Schnuck Markets names new CIO

ST. LOUIS — Schnuck Markets earlier this week announced that Robert Hardester has been named the company's new chief information officer. Hardester will report to COO Anthony Hucker and also will serve on the senior management team. Hardester succeeds Mark Zimmerman, who recently announced that he would be leaving the company.

“We are very excited to have Bob on our team," Hucker said. "His experience will further our efforts to be a world class IT organization with systems, tools and analytics that offer a greater understanding of what our customers want from Schnucks as we deliver on our mission of nourishing people’s lives.”

Hardester most recently served as a VP corporate systems at Express Scripts, where he was responsible for application development. He previously held the position of CIO at Furniture Brands International and at General Electric.

“The Schnucks executive team is interested in moving forward in ways that appeal to the individual customer rather than to the masses. That requires more analytics and more emphasis on consumer trends,” Hardester said.  “Maintaining a secure IT environment is a top priority in today’s retail world, but Schnucks is a company that wants to do more with IT — leveraging segmentation, merchandising, mobile apps, social networking and using what is learned to help deliver positive and exciting in-store experiences.”

Hardester holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and mathematics from St. Louis University and an MBA in finance from Washington University.