UNFI appoints James Muehlbauer to its Board, names Sean Griffin as COO April 24, 2019

UNFI appoints James Muehlbauer to its Board, names Sean Griffin as COO

On April 22 United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) announced it had appointed experienced financial and strategic executive James Muehlbauer to its Board of Directors with immediate effect. This appointment furthers UNFI’s commitment to expand the size of its Board and bring on additional expertise following its SUPERVALU acquisition.

Muehlbauer served as the evp, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for The Valspar Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of paints, coatings and related products from 2013 to 2017. Muehlbauer also served as evp and CFO of Best Buy Co. from 2007 to 2013.

“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 CEO. “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,” Spinner said.

UNFI also announced its was integrating SUPERVALU to one organization that will 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. Sean Griffin will take on the expanded role of COO in addition to serving as SUPERVALU’s CEO. He will oversee all UNFI’s sales, services, operations, merchandising and retail functions with immediate effect. Griffin has served as SUPERVALU’s CEO since October 2018.

Spinner added, “We feel very good about the work accomplished over the last six months to integrate UNFI and SUPERVALU, to align our people and implement the necessary process and systems changes. 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.”

 

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