Paul Jaeckle, LPC, has been named vice president of asset protection at Meijer. Jaeckle was formerly the senior director of asset protection strategy and operations at Walmart Stores US.
He began his asset protection career with Walmart as a temporary associate in 1997—as Christmas help.
“It was when Walmart rolled out the EAS systems in 1997, and I was in a college town. The store manager that I had at that time told me that and we need someone who’s going to be credible with that customer base, be able to interact with them, and educate them through that. That’s all I did – I responded to EAS alarms and had to log and help educate the customer and identify where the associate did something incorrectly. I was then a store detective and a district supervisor and a trainer and a regional and worked my way up.”
Jaeckle has made the most of his opportunities, holding positions with increasing responsibility throughout his career. While serving as a regional asset protection/loss prevention director, he decided to move into store operations as director of innovations for the Northeast region. He later served as director of operations, market manager of operations, and director of innovation for the Northeast division. He then returned to asset protection as senior director of asset protection, East Coast operations, in 2013 before being promoted to senior director of asset protection strategy and operations in 2014.
“My heart always tells me to come back to asset protection, and I’m glad that I came did,” said Jaeckle. “But I also feel that now that I’ve worked in other areas of the business, I have a different perspective of who my customer is and how they think about things. I know how to approach situations a little differently, and it’s helped me grow as a leader.”
Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Meijer’s “one-stop shopping” concept serves more than 200 store locations across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin, in addition to manufacturing facilities and distribution centers. Jaeckle will now be responsible for the oversight and direction for all of Meijer’s asset protection programs.
Jaeckle holds a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice/law enforcement administration from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree in organization management and design from the Sage College. He also serves as vice chair and on the board of advisors for the University of Florida Loss Prevention Research Council(LPRC), is a board member for the Loss Prevention Benevolent Fund, and is on the board of trustees for the Sage Colleges. He is also a strong supporter of the Loss Prevention Foundation.
Congratulations, Paul!
