Des Moines, Iowa, United States, November 2025 — Matthew Stephenson has joined NexChapter as Vice President, People & Culture, where he will lead the organization’s human capital strategy and talent development agenda as the company continues to expand its advisory footprint across loyalty, retail media, and digital transformation. In this role, Matthew will focus on building a people-first culture that aligns with NexChapter’s mission of helping clients accelerate innovation and achieve meaningful business outcomes.
Before joining NexChapter, Matthew Stephenson spent nearly eight years at Casey’s, where he served as Director – Learning & Development. During his tenure, he created and led the company’s first centralized Learning and Development function for a Fortune 400 organization employing over 49,000 people. He built and managed a cross-disciplinary team of 24 professionals with a $4M budget, driving large-scale behavioral transformation across 2,900 stores in 20 states. His strategic initiatives—ranging from system implementations like LMS, ADP, UKG, and Oracle to launching Generative AI research—significantly optimized enterprise learning and contributed to $46 million in higher controllable profit.
Prior to Casey’s, Matthew served with the Iowa Army National Guard for over eight years, holding progressive leadership roles including State Training Officer (Lieutenant Colonel), Senior HR Manager, and Operations Officer. In these roles, he managed multimillion-dollar budgets, designed training and HR frameworks for over 7,000 personnel, and led cross-regional programs that improved readiness, performance, and leadership capability. His outstanding leadership earned him national recognition for operational excellence and two Bronze Stars for exceptional performance during overseas assignments in Afghanistan.
Earlier in his military career, Matthew served as Recruiting Operations Officer at Iowa State University (ROTC), where he spearheaded a transformation that elevated the program from rank #150 to #1 nationally, earning the prestigious MacArthur Award. He also played key leadership roles in field operations and strategic training during his early service years, where he developed deep expertise in organizational effectiveness, people development, and performance management.
Matthew Stephenson holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in General Management from the University of Arkansas Grantham, equipping him with a strong foundation in business strategy, leadership, and organizational development.
About NexChapter
NexChapter is a strategic advisory firm specializing in loyalty, retail media, and digital transformation for convenience and grocery retailers. The firm blends hands-on retail experience with forward-thinking strategy to help clients navigate complex business and technology challenges. By combining innovation, operational excellence, and deep industry expertise, NexChapter enables retailers, brands, and tech partners to activate what’s next—whether in loyalty, commerce, or customer data.
Rooted in real-world experience, NexChapter is built on a culture of partnership and accountability—helping good people in good businesses move faster, think clearer, and deliver results that matter.
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