UNFI names new president and CFO

Dive Brief:

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) announced Wednesday it has named Giorgio “Matteo” Tarditi as its president and chief financial officer, effective April 15.
Tarditi is taking on the president’s role from Sandy Douglas, who will remain CEO and retain his board seat, per a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tarditi is assuming the CFO role from John Howard, who is being pushed out of the company and will serve as an advisor to the new president and CFO until the end of May, according to the SEC filing.

Dive Insight:

UNFI is making a key executive move as the struggling company proceeds with a “transformation agenda” aimed at returning it to profitability and restoring its standing with investors.

UNFI positioned Tarditi’s appointment as the addition of a seasoned executive who can help accelerate the company’s performance, value creation and customer- and supplier-focused transformation.

Tarditi most recently served as group financial planning and analysis leader at GE Corporate. Tarditi’s career at General Electric spanned more than 26 years and included serving as the CFO for seven of the company’s business units. UNFI noted in the SEC filing that Tarditi developed financial and operating structures to support the creation of three independent companies within GE.

At UNFI, Tarditi will oversee corporate finance, treasury, strategy, financial planning and analysis, tax, accounting, investor relations, risk management and shared services.

“Matteo is a proven and experienced finance executive who has served as CFO of several of the largest reportable segments at GE. He has extensive operating company experience and has consistently delivered results and proven to be adaptable to different businesses,” Douglas told investors Wednesday during UNFI’s second-quarter earnings call, noting that Tarditi has previously executed “several transformations.”

He continued: “I believe this experience, combined with his strong background in process excellence, is an important complement to the existing efforts that we have put in place to reset and improve our profitability. It also positions him well to augment the momentum we are building in our customer and merchandising capabilities across our existing organization.”

UNFI is currently executing its “transformation agenda” to improve its lackluster financial performance in recent quarters. Last June, UNFI announced plans to restructure operating regions and cut approximately 150 jobs. Last year, the company rolled out new demand planning and replenishment capabilities as well as supply chain technologies such as robots and scanning technology as it looks to make its operations more efficient.

For the second fiscal quarter of its fiscal year 2024, which ended Jan. 27, UNFI posted $7.8 billion in net sales, down 0.5% compared to the same period last year, and a net loss of $15 million.

Howard, who has been UNFI’s CFO since February 2020, is leaving as a result of a qualifying termination, according to the SEC filing.

“John helped UNFI navigate the challenges of a global pandemic. And I have appreciated his counsel and partnership during my time at the company. I know he will be a helpful partner to Matteo too as he works to enable a quick and smooth transition during his onboarding,” Douglas said on the earnings call.

Tarditi’s appointment and the upcoming departure of Howard mark the latest major executive moves following a string of C-suite changes at UNFI last fall.

Veteran CPG executive Mario Maffie joined UNFI in October as its chief information officer, filling a position left vacant when the grocery retailer and wholesaler’s previous CIO left in late 2022. That same month, then-president Chris Testa left the company and Douglas added the title of president. The following month, Andre Persaud became president and CEO of UNFI’s retail division.