PROVIDENCE, R.I., April 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- United
Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI) ("UNFI") today announced it has
appointed James Muehlbauer, an
experienced financial and strategic executive, to its Board of
Directors effective April 22, 2019.
This appointment furthers UNFI's commitment to expand the size of
its Board and bring on additional expertise in areas that serve
UNFI's new strategic objectives following the recent SUPERVALU
acquisition. With the addition of Mr. Muehlbauer, UNFI's Board now
has nine members.
Mr. Muehlbauer joins the Board having most recently served from
2013 to 2017 as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and
Administrative Officer for The Valspar Corporation, a manufacturer
and distributor of paints, coatings and related products. Valspar
generated approximately $4.4 billion
in revenues prior to its acquisition by The Sherwin-Williams
Company in June 2017. Before joining
Valspar, Mr. Muehlbauer served as Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer of Best Buy Co., Inc., a multinational
consumer electronics retailer, from 2007 to 2013, Senior Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of Best Buy's domestic
businesses from 2003 to 2007 and Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer of Musicland from 2002 to 2003. In addition to his
corporate roles, since 2011, Mr. Muehlbauer has served on the Board
of Overseer's for the Carlson School of Management at the
University of Minnesota.
"Jim's extensive financial background with strong commercial and
leadership skills will make him a valuable addition to our Board of
Directors," said Steven L. Spinner,
UNFI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "His knowledge and
experience in broad strategic transitions and large-scale
integration efforts directly aligns with the qualifications and
expertise identified through our Board refreshment process."
UNFI also announced that to accelerate its integration of
SUPERVALU to one organization it will now operate under a national
UNFI leadership team. This change will advance both UNFI's
execution of its long-term strategic objectives and short-term
synergy, revenue and EBITDA growth objectives.
Effective April 22, 2019,
Sean Griffin will take on the
expanded role of Chief Operating Officer in addition to serving as
SUPERVALU CEO. In this capacity, Mr. Griffin will oversee all
UNFI's sales, services, operations, merchandising and retail
functions.
During his nine-year tenure with UNFI, Mr. Griffin has served in
several senior leadership roles including Chief Operating Officer
from 2014 to 2018. He has served as SUPERVALU CEO since
October 2018. Prior to joining UNFI,
Mr. Griffin was East Region Broadline President of Performance Food
Group. He has also held various leadership roles of increasing
responsibility in the foodservice distribution industry with U.S.
Foodservice, Alliant Foodservice and Sysco Corporation.
Commenting on this appointment, Mr. Spinner said, "We feel very
good about the work accomplished over the last six months to
integrate UNFI and SUPERVALU, to align our people and to implement
the necessary process and systems changes. As such, we're now well
positioned to accelerate our migration to one company. Sean is the
ideal candidate to assume his previous role as our Chief Operating
Officer where he'll influence and guide sales and operations across
our entire organization."
UNFI's leadership
team:
|
|
|
|
Steven L.
Spinner
|
Chairman & Chief
Executive Officer
|
Mike
Zechmeister
|
Chief Financial
Officer
|
Sean
Griffin
|
Chief Operating
Officer & Chief Executive Officer of SUPERVALU
|
Chris
Testa
|
President & Chief
Marketing Officer
|
Jill
Sutton
|
Chief Legal Officer,
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
|
Danielle Benedict
|
Chief Human Resources
Officer
|
Mike Stigers
|
EVP, Fresh and CEO
CUB
|
Paul
Green
|
Chief Supply Chain
Officer
|
Eric
Dorne
|
Chief Administrative
Officer & Chief Information Officer
|
About United Natural Foods
(NOTE: On October 22, 2018,
UNFI completed the acquisition of SUPERVALU INC. For more
information on the acquisition, please visit
www.bettertogether.unfi.com.)
UNFI is North America's premier
food wholesaler delivering the widest variety of products to
customer locations throughout North
America including natural product superstores, independent
retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce retailers,
and food service customers. By providing this deeper 'full-store'
selection and compelling brands for every aisle, UNFI is uniquely
positioned to deliver great food, more choices, and fresh thinking
to customers everywhere. Combined with SUPERVALU, UNFI is the
largest publicly-traded grocery distributor in America with
expected annual sales of over $21
billion. To learn more about how UNFI is Moving Food
Forward, visit www.unfi.com.
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Steve Bloomquist
Vice President, Investor Relations
952-828-4144
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SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.