The Fresh Market taps Dave Ciesco as CFO

The Fresh Market has named American Eagle Outfitters executive Dave Ciesco as chief financial officer.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based The Fresh Market announced Ciesco’s appointment on Monday. He succeeds Adrian Bartella, who has served as the specialty grocer’s CFO for the past year-and-a-half.

The Fresh Market noted that Ciesco brings more than 25 years of experience in finance and strategy. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and head of international finance and operations at apparel chain American Eagle Outfitters, a role he held for over two years. Ciesco spent more than 10 years overall at the retailer, joining the company in April 2013 as vice president of financial planning and analysis and treasury.

Ciesco started his career in what would become 15 years at automobile giant General Motors, most recently as senior manager of labor strategy starting in 2002 and then a later stint as director of global product finance beginning in late 2008. In between, he spend over three-and-a-half years at New United Motor Manufacturing, with his most recent role being vice president of general affairs, IT, corporate audit/internal controls and controller.

He came to American Eagle Outfitters from Levi Straus & Co., where he most recently was vice president of finance for global brand marketing, merchandising and design. He spent more than three-and-a-half years at the apparel manufacturer.

Bartella had been CFO at The Fresh Market since mid-January 2022, when he took over from James Heaney, who stepped down after over a year in the post. Previously, Bartella served as CFO at travel retailer Hudson Group.

When announcing Bartella’s appointment, The Fresh Market noted his experience as CFO during Hudson’s $750 million initial public offering in February 2018. The natural and organic grocer filed a draft registration statement for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2021 and then followed that up with an official IPO registration filing that July. However, The Fresh Market canceled the IPO in July 2022, about two months after Cencosud, a leading retail group based in Chile, announced that it acquired a majority stake in the specialty grocer in a $676 million deal with Apollo Global Management, whose affiliates managed the grocery chain’s controlling fund.

Heaney had joined The Fresh Market as CFO in September 2020 after over five years as CFO at Carnival Cruise Line. At the grocer, he succeeded Oded Shein, who resigned after just over two years in the CFO role.

Overall, The Fresh Market operates 160 stores across 22 states.