PROVIDENCE – United Natural Foods Inc. is again shaking up its leadership team.
The natural and organic food company has announced that President Christopher Testa will step down effective Oct. 13 and CEO J. Alexander “Sandy” Miller Douglas will assume the title of CEO and president.
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The company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday that the move is intended to align with the company’s previously announced four-part customer service and supplier-focused transformation plan.
“In a continued effort to improve execution and results, better align and simplify our organizational structure, and support our customer and supplier focused multi-year transformation plan, we have made the decision to combine our Services and Wholesale platforms,” said CEO Sandy Douglas. “This alignment of our sales, services, brands, merchandising and digital teams will enable us to move with greater speed and alignment in support of the continued growth of our customer and supplier partners.”
Douglas continued, “On behalf of our entire senior leadership team, I want to thank Chris for his tremendous service and leadership over these past 14 years, and I wish him all the best as he embarks on a new chapter.”
The move comes after UNFI reported on Sept. 22 that its profit tumbled to $24 million in the fiscal year that ended July 29 – down from a $248 million profit a year earlier – including a fourth quarter in which the natural and organic food company lost $68 million.
Testa was named president of UNFI in August 2018. During that time, he assumed additional oversight of supplier services, professional services, the company’s Brands+ business and Canadian business. Testa previously served UNFI as president of the Atlantic region from 2016 to 2018.
Before joining UNFI, Testa was president of Woodstock Farms Manufacturing from 2012 to 2016, president of Blue Marble Brands from 2009 to 2016, vice president of marketing of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from 2002 to 2005 and CEO of Wild Waters Inc. from 2005 to 2009.
Douglas succeeded Stephen L. Spinner in June 2021. He previously served as CEO of Staples Inc. from 2018 to 2021 and president of Coca-Cola, for which he worked for 30 years.
On May 14, UNFI announced it was shedding 150 jobs and was consolidating its four operating regions into three, East, Central and West. The cutting of primarily management or supervisory positions was part of that restructuring effort.
In June 2022, UNFI launched its “Fuel the Future” initiative along with a new leadership structure. The strategy shift, UNFI said, will allow the grocery wholesaler to focus on four areas of the business with growth potential: services, wholesale, retail and corporate business.
As part of that “Fuel the Future” structure, Erin Horvath was named chief operating officer and Louis Martin was appointed the president of wholesale, the company announced on March 22.
Horvath joined UNFI in October 2022 after more than 17 years in senior leadership roles with AmerisourceBergen Corp., a global pharmaceutical wholesale company. Martin served for 15 years in a variety of senior leadership positions with the Coca-Cola Co., including overseeing the global Walmart customer team before joining UNFI in 2022.
(Update: Comment from Douglas added in fourth and fifth paragraphs.)
