Donald Fitzgerald is a leader in The Partnering Group鈥檚 retail commerce practice. His focus is on accelerating client revenue and earnings growth, through retail best practices, reinvention, organizational design and competency training. Fitzgerald has deep retail experience and success across numerous retail formats, from Fortune 100 companies to startup operations. Additionally, he was involved in numerous private equity, family office and venture capital transactions in the sector.
Before joining The Partnering Group, he spent 45 years in retail organizations, including Dominick鈥檚 Supermarkets, Meijer, Mariano鈥檚/Roundy鈥檚 Supermarkets, Kroger and with DOM鈥橲 Kitchen & Market. He was primarily responsible for merchandising, marketing and C-suite leadership.
Fitzgerald was the CEO of DOM鈥橲 Kitchen & Market, a startup concept featuring well-crafted, prepared foods and a perishable market that serves as a neighborhood connection. He was the chief merchandising and marketing officer for Mariano鈥檚/Roundy鈥檚 Supermarkets, a division of Kroger. He began his retail career on the parking lots of Chicago as a cart-collecting grocery clerk for legacy Dominick鈥檚 Supermarkets. Throughout the years, he has held numerous management positions between in-store operations and the c-suite.
He is also an adjunct marketing professor at DePaul University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business. Subsequently, Fitzgerald secured an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has a passion around food, specifically food insecurity and hunger issues in our community. He completed his second tour as a board member for the Greater Chicago Food Depository and is an advisor to Food Systems for the Future.