Derek Steele

Derek Steele is the vice president of customer strategy at Meijer. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Steele spent the first five years of his career pursuing his interest in human spaceflight as an engineer on the Space Shuttle program. During that time, he completed his Master of Business Administration at Rice University in Houston and then decided to return back to Grand Rapids, Michigan to pursue his passion as a leader at Meijer. 

Throughout his 14 years with Meijer, Steele has led a number of strategic projects across merchandising and marketing including the launch of the popular Purple Cow ice cream brand, the introduction of Meijer Pickup and Home Delivery and the redesign of Meijer’s customer loyalty program, mPerks. In his current role, Steele is responsible for Meijer’s eCommerce business and the mPerks loyalty platform along with the customer care and customer insights functions.