SpartanNash Refreshes Board of Directors
Continuing its yearlong leadership changes, SpartanNash has named three independent directors to its board. The appointments are part of a broader board update, as the food solutions company pursues avenues for growth.
The new directors, Julien Mininberg, Jaymin Patel and Pamela Puryear, Ph.D., were selected based on their areas of expertise that can help propel the company forward at a time of both internal and external shifts. “Since last summer, our board has undertaken a deliberate and thorough refreshment process, with the assistance of a leading executive search firm, to ensure the board continues to have the right combination of skills, experience and diversity to oversee value creation for shareholders,” explained Douglas Hacker, board chairman. “These individuals collectively bring valuable experience leading or serving on boards of public companies, along with expertise directly relevant to advancing SpartanNash’s strategic objectives. We look forward to benefiting from Julien’s, Jaymin’s and Pamela’s insights and leadership.”
Mininberg is the CEO of CPG company Helen of Troy Corp. With 30 years of experience building multinational brands and organizations, he also served in leadership roles at Kaz, Inc. and The Procter & Gamble Co., and is a board advisor for the Yale School of Management.
Patel is executive chairman of Cloud Agronomics, Inc., a platform for soil carbon measurement, and president and CFO of Clarim Acquisition Corp.. He brings expertise in organizational transformation, finance and technology, based on his current positions and his previous leadership roles at wireless device services company Brightstar Corp. and at GTECH Corp. He is also an independent director at Bally’s Corp., a director at Clarim Acquisition Corp. and chairman of the foundation board of the Community College of Rhode Island.
A former EVP and global chief human resources officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Puryear has a deep background in human capital management and culture transformation. She was also an SVP and CHRO at healthcare firm Zimmer Biomet and an SVP and chief talent officer at Pfizer, Inc.; her board experience includes current directorships at NextGen Healthcare, Inc., Standard Motor Products, Inc. and Rockley Photonics Holdings Ltd.
As the tenure of Mininberg, Patel and Puryear begins, current SpartanNash board members Frank Gambino, Yvonne Jackson and Elizabeth Nickels will not seek reelection. Following the company’s annual meeting this year, the company’s board will include nine directors, eight of whom are independent and five of whom have been appointed in the last four years.
The board refresh comes on the heels of considerable people changes at SpartanNash. Since current president and CEO Tony Sarsam came on board in September 2020, there have been seven additions to the executive leadership team across several key functions. “As we continue to execute our strategy, SpartanNash remains focused on our priorities of creating a People First culture, elevating execution, delivering the promise to transform our supply chain, acting on insights to optimize customer and product portfolios, and launching customer-centric, innovative solutions,” Sarsam remarked.
SpartanNash’s core businesses include distributing grocery products to independent and chain retailers, its corporate-owned retail stores, and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges, as well as fresh produce distribution and fresh food processing. No. 39 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company serves customer locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Djibouti. SpartanNash also operates 146 supermarkets and employs 19,000 associates.
