Phoenix, AZ — Sprouts Farmers Market announced the resignation of Doug Sanders, executive chairman for the Sprouts Board of Directors. Sanders, who recently became the chief executive officer of a technology company, plans to focus his efforts on that.
“Doug has been an integral part of Sprouts since our inception and was instrumental in our evolution from one store in 2002 to one of the largest and fastest growing healthy grocery stores in the country,” said Amin Maredia, chief executive officer of Sprouts Farmers Market. “On behalf of all of our team members, I’d like to thank Doug for his leadership and service to Sprouts, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Doug Sanders is expected to receive $3 million, over a two-year period.
On February 20, 2017— the board’s next meeting—Doug Sanders’ resignation will go into effect, while Joseph Fortunato will be appointed as the non-executive chairman of the board. Forunato, an independent director, has been a member of the board since 2013. Prior to that, Fortunato also held the executive position at GNC Holdings Inc.—the health and nutrition retailers—for 24 years, including chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president.
“I am very excited to serve Sprouts in my new capacity as chairman of the board,” said Fortunato. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Sprouts board and management team to build upon our trajectory and deliver value to our stockholders.”
“As we continue to build on our strategic initiatives to enhance our healthy living business, I look forward to working with Joe in his new role as chairman and leveraging the deep high-growth, specialty retail knowledge that Joe has built over his 40-year career.” said Maredia.
