CEO of the year: all smiles at Marsh.

• Author: Johnson, J. Douglas
• Position: Don Marsh of Marsh Supermarkets Inc. - Includes related article

Don Marsh heads a billion-dollar-plus supermarket chain and helped create the industry's most comprehensive study

A buoyant Marsh Supermarkets television spot sings, "Gonna make you smile, smile, smile." The people at Marsh will do it, too. It'll start with Don Ermal Marsh himself. He'll smile at you and you'll smile back. Everybody in the whole organization smiles.

Don Marsh smiled through our interview in his office on the fourth floor at the northeastern corner of the new headquarters building in Fishers. So what's not to smile about when at age 55 your company did $1.2 billion in sales in '92 and expects to match that in '93? You've earned the right to flash a grin if you run one of the most successful grocery chains in the country -- it is ranked 25th in size -- and can claim to be the dominant marketer in an area where you control nearly a third of the grocery sales.

As he beams, Marsh says, "I look to have a good year." And topping his company's success, he has personally gained a distinguished role as a statesman in the international supermarket community.

So it is fitting that he be honored as the Indiana Business Magazine CEO of the Year. In his years at the helm of Marsh, he's certainly earned the respect of customers, competitors and those who follow the industry.

"Don has led this company into being a billion-dollar entity, with a 28 percent to 30 percent market share in Central Indiana," says Raymond H. Diggle Jr., vice president for research in the Indianapolis office of Robert W. Baird & Co. The competitive marketplace has taken a bit of a toll on the company's earnings, Diggle notes, but the company is planning for the future with a major construction and remodeling program. His new stores promise to set the supermarket standards in their communities.

Diggle says Marsh has helped his company earn a strong reputation for superior quality that has served it well in recent grocery wars, and he and his company have led the way in community service as well. "Marsh's Computers for Education program as well as its involvement in many community and charitable activities has set an outstanding example for other local companies."

He's also been setting examples for companies around the world. Marsh served as president of CIES, the International Centre for Food Trade and Industry, which is headquartered in Paris with offices in Washington and Tokyo.

The organization does research, education and training, studies marketing, information systems and warehousing, Marsh explains. "It serves as a catalyst between retailers and manufacturers and looks for trends on a global basis. What starts in Europe ends up here and vice versa," he says. "To be real honest with you, we in the United States do not have an edge in supermarket development. I can take you to Hong Kong and show you supermarkets that are more outstanding than ours. I was in South Africa and saw one store with 50 checkout counters. You can go to Japan and see very sophisticated carry-out food systems. Different countries have different specialization."

Marsh has taken ideas found...