10 Things You Didn’t Know About SpartanNash CEO David Staples
David Staples is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Spartan Nash company. He’s one of the key members in the leadership of this large American grocery store retailer and food distributor and he leads a business that operates within 44 American states as well as throughout the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. He’s well known for his strong leadership skills, but we were interested in knowing more about the man behind the company. Here are ten interesting things about David Staples that you probably didn’t know, that we discovered.
1. He’s an alumni of Michigan State University
David M. Staples entered the accounting program as a freshman at Michigan State University in 1981. The fulfilled his requirements and graduated with his bachelor of science degree in Accounting in 1985. He went on to successfully pass the testing requirements and became a Certified Public Accounting and he has a strong background in finance.
2. Mr. Staples was a VP for the KMart Corporation
David spent a total of four years working as the Vice President of Accounting Operations for the KMart Corporation prior to joining SpartanNash. He served in this capacity from 1996 through 2000. He was in charge of overseeing all aspects of accounting for the company. In addition, he devoted his time to systems implementation, a variety of special projects and he researched ways to improve processes while at this post.
3. He worked his way up through the SpartanNash company
When Mr. Staples joined the SpartanNash company, it wasn’t as the CEO. He spent a total of 17 years in various leadership positions, learning the ins and outs of how the company worked. His impressive track record made him an ideal candidate for the CEO when the former leader left the post for retirement. He served as the Chief Operating Officer prior to assuming the reigns.
4. He’s the highest paid executive at SpartanNash
In his new post as the CEO of Spartannash, David Staples is the highest paid executive who is currently employed by the company. It has taken him 17 years of hard work and dedication to arrive at this position, but he’s now at the pinnacle in his career with the food industry giant. We learned that there are no other executives for this company who are paid more than he, and this tells us that the governing board in charge of making compensation decisions has a high degree of confidence in his abilities.
5. He’s highly ranked among some workers
A survey was conducted to learn what employees at SpartanNash think about Dave Staples’ leadership at the company. When the results were in, his overall ratings came in at a score of 69 out of 100 possible points. One aspect of the ratings that we found particularly interesting was the fact that while his overall score was 69, when the scores that were given by males who worked with him were calculated, his overall approval rating went from 69 all the way up to 76, which shows that the men give him much higher scores than the women do, according to Comparably.
6. SpartanNash leaders have a high opinion of him
We also discovered that the executive leadership in charge of making the decision to promote him to the top position gives him high marks. Mr. Eidson was quoted as saying “His leadership has been an essential component to our success, and I have great confidence in his ability to lead our remarkable group of associates to deliver the best in customer focus and service.” He also added that “Dave” has been instrumental in some of the larger successes that the company has experienced through the years and in the various roles that he has played throughout the past 17 years he has been serving them
7. David has a philanthropic spirit
Mr. Staples serves on multiple boards for the purpose of furthering charitable donations as well as advising business on best practices. On the charitable front, he is a member of the board for The Right PLace as well as for the SpartanNash Foundation. On the business side, he serves as the director for the Food Marketing Institute and Topco Associates LLC.
8. He’s a very wealthy man
David has worked for most of his life in the business and finance sector. He has worked his way up to an executive position for which he is very well compensated. He earns a salary for serving as the CEO and President of SpartanNash of $2,591,400 per year. In addition to this he is given other forms of compensation and he currently owns more than 13,800 shares of stock in the company.
9. He’s thoughtful and insightful
When talking about Dave and his leadership at SpartanNash, his contemporaries have nothing but praise for him in his role as CEO. One member was discussing Staples’ thoughtfulness combined with the act that he has tremendous insight into developing business strategies. When this is coupled with his thorough knowledge of the industry, along with his dedication to the advancement of the core values of the company, he was the best choice for the job and his peers have indicated that they give him their full support.
10. Sixty percent of the employees offering their opinions feel he has room for improvement
When gauging a leader’s overall effectiveness it is important to get the perspective of people from all sectors of the company. While not all workers were interested in sharing their views, of those who were, we learned that as CEO, and when it comes to his effectiveness and leadership style, the workers who believe that he has a lot of room for improvement are Caucasians, females and those who have been with the company between 3 and 6 years. We found this to be an interesting statistic as he has received the highest marks from those who have only been working there between 1 to 3 years and males.
