The Fresh Market Names Rick Anicetti President/CEO

The Fresh Market Inc. has appointed veteran food retail executive Rick Anicetti as president and CEO. Anicetti has also been elected to the board of directors.

Bringing more than 30 years of experience to his role, Anicetti was president and CEO of Food Lion for eight years, and was also the co-CEO of Salisbury, N.C.-based Delhaize America. After leaving Delhaize in 2010, he joined Ares Capital as a strategic adviser and served on the boards of two of its portfolio companies: Number Holdings Inc., parent company of 99 Cents Only Stores LLC (where he was also interim CEO), and publicly traded Smart & Final. In tandem with his appointment to The Fresh Market, Anicetti will resign from those board positions.

Noting that Anicetti was hired "[a]fter an extensive search,” Ray Berry, company founder and chairman of the board of directors, said: “Rick … and I have spent time together reviewing the competitive marketplace, and I am impressed with his knowledge of store operations, as well as his demonstrated vision, innovation and ability to successfully run large grocery organizations. We have every confidence Rick will lead The Fresh Market effectively and creatively and are assured of the company's future under his direction. We remain grateful to [interim CEO and President] Sean Crane for his efforts towards improving our operations in this time of transition."

"As we look to return the company to growth, we focused on identifying a performance-driven leader with the ability to create a performance-driven culture," added Rich Noll, lead independent director on The Fresh Market’s board. "Rick will be the first CEO hired from outside the company, and we believe that he has the right combination of strategic leadership and personnel skills to lead The Fresh Market into a new phase of growth and build value for our stockholders in the coming years."

The Fresh Market, based in Greensboro, N.C., operates 176 stores in 27 states.