FreshDirect Names Ackerman CEO

Online grocer FreshDirect’s board of directors has unanimously named Jason Ackerman the company’s CEO, effective immediately. Ackerman is a founder of FreshDirect and was previously its CFO. The previous CEO, Richard Braddock, departed the company in March.

“Jason Ackerman is the right person to lead FreshDirect into its next phase of growth,” noted chairman Jim Manzi. “Jason is a proven leader with a combination of financial and operational expertise and a deep understanding of all aspects of the business. He has been a driving force behind FreshDirect’s unique business model and is highly respected within our organization. As a senior leader, he has helped develop and deliver on FreshDirect’s growth strategy, most recently with our new investment and partnership with Morrisons. With this appointment, FreshDirect is better positioned for the future than ever before.”

“I am committed to continuing our strategy of making great customer service and quality fresh food the priority throughout our organization,” Ackerman said.

As well as helping to found Long Island City, N.Y.-based FreshDirect in 1999, Ackerman sits on the company’s board and has been its CFO for the past seven years. Before FreshDirect, he was an investment banker with Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Crown Capital Group, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and corporate financings mainly for the supermarket and specialty retail space.

Upon Ackerman’s appointment as CEO, Dalton Phillips, Morrisons CEO and a member of the FreshDirect board, observed, “Jason has already won our confidence, and as he leads FreshDirect forward, Jason and the management team will continue to have my full support.”

In March, Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, the fourth-largest food retailer in the United Kingdom, invested $50 million in FreshDirect Holdings LLC, acquiring an approximately 10 percent equity stake in the company. At that time, chairman and CEO Richard Braddock left the company.

FreshDirect serves customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.