Whole Foods Market Announces New President
October 7, 1998 09:04 AM
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1998--Whole Foods Market (WFMI) announced today that Chris Hitt will succeed Peter Roy as president of Whole Foods Market.
Roy will resign his position effective Dec. 31, 1998 at which time he will join the Company's Board of Directors.
Hitt currently serves as president of the Mid-Atlantic region of Whole Foods Market. Since joining the Company in 1985, he has served as Regional President of the Southwest, Northern California, Southeast, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions. In his role as regional president, he has been instrumental in the successful integrations of the Wellspring Grocery, Bread & Circus and Fresh Fields mergers.
Prior to joining the Company, Hitt served as the executive director of the American Farm Foundation from 1980 to 1985. From 1976 to 1980, he was a professional staff member of the United States Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Hitt, a Harvard graduate, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 and Master of Science degree in 1975.
"Whole Foods Market would not be the Company it is today without Peter Roy's leadership and contributions. He is one of the true pioneers of the natural and organic foods movement," said John Mackey, chairman and CEO. "The Company is in the fortunate position of having a person with Chris' proven leadership abilities and successful track record ready to step forward as president. He has led five of our regions and has an extraordinary degree of knowledge about the Company and the industry."
Roy commented, "This is a personal decision that I have been contemplating for some time. I have been in natural products retailing for 24 years and am ready for the next challenge in my life. I have accomplished what I set out to do as president of Whole Foods Market and am leaving at a time when we have great depth of management talent and are very well positioned for continued growth and success. I am pleased to be joining the Board of Directors and look forward to continuing to serve the Company in that capacity."
Peter Roy began his career in the natural products business in 1975 when he took a job bagging groceries at a newly opened natural foods store in New Orleans, called Whole Food Company. By 1978, he was president of that company, which had become one of the largest volume natural products stores in the industry. Two years later, Whole Food Company opened one of the first natural food supermarkets in the country, helping to pioneer this new natural foods supermarket concept.
In 1984, Peter founded and became president of the Natural Foods Network, an industry trade association that brought together the entrepreneurs of the natural foods supermarket business. This association led to close ties between the principals of Whole Foods Market, Bread & Circus, Mrs. Gooch's, Wellspring Grocery and Whole Food Company. Beginning with Whole Food Company, all of the companies eventually merged into Whole Foods Market.
In 1988, after the merger, Roy moved to the West Coast to become president of the new California region for Whole Foods Market and then was promoted to president of the Company in 1993. Today, Whole Foods Market is the largest volume retailer of natural and organic products in the country.
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