Catherine Kiely

Catherine began working for Whole Foods Market in 2004, and is the Store Team Leader in Lexington Kentucky. She has served on the Whole Kids and Whole Cities Board since 2022 and joined the Whole Planet Foundation Board of Directors in 2023. Catherine is a five time All-Star, including Global All-Star in 2022. She was the 2021 recipient of the Midwest Mission and Purpose Award, and the Lexington store was a 2022 Top Store.  

In addition to living our leadership principles, Catherine is guided by Whole Foods Market’s core value We Care About Our Community and the Environment, and believes it is her duty to express this core value through her daily actions. 

In 2019, Catherine had the honor of representing WFM and WPF as a Team Member Volunteer in Togo. That experience renewed her commitment to find as many ways as possible to serve people and the planet. Upon her return, she set about sharing the story of Whole Planet Foundation and showing team members and customers real life examples of the massive impact that even small microloans can make for entrepreneurs.  

The connection to each foundation is strong at the Lexington Store. Team members volunteer regularly at two local Whole Cities Grant recipient organizations; Seedleaf and Foodchain. “I love volunteering in the community because I feel like we are making a real difference and positively impacting community members’ lives. I also love having the opportunity to make new connections with team members as we work toward doing something for the greater good.”