Ash Wounded Arrow,
District Store Director, Omaha
Ash Wounded Arrow joined the Hy-Vee team in 2011 as a part-time gas station clerk at a Stoney Brook Hy-Vee in Omaha. Today, he serves as a District Store Director at both the Linden Market and Fort Street Hy-Vee stores in Omaha. Ash joined the Nebraska National Guard in September 2005. In 2009, he transferred to the Wyoming National Guard's 300thfield artillery battalion and was deployed to Iraq serving in a unit responsible for convoy security. In 2010, Ash returned stateside and transferred back to the Nebraska National Guard. He still serves the Guard as a platoon sergeant. “The military has taught me a lot about leadership, providing valuable lessons for my role as a District Director for Hy-Vee. I joined the guard at 17, allowing me to learn from amazing leaders at a young age—an experience that helped me as I moved up through Hy-Vee.”
Matt Bennett,
Manager of Produce Warehouse, Chariton
Born and raised in Corydon, Iowa, Matt Bennett joined the National Guard at the age of 19 and served for the next eight years. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and later that year returned home to Iowa to begin his Hy-Vee career as a part-time employee at the Chariton Distribution Center. “It's such a great company and the opportunities are endless,” Bennett said. 'At the end of the day, they really take care of us and you can't ask for much more.” One of Bennett's most memorable Hy-Vee experiences came over Labor Day weekend 2012, when his crew was tasked with organizing and dispersing one of the largest shipment days in the company's history. Bennett's leadership helped his team overcome several obstacles so they could successfully get all the orders out on time.
Andy Streit,
Regional Vice President, Northeast Iowa
When Andy Streit got the call that his Marine Corps Reserve unit was shipping out for the Gulf War in 1990, he was running the front-end at the Muscatine (Iowa) Hy-Vee. “I was shaken up,” he recalls, “Everyone was very supportive that night.” Andy's coworkers threw him a going-away party. And when he returned home, his fellow Hy-Vee employees accepted him back into the store as if he had never left. As Andy worked his way through the Hy-Vee ranks to become a store director, he came to realize more fully how much Hy-Vee values citizen soldiers and veterans. “That applied a lot to how I manage my store and what I do in regards to veterans and current service members,” he says.