United Natural Foods announced changes to its senior management team. Mike Zechmeister will resign his position as chief financial officer, effective Aug. 23, to pursue an opportunity outside the company. John W. Howard has been appointed interim CFO while the company begins an internal and external search for Zechmeister's permanent replacement. Howard joined UNFI in July as senior vice president of finance and accounting.

"I thank Mike for his contributions to UNFI over the past four years of significant growth and change," said Steven L. Spinner, UNFI's chairman and chief executive officer. "In the near term, we're fortunate to have John's experience and financial acumen available to our board, leadership team, and finance organization. John will help continue our efforts to align and build a world-class finance organization, focusing on financial planning data, systems, and processes to drive and achieve our strategic business objectives."

Howard brings more than 20 years of experience leading finance teams, most recently as interim CFO for Prime Therapeutics. Before joining Prime, Howard served as vice president of corporate finance at Valspar Corp. Howard will work closely with UNFI's finance leadership, executive team and board of directors as the company continues to execute its integration and growth plan.