“Our business is increasingly complex with a growing workforce. With over 2,600 amazing people who produce hundreds of thousands of meals a day, we want to make sure their needs are met and we’re able to source and manage a global network of organic farmers, processors, and ingredients. The new roles will help us do that,” said Andy Berliner, CEO of Amy’s.

Steve Kravariotis joins Amy’s as VP of Supply Chain Planning with over 30 years of experience in sales and operations planning, demand planning, supply planning, scheduling, and materials planning. Steve’s experience includes leadership and global roles at Avon Products, The Clorox Company, Delmonte/Big Heart Pet Brands, and Bio-Rad Laboratories.

David Griego joins Amy’s as Senior Director of Engineering, bringing over 30 years of food and beverage manufacturing experience that will help the company streamline plant operations and utilize automated manufacturing systems. David’s past roles include Senior Director of Engineering for Del Real Foods, VP of Engineering for Passport Foods, Director of Engineering for Ruiz Foods, and Senior Director of Engineering for Sugar Foods.

Goretti Hamlin rejoins Amy’s as VP of Human Resources, overseeing the department. As a bilingual and strategic leader, she will continue to work with, and build and develop the employees at Amy’s Kitchen. Goretti previously spent 16 years at Amy’s leading employee-centric initiatives for the manufacturing sites.

Felicia Collins joins Amy’s as Senior Director of Communications. With over 20 years of experience building and leading communications in the food, health and wellness space, Felicia brings her strategic insight to lead internal and external communications, innovation, and partnerships. Her past roles include Head of Marketing for Kiss the Ground, VP of Communications at Tyson Foods, and Senior Vice President and Group Manager at Edelman leading food clients such as Walmart and Darden Restaurants.

Jeff Frank joins from a 25-year career at Hormel Foods, where he demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a strong ability to drive business growth. He began his journey with Hormel Foods in 1998, holding various senior roles in product and brand management. In 2009, he took on the role of vice president of marketing at MegaMex Foods. He was later promoted to president and CEO of MegaMex Foods, where he successfully led global supply chain efforts and brought successful consumer packaged goods to the market.

Frank holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and an executive certificate from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He has also completed the Executive Education program at Harvard Business School. Frank has departed from his role at Hormel as group vice president of grocery products to join Organic Valley as its third-ever CEO.

“It’s truly an honor for me to join the cooperative. I have a deep admiration for the mission of this organization, and I’m excited to collaborate to drive continued success into the future!” Frank said. “I look forward to working with the board, the farmer-members and teams across the cooperative and the industry to expand the impact of this revolutionary and independent food lighthouse, while staying true to its values and mission of producing ethically sourced food from organic family farms.”

UNFI’s Better for All strategy continues to focus on proactively engaging with the people growing, making, and moving the products the Company distributes. As highlighted in this year’s report, engagement efforts include new customer surveys, continued conversations with investors, and cross-functional efforts to respond to associate feedback for additional DEI and associate wellbeing initiatives. The Company also proactively engaged with suppliers, including making investments in platforms such as UNFI’s recently launched Climate Action Hub, marking the first step in a more collaborative approach to address some of today’s most critical issues.

In its fiscal year 2022, UNFI reported the following milestones in support of its goal to build a food system that is better for its people, its communities, and the planet, resulting from ambitious and innovative efforts across the Company:

• Launched the Climate Action Hub, starting with the release of the Climate Action Guide for Business – a free resource for suppliers.
• Created the UNFI Foundation Food Equity Grant, awarding the Southside Community Land Trust in Providence, R.I. $100,000 to help promote food equity, eliminate hunger, and improve public health.
• Doubled year-over-year spending with diverse suppliers as a result of a clarified action plan to better identify, source, and assist diverse suppliers with certification and planning needed to grow their business with UNFI.
• Launched the installation of a roof-mounted solar array at UNFI’s distribution center in Howell, N.J., the Company’s largest to date.
• Completed a waste audit and kicked off an active audit for all owned brands retail packaging to enable sustainability progression across our brands portfolio.
Recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality” and one of the “Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion.”
• Launched a new monthly campaign, called Difference Maker Spotlight, to highlight associates’ contributions to Better for All via their everyday responsibilities.

“In the past year we’ve made a focused effort to holistically integrate our Better for All strategy throughout the organization, as well as proactively engage our stakeholders, from our associates to our supply chain partners, on issues from climate to food equity to DEI,” said UNFI Chief Executive Officer, Sandy Douglas. “That approach has yielded some meaningful achievements this year and, in several areas, also allowed us to establish the organizational structures and processes needed to make progress against future goals. While we are proud of the progress we have made, we recognize that in many ways we are just at the beginning of our journey and that there is much more to be done. We look forward to continuing this important work in the coming years.”

Climate Action Teamwork

The launch of the Climate Action Hub comes after almost two years of partnership with the Climate Collaborative, a community of businesses joining forces to create pathways to action and working together to create solutions on climate. The new platform offers UNFI suppliers a variety of tools and resources, including opportunities for suppliers and partners to learn from experts and each other, to innovate, and scale climate solutions across the food system. Additionally, the Company has made its Climate Action Guide for Business, which offers step-by-step guidance for how to measure and disclose impact, commit to ambitious targets, and identify opportunities for action, available to everyone for free with the hopes of fast-tracking collective action toward a decarbonized future.

“Approximately 97 percent of UNFI’s total emissions are a result of our upstream supply chain, which is why we are committed to empowering our suppliers to take climate action. As one of the country’s largest wholesalers, we are a connector between retail, brands, and communities and our leadership and education to others can help amplify the important role we all play in making a positive impact on our climate,” said Alisha Real, UNFI’s Vice President of ESG & Social Impact. “With the validation of our science-based targets this year, we are ready to accelerate our action and lead by example to support our communities and the planet.”

The annual edition of the report, which can be read at the newly updated BetterForAll.UNFI.com, is guided by leading internationally recognized frameworks, including Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). For added transparency, stakeholders looking for GRI and SASB reporting can find respective indices in the report’s appendix. The report also includes the Company’s disclosure aligned to recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures.