Eric Dorne

Eric Dorne is the retired Chief Operating Officer of UNFI, North America’s largest publicly traded food distribution company. Since his October 2022 retirement, Eric has joined the Board of Whetstone Distribution (a Shore Capital portfolio group), completed a 9-month supply chain assessment for the CEO of Breakthru Beverage Group, completed a 12-month strategic advisor engagement for the CEO of UNFI, became Lead Independent Director for the TCG Services (a Shore Capital portfolio group) Board of Directors and joined the Board of Premier ProduceOne (a Shore Capital portfolio group).

Prior to Eric’s retirement, his multifaceted responsibilities and experience reflect his unique combination of business, strategic, and technical acumen, as well as his ability to transform organizations to execute at high levels. A business leader who thrives on solving complex challenges, Eric has built a reputation for demonstrating level-headed leadership and driving standardization and process efficiency during times of unprecedented tumult in the food industry.

Eric’s efforts at UNFI were centered on delivering a platform for sustainable growth, exceptional customer service, and high levels of efficiency. The company grew to $30B in revenue, 30,000 associates, and 58 distribution centers during his tenure. Eric was the strategic leader of the company’s exemplary performance during the turbulent and extremely challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic. UNFI played a vital role in keeping the food supply moving across the United States & Canada while protecting the health & safety of all Associates.

In October 2018, UNFI completed a transformational acquisition of Supervalu Inc., doubling the company’s sales, distribution footprint, and product offering. Eric was the executive leader of the Enterprise’s Transformation Office, responsible for the strategy, execution, and governance to drive delivery of the deal model of more than $300M in synergies.

Prior to his retirement, Eric had annual P&L responsibility for approximately $2.5B in operating expenses and over $300M in capital. As a member of the company’s senior executive leadership team, he was actively engaged with the UNFI Board of Directors, participating in all general sessions, Audit Committee and IT Strategy / Cyber Committee. Eric has a deep understanding of the themes and challenges that are important in boardrooms today. He has assisted in prioritizing sustainable growth, transformation, labor (represented and non-represented), automation, cyber security, and risk management in the UNFI Board’s decision-making process.

Eric’s career has taken him from part-time grocery bagger all the way to the C-suite. Over the course of 35 years at A&P Supermarkets (A&P), Eric built on a foundation of operations knowledge to take on managerial roles with increasing responsibility, to corporate support and, ultimately, to serving as Corporate Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. An early adopter of technology solutions, he introduced innovative e-commerce and self-checkout point-of-sale applications to A&P. Eric’s milestone accomplishments with the company included achieving $180M in companywide synergies following the $4B Pathmark retail chain acquisition.

Eric joined UNFI as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer in 2011 and quickly established a reputation for applying a fresh perspective and creative solutions to traditional business operations, taking them to a previously unattained efficiency level. Eric’s portfolio expanded in 2016 when he was named Chief Administrative Officer, again in 2018 when he was added President of Strategic Business Units, and again in 2020 being named Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his executive leadership over the company’s transformation office, he provided executive management for all Distribution Center Operations, Transportation, Procurement, Pricing Execution, Enterprise Data Management, Cyber Security, Supplier Relationship Management, Customer Experience, Occupational & Food Safety, Real Estate, Labor Relations, Facility Maintenance & Construction, Continuous Improvement, Finance Shared Services, HR Shared Services, Information Technology, UNFI Canada, UNFI Retail, Woodstock Farms Manufacturing and Alberts Organic Produce.

Eric also served as executive leader for UNFI’s acquisition team charged with the planning and execution of the integration strategies for several key growth acquisitions prior to Supervalu, Inc including Tony’s Fine Foods, Haddon House Distributors, Pro Organics Produce, Nor-Cal Produce, Trudeau Foods, Honest Green eSolutions and Gourmet Guru, Inc.

Given his passion for the food industry, Eric has volunteered his time serving as a board member for the Connecticut Food Association and the Massachusetts Food Associations. He also has advised Genius Central Systems, providing a clear voice on how the company could better position itself in the dynamic distribution landscape, and Amped for Education, a non-profit devoted to giving children in Nicaragua access to secondary-level education.

Eric earned his MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, and graduated from Sacred Heart University with BS degrees in Business Administration and Economics.

Eric and his wife currently reside in Rhode Island, are the parents of 3 adult children, and are the grandparents to 4 grandchildren.