Unified Names Goodspeed Chairman

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

LOS ANGELES — Unified Grocers here has elected Richard Goodspeed as its chairman — the first time in the history of Unified or its predecessor company, Certified Grocers of California, that a non-shareholder has been elected chairman of the member-owned coopeative. He succeeds Richard Wright, president of Market of Choice, Portland, Ore.

Goodspeed, the principal at Godspeed & Associates here and a member of Unified's board since 2007, spent 45 years as a retailer before retiring in 1998, during which time he was president and chief executive officer of Vons Cos. prior to its merger with Safeway and, before that, president and chief operating officer of American Stores Co., parent of Lucky Stores, where he worked for 37 years. He also spent four years with A&P, including a year as president of its Family Mart operation.

Industry sources told SN Goodspeed's background “made him an attractive candidate to lead Unified's members through this business environment.”

Unified also boosted the size of its board by one, to 20 directors, and elected Mimi Song, president and CEO of Superior Markets, also based here.

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