Ten Years of Tenure:
Honoring Longtime Sprouts Employees

Think back to 2002. No Facebook, no Twitter, no smartphones. The Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, and the World Cup Soccer tournament took place in South Korea and Japan. The Euro became the official currency of 12 countries. WorldCom was still in business, though not for long. A new show called American Idol was all the rage on TV. And in the town of Chandler, Arizona, a few miles east of Phoenix, a small group of people opened a little natural foods supermarket called Sprouts Farmers Market. They had big plans. They hoped to open 10 more within 10 years.

Meet a few of the original Sprouts employees.


Living the Dream: Tym Hurst, Assistant Regional Manager, Colorado

Think of a man who's just living the dream and you might conjure up Tym Hurst. He's Sprouts Assistant Regional Manager in Colorado, where he serves as the liaison for the Rocky Mountain Region stores. He holds extremely high standards, and makes sure his team of Store Managers and Merchandisers meets his expectations.

But that hasn't always been his job. With Sprouts, Hurst has journeyed from the chill beach to the scorching desert to the snow-capped peaks. He moved from Henry's Farmers Market — where he was the Produce Manager in San Diego — to become the co-Assistant Store Manager of Sprouts in Chandler. Hurst became the Store Manager when the Glendale store opened and was later promoted to Produce Merchandiser. Then he moved to take his current role of Assistant Regional Manager in Colorado.

When Hurst isn't working, he says he's dreaming of becoming a "ski bum." He picked up the sport last year after a 27-year-long hiatus.

"I was shocked at how out of shape I was," he said. But he was hooked from that point on. Now Hurst has a season pass, skis every week and takes annual trips to Jackson Hole.

He also recently took a "very impromptu and unplanned" 3,000-mile motorcycle trip out to Northern California to visit his best friend. "I was able to get in a day ride through Sonoma and Napa, ride along the Northern California coast, as well as some great inland roads." We're still trying to figure out how he got that time off, given how busy those Colorado stores are....

No wonder he's been along for the ride for 10 years!

From Cashier to Corporate:
Susan Cameron, Customer Service Specialist

Meet Susan Cameron, Sprouts Customer Service Specialist in the corporate headquarters in Phoenix. By day, she's the woman on the other end of your telephone line answering your questions and listening to your concerns. By night, she's a pet portrait and wildlife artist. Her paintings were even showcased on the walls and sold in store #1 in Chandler, Arizona!

Cameron has been in the food business since 1970 and vividly remembers when she joined Sprouts. "I looked at the store windows of Sprouts and said, 'Wow this is different.' I kept bothering them every day to give me a job. I didn't care what I did; I just wanted to get in the door and impress them."

And impress she did. Cameron landed a position as a Cashier in the first Sprouts store. On her second day, she was promoted to Head Cashier.

With the same effervescence and perseverance she had on day one, Cameron has climbed the proverbial ladder two rungs at a time. She was promoted to become a Trainer, in which capacity she mentored new cashiers and taught them how to become more engaged, friendly, and confident. Cameron joined the customer relations teams in 2010, and works hard to answer your questions quickly, capably and cordially.

"I used to be a complainer," she said. "Because of my job at Sprouts, I'm a problem solver now, and I know I can make a difference."

The Bulk Man Can:
Tom Lombardo,
Bulk Category Manager

If raw almonds somehow had a poster boy, Tom Lombardo would be the guy. He even smiles when mentioning the fact that he typically thinks about work when he's off the clock, and reads trade magazines for fun.

He was just starting his sophomore year at Arizona State University when he joined Sprouts as a Grocery Clerk in 2002. He worked his way through college — receiving promotions along the way — but eventually had to decide the route he was going to take after graduating from the business school.

"I decided to see where Sprouts would take me," he said.

So far, Sprouts has taken him from Assistant Store Manager, to Merchandiser, to Head Buyer for the Dairy and Frozen Departments, to Bulk Category Manager. But not content to rest, Lombardo has a vision of where he needs to go from here. "I'm always looking to improve our programs and systems," he said.

Ten years working at Sprouts has provided a lot of laughter through the years. Lombardo said the funniest moment to date was on the bustling grand opening of the first store. One employee (who is forever remembered as Apple Juice Joe) was building a pyramid of 1-gallon glass apple juice bottles. He was almost to the top of the display when the pyramid came crashing down. The store managers, members from the corporate office, and even the owners of Sprouts ran to clean up the sea of apple juice.

Lombardo might be laughing at the memory now, but just wait until we videotape his next performance of "Soulja Boy Dance" at the annual company holiday party!

Grandma Knows Best:
Cathy Frazier,
Arizona Vitamin/HBA Merchandiser

They say grandmothers know best. This is true not only in life, but also in the Sprouts Vitamin Department.

Cathy Frazier, a proud grandma of a 4-year-old, is our local expert on the more than 7,000 vitamins, supplements and body care products sold at Sprouts. After moving to Arizona from New Mexico, she joined Sprouts in September 2002 as a Vitamin Clerk. Frazier climbed through the ranks and became the Vitamin Merchandiser for Arizona — now supervising and overseeing the Vitamin Departments in 15 stores.

"It really has been a rocket ship ride with this company. There have been so many good times," she said. "But the best part of my job is working with the customers and helping the employees succeed."

When she's not working, Frazier enjoys spending time with her family; traveling with her husband of 31 years; traveling; gardening and cooking. "I'm from New Mexico so my specialties are red and green chiles," she said.

A Family Man:
Mike McMaster,
Store Manager at Store #10 in Mesa

Mike McMaster joined the Sprouts team in July 2002 as a Store Manager in Chandler, Arizona.

"I came from a big grocery store in Northern California and I remember thinking, Sprouts is a great concept, but how are they going to make it grow?" he said. "The best part of my job has been watching this company become what it is today."

Over the past decade, McMaster has kept busy managing and opening stores in the Greater Phoenix Area, including the Chandler, Scottsdale and Mesa locations. And with a seemingly permanent smile on his face, the proud father of five has mastered the work-life balancing act.

"When I'm not working, I try to help my wife, Christine, with her two businesses," he said. "She's a professional photographer and has an Internet business so I do her books to help her out."

He's also deeply involved in raising their children. His twins are the oldest — one is graduating from dental school in San Francisco and the other works at Sprouts in Gilbert, Arizona. His other son works at PayPal; his daughter graduated from culinary school; and his youngest is in high school.

McMaster won last year's Sprouts Store of the Year award. Needless to say, if Sprouts had a Father of the Year award, we'd give that one to McMaster, too.