Danny Wegman

Danny Wegman heads a company that keeps raising the bar on the shopping experience. From its abundant product selection and restaurant-quality prepared foods, to its beautiful stores and what Wegman has described as a “nearly telepathic level” of customer service, 92-year-old Wegmans Food Markets is in a class by itself.

Wegman, 60, took the reins of the company in 1976 and has maintained the family tradition of doing things differently, including how it deals with employees (Wegmans is an annual perennial on “best companies to work for” lists). He saw the threat posed by non-traditional grocery outlets early on and has successfully kept the competition at bay, not by slashing prices but by giving consumers more compelling reasons to shop his stores. Ever mindful of new business opportunities, Wegman is opening wine stores and building a state-of-the-art culinary innovation center and development facility even as he adds new full-line supermarkets.