chairman
The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of SuperValu, the third-largest grocery retail company in the United States (as of 2008) and a leading food distributor. He was
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
from June 2001 to June 2009 and has been with SuperValu since 1976.
In addition to this role, Noddle is on several industry and corporate boards. He is a member of the boards of directors of
Donaldson Company
Donaldson Company, Inc. is a filtration company engaged in the production and marketing of filtration products used in a variety of industry sectors, including commercial/industrial (engines, exhausts, transmissions, vents in private vehicles, hy ...
, Inc.,
Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is an American diversified financial services company and bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insur ...
, Inc., The Food Industry Center at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
, 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
The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Hinky Dinky 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
The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...
'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
Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. Founded in 1887 by Albert Heijn Sr., the company initially began as a single grocery store in Oostzaan and became the largest grocery chain in the ...
, 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
Noddle 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, Noddle was president of SuperValu's Fargo division and its former Miami division. After 1985, he was corporate executive vice president of merchandising. Hitting his stride in 1995, he then was president and
chief operating officer
A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
of Wholesale Food Companies (SuperValu), until 2000. Noddle was president of SuperValu, from 2000 to June 2005 while also COO from 2000 to 2001, and chairman since May 2002.
In the industry
He was chairman of the board of directors of The
Food Marketing Institute
FMI, The Food Industry Association, is a national trade association for the food industry, especially food retailers and wholesalers, in the USA. FMI's members include approximately 40,000 retail food stores and 25,000 pharmacies, representing an ...
(FMI).
Outside the industry
Noddle has been an independent director of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since September 30, 2005. He has been Director of Donaldson Company Inc., since 2000. He was 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.