UNFI President Departs As Company Continues Transformation Plan
United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) will part ways with its president Chris Testa on October 13 as part of an ongoing effort to streamline operations and increase shareholder value, according to an announcement this week. Current CEO, Alexander “Sandy” Douglas, will add the title of president to his résumé following Testa’s departure.
“In an effort to better align and simplify the organizational structure and accelerate results, [UNFI] is aligning the oversight of its Services and Wholesale platforms,” a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing stated. “The new structure is intended to align with the Company’s previously announced four- part customer and supplier focused transformation plan.”
According to a revised severance agreement from October 2022, Testa will continue to receive his base salary for one year, a cash payment for medical benefits and “a prorated portion of incentive compensation.”
Testa joined UNFI in 2009 following roles at Nantucket Nectars and Cadbury Schweppes. After serving as president of UNFI’s Blue Marble Brands and Woodstock Farms, he was appointed to the role of president in 2018. As part of a new leadership structure, last year UNFI announced Testa would also oversee the company’s supplier services, professional services, e-commerce, and private and owned brands portfolio.
Douglas, meanwhile, joined the distributor as CEO and a member of the board in August 2021. Prior to joining UNFI, Douglas served as CEO at Staples and spent 30 years as a Coca-Cola executive including two decades as President of Coca-Cola North America.
The leadership change comes as UNFI has struggled to turn around the company after a series of financially disappointing quarters. In September, the distributor signed an agreement with JCP Investment Management for the distributor’s board to undertake a financial review of the company and add three new independent members to help the company “enhance shareholder value creation.”
UNFI also moved to consolidate its four operating regions into three segments in June, at the time stating the effort would “enhance profitability, speed decision-making and reduce administrative layers.”
Last week UNFI released its fourth quarter and full year fiscal results, reporting a net loss of $68 million and a 56.3% drop in adjusted EBITDA to $93 million.
“While we grew sales across all of our customer channels, profitability declined primarily due to a decrease in inflation driven procurement gains and elevated shrink,” Douglas said in a press release. “As we look to the new fiscal year, we’re focused on addressing near-term profitability while creating a structurally more efficient technology-enabled food retail services company that can better serve our customers and capitalize on the significant growth opportunities we see ahead. To that end, we’ve already captured nearly $100 million of near-term value creation initiatives.”
