UNFI Names New Pacific Region President

United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) has promoted Bob Garibaldi to the role of president, Pacific region, succeeding Steve Dietz, who has become chief customer officer. In his new position, Garibaldi will lead UNFI’s Pacific region sales team, with full accountability to support customers with the wholesaler’s full portfolio of comprehensive products and services.

Before this promotion, Garibaldi had been UNFI’s SVP of sales, Pacific region since 2018. He began his career with UNFI’s Pacific region following the acquisition of Supervalu that same year, and before that spent 22 years in various leadership roles overseeing sales and customer service on the West Coast for both Supervalu and Unified Grocers. Since coming to UNFI, Garibaldi has led the Pacific region through several complex sales reorganizations and system integrations.  

“Bob is an insightful leader with in-depth industry knowledge and strong customer relationships, all of which will serve our Pacific region well as we continue to deliver on our long-term vision to transform the future of food,” noted Dietz, who was appointed to his new position in September. “Our total product assortment and service offerings allow us to offer more tailored solutions, and I’m excited to see Bob and the entire Pacific region utilize our portfolio to help our customers grow and succeed.”

Along with his work at UNFI, Garibaldi has been a member of the City of Hope Northern California Food Industries Circle and is currently active in the California Grocers Association and Northwest Grocery Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Providence, R.I.-based UNFI delivers a wide variety of products to customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 47 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.