He bags top job in groceries
Mike Jackson entered the business as a teenager, bagging groceries at the old A&P in Oconto. He worked his way through UW-Green Bay holding down the midnight to 8 a.m. shift at the old Red Owl on Adams Street.
Jackson joined Supervalu right after college. He never expected to leave Wisconsin, but store manager and corporate executive positions beckoned. Three decades later, he is president and chief operating officer for the Twin Cities-based grocery giant that operates 2,500 retail outlets, supplies thousands more, employs 200,000 people and does nearly $45 billion in annual business.
Value of education: “Good study habits, focus, the ability to handle multiple projects… those things serve you well. My education helped establish that pattern early in life.” He remembers many classes with accounting Prof. Karl Zehms… “intense, a great teacher… ‘taskmaster’ isn’t the right word, but he expected your best.”