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SAN ANTONIO — H-E-B has hired technology executive Mike Georgoff to lead the regional grocer’s digital-product strategy and help drive its omnichannel development. Georgoff over the past decade has worked with a trio of consumer-technology startups that ultimately went public and grew into billion-dollar-plus companies, H-E-B said in a statement announcing Georgoff’s appointment as chief product officer for H-E-B Digital.
“Mike is a highly respected veteran of product development in the digital space, and someone with his expertise strengthens our commitment to building out H-E-B’s omnichannel services,” Jag Bath, H-E-B’s chief digital officer, said of Georgoff. “He has a proven track record leading successful product and design teams, which puts him in a position to help us build the ultimate digital experience for our customers to go along with the unparalleled service of our world-class stores.”
Georgoff comes to H-E-B from Austin, Texas-based digital marketing firm Main Street Hub. Since earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 2005, Georgoff has worked as director of marketing at the company behind the Redbox DVD kiosks, and as vice president of product for couponing app provider RetailMeNot Inc.
Georgoff said he is thrilled by the opportunity to join H-E-B. “This is an industry-leading company that is strategically positioned to deliver a cutting-edge digital experience to customers,” he said in a statement.
Georgoff’s appointment is one of a number of recent moves H-E-B has made to bolster its digital capabilities. Earlier this month the company announced it had signed a long-term lease on a building in East Austin, Texas, that will serve as an innovation lab and tech center for the H-E-B Digital team as well as the corporate headquarters of Favor, the Austin-based delivery service it acquired earlier this year. That deal brought Bath to H-E-B, where he continues to serve as Favor’s chief executive in addition to his role as H-E-B’s chief digital officer.
The state-of-the-art space will be a hub for creativity and innovation once the 81,000-square-foot facility opens next spring, Bath said. “Bringing H-E-B and Favor closer together will allow us to promote collaboration between our two companies as we strengthen our commitment to building out H-E-B’s omnichannel services.”
The company has added home delivery and curbside pickup on grocery orders to more than 100 stores in Texas and is on track to add the services to 165 Texas locations by the end of the year.
H-E-B also is piloting a mobile checkout app — H-E-B Go — in three stores in the San Antonio area.
H-E-B operates 400 stores in Texas and Mexico. The retailer traces its roots to Kerrville, Texas, in 1905. Today, it is the largest privately held employer in Texas, with its strongest presence in the San Antonio and Austin metro areas, as well as in the communities in the Rio Grande Valley along Texas’ southern border. In addition, H-E-B has steadily built a market-leading position in Houston, the state’s most populous city.