SpartanNash names E&Y’s Kerrie MacPherson as independent director

Ernst & Young veteran Kerrie MacPherson has joined the board of directors at SpartanNash.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based grocery distributor and retailer said Wednesday that MacPherson’s appointment as an independent director is effective immediately. She will serve on the audit committee, and her addition brought the board back to nine members.

SpartanNash noted that MacPherson brings more than three decades of international business experience, working with senior management and boards to spur growth and innovation while scaling services to the market. She began her career as an auditor and spent 32 years at Ernst & Young LLP in various Americas and global leadership roles in M&A, advisory and sales and marketing. She has served as a retired E&Y partner for over the past five years.

SpartanNash independent director Kerrie MacPherson. / Photo courtesy of SpartanNash

“We are proud to welcome such an accomplished leader as Kerrie to the SpartanNash board. Her deep financial services and audit expertise will benefit the board and management team as we work to accelerate the value we are creating for our shareholders, SpartanNash associates, customers and suppliers,” Chairman Douglas Hacker said in a statement. “Looking to the future, we will remain diligent about ongoing board refreshment to ensure our directors continue to offer the right combination of skills, experience and diversity.”

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MacPherson’s appointment continued SpartanNash’s refresh of its board. Five directors have been appointed in the last five years, and eight are independent.

The company last changed its board in 2022 with the addition of three independent directors who replaced three directors who didn’t seek re-election. After a months-long proxy battle, SpartanNash shareholders in June 2022 re-elected all nine board members. Then earlier this year, in March, SpartaNash said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that director Matthew Mannelly wouldn’t stand for re-election at the upcoming shareholders meeting in May, where the eight existing board members were re-elected.

SpartanNash distributes to all 50 states through its core food wholesaling business, supplying over 2,100 independent grocery retailers nationwide plus 144 corporate-owned supermarkets in nine Midwestern states, which make up its retail business unit. The company also distributes to 160 military commissaries and over 400 exchanges in the United States and internationally.