Before Craig Clasen was old enough to work in a Hy-Vee Inc. supermarket, he mowed the store manager’s lawn near his Webster City home. At age 16, the store manager offered Clasen his first job as a sacker. From then on, Clasen worked as much as he could, taking classes at Iowa Central Community College for his business degree over his lunch hour. Thirty years later, Clasen has made another transition in his tenure with Hy-Vee, moving from president of Hy-Vee Care, which distributes pharmaceutical products to patients in long-term-care facilities, to president of Meyocks Group, an integrated brand communications agency and subsidiary of Hy-Vee.

What roles have you served during your career with Hy-Vee?

I’ve gone through all the typical departments as a person moving up. I even met my wife through Hy-Vee. She happened to work at the camera studio next to our store in Mason City. Then I became store director at three locations. Columbus, Neb., was the last store, where I was director about six years. Then in 2003, Hy-Vee ventured into the long-term-care business. It looked like a nice adventure to take and one I couldn’t pass up. [The company] started in Urbandale and I hired my first three employees. Three years later, we built the company to 180 employees and service close to 140 facilities across Iowa.

Why did you decide to go from the pharmaceutical industry to marketing?

It allows me to get back into something I’ve always had a passion for and that’s retail. I love being able to go in and sell, talk to customers, and see how we can help [businesses] with their advertising needs. I’ll be the first to tell you that my only advertising experience is working with it at the store. But there’s so much more that I was never exposed to. I’m learning what they’re doing now and what else we can do to make it better.

Has the transition been difficult?

The past month and a half, I have been through a lot of presentations employees have put on for current clients. We’re in the process of making a new presentation folder to go to new businesses with. Like Hy-Vee Care, it takes a while to learn the terminology and learn the ins and outs of the operation.

What is one of your future goals?

I would really like to work on building relationships with businesses in town so when they think of advertising, Meyocks is at the top of their minds. My role will be to grow new business, going door to door and talking to businesses about what Meyocks can do for them.

What excites you most about the marketing industry today?

What we are working on right now is doing some cross-merchandising work with Hy-Vee. We do all of Hy-Vee’s private labels. Now we’re looking at how we can cross-merchandise other businesses on the backs of those items. For example, a gallon of Hy-Vee milk could have Nesquik chocolate mix on the back of the private label, just to give another suggestive sell item.

Did you ever see yourself working for Hy-Vee for this long?

I’ve had other opportunities, but I don’t see myself being able to work for another company just because of the freedom Hy-Vee gives us. When running a store, it allows you to make decisions like it’s your own company. To have to answer to someone out of state at a different location that may not know what’s best for customer would be hard for me to do.

Describe your family.

My wife is an administrative assistant and pharmacy technician at Hy-Vee Care. My daughter is at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; she also is a sergeant in the Army National Guard of Nebraska. Thankfully, she is back from Iraq. My two boys have graduated from Johnston High School and currently work in the produce department at the Hy-Vee on Mills Civic Parkway. They have worked for Hy-Vee since they were both 14 years old.

What do you like to do outside work?

I enjoy yard work. I’m also a big sports fan, especially for the Raiders and Hawkeyes.

What are you looking forward to for Thanksgiving?

Holidays are an adjustment period for me. Being in the store the last 27 years, this is our time to shine. It’s nice to slow down a little bit, but I don’t think a person ever slows down in retail. They’re always looking at the next thing to do to make the company more successful.

– Sarah Bzdega