UNFI names Chris Finck president of Atlantic Region

Food wholesaler United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) on Wednesday appointed Chris Finck as its new president, Atlantic Region, effective May 1. Finck will lead the Atlantic Region sales team with accountability to support customers with UNFI’s full portfolio of comprehensive products and services and will report to UNFI chief customer officer Steve Dietz.

Finck (left) joins Providence, R.I.-based UNFI after 34 years of commercial, sales, marketing, operations and general management experience. Over the past five years, Finck has served as chief commercial officer for Dean Foods and chief customer officer at Treehouse Foods. He played a key leadership role at both companies in broker network and contract management, go-to-market organization and improving customer profitability. Prior to his work at Treehouse Foods, Finck spent time at Grupo Bimbo as chief customer officer and Sara Lee as senior vice president of sales, bakery division.

“Chris is a well-rounded, highly passionate and results-driven leader with a strong track record for building effective teams and delivering strategic sales capabilities,” said Dietz. “With his leadership background and significant experience in the food industry, Chris understands the challenges facing today’s marketplace and, along with the Atlantic Region team, will provide innovative and meaningful solutions that help our customers grow and succeed.”

Related:UNFI gets Q2 boost from independents, Whole Foods

Prior to his work at Grupo Bimbo SAV, Finck spent nearly 20 years with Pepsi Co., holding positions of increasing responsibility, including account manager, regional sales manager, and market development manager for Pepsi Beverages; director of strategic planning and integration for Quaker Oats; and vice president of U.S. sales for Gatorade.

Finck fills the role vacated by Mark Bushway, who was named chief supply chain officer in January. In that post, Bushway reports to chief operating officer Eric Dorne and oversees UNFI’s North America fulfillment network, spanning 56 distributions centers that serve more than 30,000 customer locations.

Late last year, the distributor also promoted Bob Garibaldi to president of the Pacific region.