J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas
Chief Executive Officer
Executive
4 yr
29 reports
United Natural Foods, Inc. ·UNFI
Two product-division presidents run UNFI’s wholesale core
Wholesalers · Fortune #138 · Divisional structure · 28K employees · Providence, RI
View as of:
7
CEO span
↓ tighter than peers (avg 9)
3.2
Avg span
moderate
3
Max depth
3 levels
2.3 yr
Avg tenure
stable vs FY2024
43%
Internal hires
near industry avg
Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-08-02 · 10-K
Revenue
$31.8B
Operating income
$-31000000
Net income
$-118000000
Total assets
$7.6B
Shares out
61M
Sourced from United Natural Foods, Inc. DEF 14A · filed 2025-11-05 ↗ View on SEC
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United Natural Foods, Inc. organizational chart
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Two product-division presidents run UNFI’s wholesale core, replacing a traditional single COO model. This page maps UNFI’s divisional structure, executive team, and reporting lines, with analysis of CEO span, governance context, and peer comparison.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal Andre Persaud departed as President & CEO, Retail
Departed July 25, 2025 following strategic reset of retail business.
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
- Add Enterprise COO Introduce a Chief Operating Officer to coordinate logistics and distribution across both product divisions, reducing CEO span and duplication.
- Move IT under CFO Shift the CIO reporting line to the CFO to tighten capital discipline and ERP governance.
- Exit Standalone Retail Leadership Permanently remove a standalone Retail CEO role following strategic de-emphasis of owned retail operations.
Atlas work this supports
- Connect Workday or UKG Get these analytics for YOUR org — tenure, span of control, headcount, automatically from your HRIS.
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- Plan a Reorg Use this as a starting point. Model scenarios, compare structures, present options to your board.
The people
Who's running this
8 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
internal
Louis Martin
President, Conventional Grocery Products & Chief Commercial Officer
Wholesale - Conventional
2 yr
4 reports
internal
Mark Bushway
President, Natural, Organic, Specialty & Fresh Products & Chief Supply Chain Officer
Wholesale - Natural
2 yr
4 reports
Giorgio Matteo Tarditi
President and Chief Financial Officer
Finance
2 yr
4 reports
Danielle Benedict
Chief Human Resources Officer
Human Resources
3 yr
3 reports
Open Role
Chief Information Officer
Technology
1 yr
3 reports
Open Role
Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
Legal
1 yr
2 reports
Open Role
Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer
Strategy
1 yr
2 reports
The pay
Executive compensation
From the most recent DEF 14A Summary Compensation Table. 6 named executive officers disclosed. Bar length scales with total compensation.
Sandy Douglas $9.7M
- Base salary
- $1.05M
- Stock awards
- $6.67M
- Non-equity incentive
- $1.91M
- Other
- $28K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Matteo Tarditi $3.9M
- Base salary
- $800K
- Stock awards
- $2.09M
- Non-equity incentive
- $969K
- Other
- $12K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Danielle Benedict $2.2M
- Base salary
- $562K
- Stock awards
- $1.05M
- Non-equity incentive
- $579K
- Other
- $12K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Mark Bushway $2.3M
- Base salary
- $574K
- Stock awards
- $1.05M
- Non-equity incentive
- $655K
- Other
- $12K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Louis Martin $2.9M
- Base salary
- $695K
- Stock awards
- $1.36M
- Non-equity incentive
- $842K
- Other
- $7K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Andre Persaud $2.7M
- Base salary
- $535K
- Stock awards
- $889K
- Non-equity incentive
- $236K
- Other
- $1.05M
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
The businesses
How United Natural Foods, Inc. divides the work
5 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Conventional Grocery Products
12K employees
President, Conventional Grocery Products & CCO (Louis Martin)
Nationwide distribution of conventional grocery products to mass, regional, and independent retailers.
Natural, Organic, Specialty & Fresh
10K employees
President, Natural, Organic, Specialty & Fresh Products & CSCO (Mark Bushway)
Distribution of natural, organic, specialty, and fresh products with integrated supply chain oversight.
Finance
600 employees
President & CFO (Giorgio Matteo Tarditi)
Corporate finance, accounting, treasury, FP&A, and investor reporting.
Human Resources
500 employees
Chief Human Resources Officer (Danielle Benedict)
Talent, labor relations, total rewards, and human capital management.
Information Technology
700 employees
Chief Information Officer (Open Role)
Enterprise systems, cybersecurity, and digital enablement for operations.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Two product-division presidents, rather than a single wholesale COO, run UNFI’s operating core.
The CEO’s direct reports include the presidents of Conventional Grocery Products and Natural, Organic, Specialty & Fresh Products, each with end‑to‑end responsibility across sales, operations, and supply chain. This structure reflects UNFI’s October 2024–2025 reorganization that split wholesale into two product-centered divisions.
Corporate functions—finance, HR, legal, IT, and strategy—remain centralized and report directly to the CEO, while execution authority is pushed into the divisions. The absence of a standalone COO at the enterprise level is notable for a ~$32B distributor with complex logistics.
The model favors accountability by product economics but increases the CEO’s coordination burden, with eight direct reports and parallel divisional structures underneath the two presidents.
- No enterprise COO; two product-division presidents run wholesale
- Wholesale split into Conventional vs Natural/Organic divisions
- Centralized corporate functions alongside divisional P&Ls
The comparison
How United Natural Foods, Inc. stacks up
Compared with peers like Sysco and Performance Food Group, UNFI is more explicitly product‑divisional rather than regionally organized. Sysco and US Foods rely heavily on geographic P&Ls, while UNFI’s structure separates Conventional versus Natural/Organic lines across the network. UNFI’s lack of a group COO …
C-suite size
Reporting depth
United Natural Foods, Inc.
3 levels
5 levels
US Foods
5 levels
5 levels
KeHE Distributors
4 levels
5 levels
Avg C-suite tenure
United Natural Foods, Inc.
2 yr
5 yr
US Foods
4 yr
KeHE Distributors
6 yr
4 yr
Has COO / Has CAIO
United Natural Foods, Inc. — no COO — no CAIO
US Foods ✓ COO — no CAIO
KeHE Distributors ✓ COO — no CAIO
Current signals
What changed recently
The most consequential change was UNFI’s wholesale reorganization into two product-centered divisions led by Louis Martin and Mark Bushway.
- departedAndre Persaud President & CEO, Retail
Departed July 25, 2025 following strategic reset of retail business.
Source - Date not confirmed reorgLouis Martin President, Conventional Grocery Products & CCO
October 2024–August 2025 wholesale reorganization split UNFI into two product-centered divisions; role elevated and formalized. Date: Oct 2024.
Source - Date not confirmed reorgMark Bushway President, Natural, Organic, Specialty & Fresh Products & CSCO
October 2024–August 2025 wholesale reorganization elevated Natural division leadership. Date: Oct 2024.
Source
Leadership Timeline
Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.
FY2025
DEF 14A filed 2025-11-05
- CEO
- J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas
- CEO span
- 6
- C-suite
- 6
- Avg tenure
- 2.2 yr
Wholesale reorganized into two product divisions; Retail CEO departed shortly after fiscal year-end.
Named executive officers (6)
- Sandy Douglas - CEO since 2021
- Matteo Tarditi - President & CFO since 2024
- Danielle Benedict - CHRO since 2022
- Mark Bushway - President, Natural & CSCO since 2024
- Louis Martin - President, Conventional & CCO since 2024
- Andre Persaud - President & CEO, Retail since 2023
FY2024
DEF 14A filed 2024-11-06
- CEO
- J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas
- CEO span
- 7
- C-suite
- 7
- Avg tenure
- 3.1 yr
Wholesale still unified; groundwork laid for divisional split.
Named executive officers (6)
- Sandy Douglas - CEO since 2021
- Matteo Tarditi - CFO since 2024
- Danielle Benedict - CHRO since 2022
- Louis Martin - President, Wholesale since 2022
- Mark Bushway - Supply Chain Executive since 2022
- Andre Persaud - President & CEO, Retail since 2023
FY2023
DEF 14A filed 2023-11-08
- CEO
- J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas
- CEO span
- 6
- C-suite
- 6
- Avg tenure
- 3.8 yr
Pre-reorganization wholesale leadership with combined structure.
Named executive officers (5)
- Sandy Douglas - CEO since 2021
- Danielle Benedict - CHRO since 2022
- Louis Martin - President, Wholesale since 2022
- Mark Bushway - Supply Chain Executive since 2022
- Andre Persaud - Retail CEO since 2023
Year-over-year changes
CFO transition increased CEO span and refreshed the executive team.
- CEO span: 6 → 7
- C-suite size: 6 → 7
- Avg tenure: 3.8 → 3.1 yr
- retitled Matteo Tarditi - CFO (was New hire) (DEF 14A 2024-11-06)
Wholesale split into two divisions and Retail CEO exited, simplifying the top team.
- CEO span: 7 → 6
- C-suite size: 7 → 6
- Avg tenure: 3.1 → 2.2 yr
- reorg Louis Martin - President, Conventional (was President, Wholesale) (DEF 14A 2025-11-05)
- reorg Mark Bushway - President, Natural (was Supply Chain Executive) (DEF 14A 2025-11-05)
- departed Andre Persaud - President & CEO, Retail (was Same) (8-K 2025-07-21)
The board
Board of directors
10 directors. 9 of 10 independent (90%). Source: most recent DEF 14A.
J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas
Inside
CEO, United Natural Foods
Jack Stahl
Chair Independent
Board Chair
Gloria R. Boyland
Independent
Independent Director
Lynn S. Blake
Independent
Independent Director
Daphne J. Dufresne
Independent
Independent Director
Michael S. Funk
Independent
Independent Director
James M. Loree
Independent
Independent Director
Shamim Mohammad
Independent
Independent Director
James L. Muehlbauer
Independent
Independent Director
James C. Pappas
Independent
Independent Director
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of United Natural Foods?
J. Alexander (Sandy) Miller Douglas has served as CEO since August 2021.
What type of organizational structure does United Natural Foods use?
UNFI uses a divisional structure organized around product lines, with separate presidents for Conventional and Natural/Organic wholesale businesses.
How many direct reports does United Natural Foods's CEO have?
The CEO has seven direct reports, including two product-division presidents and core corporate functions.
How has United Natural Foods's leadership changed recently?
In 2024–2025 UNFI split its wholesale business into two product divisions and elevated new divisional presidents; its Retail CEO departed in July 2025.
Does United Natural Foods have a COO?
No. UNFI does not have a single enterprise COO; operational authority is split between two product-division presidents.
Sources
- Form 8-K, Jul 21 2025
- Company Proxy & Leadership Update, FY2025
- SEC EDGAR: United Natural Foods, Inc. DEF 14A Proxy Statement
- SEC EDGAR: United Natural Foods, Inc. 10-K Annual Report
Reference
Cite this page
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Creately. (2026). United Natural Foods, Inc. organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/united-natural-foods/MLA 9th
"United Natural Foods, Inc. Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/united-natural-foods/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "United Natural Foods, Inc. Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/united-natural-foods/.Original SEC source View on SEC ↗
United Natural Foods, Inc.. DEF 14A. Filed 2025-11-05. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020859/000102085925000058/unfi-20251105.htmPermanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/united-natural-foods/ · last updated 2026-04-01