Industry Intelligence

United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) has appointed Richard Schnieders to its board of directors, on which he will serve as an independent director. Schnieders’ appointment, which became effective Feb. 2, increases the total number of company directors to nine, including seven independent directors.

Schnieders began his career in the food distribution industry in 1982 at Houston-based Sysco Corp., where he was a director from 1997 through 2009. He also held several senior management roles at the company beginning in 1992, including CEO, president, COO, EVP of foodservice operations and SVP of merchandising.

Since 2009, Schnieders has focused on sustainable solutions that boost consumer access to fresh food, provide nutritional education and empower local communities. Recently, he and his wife co-founded a venture to provide healthy, affordable food to underserved communities. Schnieders doesn’t serve on the board of directors for any other public company.

Providence, R.I.-based UNFI carries and distributes more than 60,000 products to more than 23,000 customer locations throughout the United States and Canada. The company serves a wide variety of retail formats, among them conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores, independent retail operators, and the foodservice channel.