to the East coast, my wife and I decided we wanted to move back home to Texas (I’m originally from Granbury). I was recruited by H-E-B and made the decision to take the leap to work for an amazing company back in my home state. That was 19 years ago. I spent my first few months at the Marketplace store on 1604 and Bandera before being transferred to one of our H-E-B plus! format stores. Fast forward many years and I get the privilege of working with amazing Partners and providing the world's lowest prices to the smartest shoppers at Joe V’s Smart Shop.
That’s super cool! What has your journey looked like since starting at H-E-B?
I’ve truly been all over. My past store operations experience in retail was so valuable when I started working in our H-E-B plus! stores. Not only did I get the opportunity to work in several of them but open a few as well. It was a cool experience. My final stop was SA13, which ended up being the “lab store” for Continuous Improvement & Design (CID) and it was there that I was asked to lead the CID team. Because I’d always worked in store operations, I assumed that’s where I’d stay but H-E-B had other plans for me, and I’m so glad they did! While I was initially a little hesitant and intimidated — I didn’t have any experience in continuous improvement or industrial engineering — I had amazing Leaders who encouraged me to take the leap. I led that team for five years and grew more in that time frame than I thought was possible. After that, I took on a role in Procurement, overseeing merchandising and operations for Grocery and Drug/General Merchandise. A few years later, I was asked to move into HR as the HR Director for San Antonio. Roxanne Orsak, currently our Chief Operating Officer, is a Leader I’ve worked closely with at many points in my career, and she helped me understand why this role, which was significantly different from anything I’d done in the past, would benefit me. I was in this role when the pandemic hit, and it was a challenge navigating through the constant uncertainty and unknowns, but it really gave me a look behind the curtain at the culture and spirit of H-E-B.
A few years after that, Roxanne asked if I would be interested in joining the Joe V’s team and leading the division. Because of my time with CID and the Partnership we had with Joe V’s, I was familiar with the format. So, when this opportunity came around it was an easy “Yes!” for me.
Once you got to Joe V’s what resonated with you?
Our mission. At Joe V’s our goal is to “deliver the world’s lowest prices to the smartest shoppers so they can enjoy life’s pleasures.” We’re here to change lives and provide customers with high quality food at low prices, so they can feed their families and have money left over to enjoy life. It’s simple, yet powerful.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Helping our Partners achieve the career they want at Joe V’s. There’s nothing like watching someone who you invested time in grow their career and flourish in a way that maybe they didn’t expect. That part of my job is so fulfilling.
What advice would you give to a Joe V’s Partner who wanted to grow their career with the company?
Early on in my career, I spent a lot of time and energy looking ahead to what’s next. The best advice that I ever received is instead of using all that energy always looking forward, focus some of it on being the best you can be here and now. If you do that, opportunities will come.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Protecting the Joe V’s brand — who we are and what we stand for. We’re going to continue to grow and expand, and when growth happens quickly, there’s a risk of diluting the culture. Our culture at Joe V’s is special and worth protecting, so the hardest part of my job is keeping a constant reminder of what we’re trying to accomplish at the forefront of my mind.
What was it like entering the DFW market with Joe Vs?
Entering the DFW market was a bit of a challenge because there are no existing stores in the area where we can train Partners. To solve for this, we bussed all Partners to include scanners to Houston so they could learn our culture and get the training they needed to be successful. It was a lot of fun!
Another element to this is bringing our unique Joe V’s culture into a market that is not familiar with it. But it’s been rewarding to see how the customers have embraced us in such a short period of time. I look forward to our future in the Metroplex!
What’s next for you?
The same advice I gave to Partners earlier I’m going to give to myself – what’s next for me is continuing to do my very best for the Partners and customers at Joe V’s Smart Shop.
What’s been a memorable moment for you?
It’s another Roxanne story, except this one is a little more personal. I’ll preface this by saying that the leaders we have at our company are truly one of a kind. Not long after I started at H-E-B, while I was working in one of our H-E-B plus! stores, I was experiencing some health challenges. At that time in my life, I weighed 350 pounds and was struggling with diabetes.
Roxanne Orsak made time to sit down with me one day and she had the courage to share that she was worried about me and my health. She asked if I was open to letting her help, and I said yes. It was a vulnerable moment, but I know she cared, and I was ready for change. She connected me with a nutritionist (and this was before we even had nutritionists at H-E-B), made sure I had good meal plans and workout plans to stick to, and helped keep me accountable. It changed my life — probably saved my life, if I’m being honest.
That level of kindness doesn’t start and end with Roxanne, there’s so many examples of Leaders at H-E-B who do the right thing just because it is the right thing. That was the first moment I really understood what it means to take care of people at H-E-B.
What recruiting message would you give someone who was interested in working for Joe V’s?
There’s a couple of things I’ll mention. One, the people make the difference — and the atmosphere and overall culture of Joe V’s is a lot of fun. It’s fast paced, and we work cross-functionally so there’s many opportunities to learn new skills. You’ll never be bored.
Second, we have amazing careers and pay opportunities. You get to decide where your career goes, and we’re excited to help you figure that out.
So, I’ll end with this… come help us fulfill our mission and let’s deliver the lowest prices in the industry to the smartest shoppers!
