Dive Brief:

• SpartanNash has hired a pair of vice presidents to fill newly created roles in its corporate strategy and information technology departments, according to announcements from the grocery distributor and supermarket operator.
• Peter Anjorin has assumed the position of vice president of strategy and business development for the company, while Yu Ying Seah was named vice president of IT global applications.
• The appointments continue a string of high-level changes at SpartanNash, which is under pressure from activist investors to change the direction and performance of its business.

Dive Insight:

The addition of Anjorin and Seah to SpartanNash's executive team continue SpartanNash's efforts to bolster its leadership structure under CEO Tony Sarsam, who took over the top post in late 2020 with a mandate to bring stability to the company and help it focus its operations.

Anjorin, who is arriving at SpartanNash after serving as head of product strategy at appliance maker Whirlpool, will play a central role in helping the grocer grow, according to the company. He will help manage strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and "innovation opportunities," the company said.

"Peter's almost 20 years of strategy, innovation and operations experience are a perfect fit with our strategic priorities to create shareholder value," SpartanNash Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Masiar Tayebi, to whom Anjorin will report, said in a statement.

Seah, meanwhile, will be charged with overseeing how the grocery company uses technology to manage its operations "from conceptualization to execution and maintenance," according to the announcement about his appointment. Seah, who was most recently an independent contractor for SpartanNash, formerly served as senior director of IT applications for cleaning products maker SC Johnson.

Seah will report to Arif Dar, SpartanNash's senior vice president and chief information officer, who joined the grocery company in 2019 after also holding a technology-related role at SC Johnson.

Earlier this year, SpartanNash promoted Amy McClellan, who had served as vice president of fresh merchandising, to chief marketing officer. In February, SpartanNash said it had named three new independent directors.

Those changes followed the company's hiring in 2021 of a new chief legal officer, chief supply chain officer and chief financial officer.

SpartanNash has recently been working to head off an effort by a group of activist investors led by Macellum Advisors and Ancora Holdings Group to convince shareholders to elect three nominees to the company's board against the grocer's wishes. SpartanNash has accused the investors, who say the company has missed key opportunities to boost value for shareholders, of focusing on a "short-term focused, predetermined agenda," and lacking "basic knowledge" of the company's business.