– USA, RI – United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI) today announced the additions of Lynn Blake, Jim Loree, and James Pappas to its Board as Independent Directors effective September 28, 2023.
Jack Stahl, Board Chairman commented: “Lynn is a seasoned investor who will play a pivotal role in the Board’s capital allocation and investment decisions and the Company’s broader efforts to enhance shareholder value, and who will also benefit our sustainability-focused business initiatives by her five-year tenure as a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s investment advisory group. Jim is a proven executive and public company director with extensive experience overseeing periods of rapid growth and strategic transformation at Stanley Black & Decker. James’ input and insight in the areas of strategy, capital allocation, and corporate governance, combined with his deep knowledge of our sector, have already been extremely valuable. We expect each of them to make significant immediate contributions to our Board as we create and deliver sustained value for shareholders and all stakeholders.”
About Lynn Blake
Ms. Blake has more than thirty years of experience in the investment industry and deep financial and strategic expertise. She joined State Street Corporation in 1987 and has held various leadership roles during her tenure. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President and CIO of Global Equity Beta Solutions for State Street Global Advisors, one of the world’s largest asset managers. In this role, she represented the largest book of business in assets and revenues at SSGA servicing more than 2,000 institutional and retail clients, including the world’s largest asset owners and intermediaries. During her tenure, Ms. Blake grew assets and revenues three-fold and transformed the operating model to boost operating margins through technology and process enhancements, as well as executing an organizational redesign by building out investment and research functionality and expertise in India and Poland. She also led ESG and Asset Stewardship and anchored the Stewardship program to achieve long-term value creation through investee company engagement and board oversight, proxy voting policies, and thought leadership. Ms. Blake served as a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) investment advisory group from 2016 to 2021. She currently is an Independent Director of NYSE-listed WisdomTree, Inc., a global exchange-traded product sponsor and asset manager, where she serves on the Compensation Committee, the Audit Committee, and the Nominating and Governance Committee.
About James Loree
Mr. Loree is a seasoned transformational leader with more than four decades of experience across two global diversified industrial and consumer products businesses, Stanley Black & Decker and General Electric. He brings extensive experience in finance, operations, supply chain and logistics, risk management, sustainable business practices, and corporate governance to UNFI, as well as broad expertise across the consumer sector. Mr. Loree most recently served as President and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., a leading industrial and consumer products company, from 2016 to 2022, where he led 60,000 employees across 60 countries. Mr. Loree served as President and COO of the company from 2013 to 2016; COO from 2009 to 2013; EVP and CFO from 2002 to 2009; and VP and CFO from 1999 to 2002. Before joining Stanley Black & Decker, Mr. Loree held positions of increasing responsibility in financial and operating management in business, corporate, and financial services at General Electric Company from 1980 to 1999. Mr. Loree served as a director of Stanley Black & Decker from 2016 to 2022 and Harsco Corporation from 2010 to 2016. He was Chairman of Harsco’s Audit Committee from 2012 to 2016. Mr. Loree currently serves on the board of Whirlpool Corporation, where he is a member of the Audit Committee and Human Resources Committee, and previously served on the Corporate Governance Committee.
About James C. Pappas
Mr. Pappas founded JCP Investment Management in Houston in June 2009 and is the Managing Member and owner of the firm. Throughout Mr. Pappas’ career, he has concentrated much of his efforts in the restaurant, food, and retail business sectors and possesses a thorough understanding of restaurant and food businesses in addition to his expertise in corporate finance. From 2007 until 2009, he was a private investor, in addition to consulting with several businesses. From 2005 until 2007, he worked in the Investment Banking/Leveraged Finance Division of Goldman Sachs, where he advised private equity groups and corporations on appropriate leveraged buyout, recapitalization, and refinancing alternatives. Before that, he was an investment banker at Banc of America Securities, where he focused on consumer and retail investment banking. He currently serves as a Director of Innovative Food Holding, Inc., a direct-to-chef and restaurant specialty food platform, a position he has held since 2020, and as a director of Tandy Leather Factory, Inc., a specialty retailer and wholesale distributor of leather and leather related products, a position he has held since 2016. Mr. Pappas previously served on the boards of several public companies, including food-related businesses such as Jamba, Inc., The Pantry, Inc., and Morgan’s Foods, Inc. He currently also serves as Secretary for the Endowment Advisory Board of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Houston and on the Methodist Hospital Gastro Division’s Advisory Board in Houston.
About UNFI
UNFI is North America’s premier grocery wholesaler delivering the widest variety of fresh, branded, and owned brand products to more than 30,000 locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce providers, and food service customers. UNFI also provides a broad range of value-added services and segmented marketing expertise, including proprietary technology, data, market insights, and shelf management to help customers and suppliers build their businesses and brands. As the largest full-service grocery partner in North America, UNFI is committed to building a food system that is better for all and is uniquely positioned to deliver great food, more choices, and fresh thinking to customers and suppliers.
SOURCE: https://www.unfi.com/
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