DES MOINES - More than 400 grocery industry leaders attended the 16th Annual Iowa Grocery Industry Association Hall of Fame Dinner Tuesday at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel, where the IGIA honored its Retailer of the Year, Supplier of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award winners.

Earning this year's Retailer of the Year award was Ric Jurgens, the chairman, president and CEO of Hy-Vee Inc. Jurgens is in his 40th year with the West Des Moines-based grocery chain. The native of Des Moines first started working for Hy-Vee in 1969 at the company's store in west Ames as a college student at Iowa State University. He spent eight years at the store level before moving into the corporate sector in 1977, which included serving as president of Perishable Distributors of Iowa - one of Hy-Vee's subsidiaries located in Ankeny - from 1986-96.

Jurgens was promoted to his current position in 2003 when Ron Pearson, the 1995 IGIA Retailer of the Year recipient, stepped down as Hy-Vee's CEO and appointed Jurgens his successor.

Claiming the honor of 2009 IGIA Supplier of the Year was Mueller-Yurgae Associates. Headquartered in Grimes, Mueller-Yurgae Associates is a family-owned business that has been operating since 1975 when Fred Mueller and Phil Yurgae founded the company.

The Iowa Grocery Industry Association also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for the first time since 2006. This year's recipient was George Tracy of Ankeny, who is currently employed by Blue Bunny. Tracy has more than 40 years of experience in the grocery industry, including 27 at former Des Moines-based food broker Sales Force Companies, where he served as the organization's president for 15 years.