Specialty food distributor Baldor Specialty Foods appoints Teepoo Riaz as chief legal and administrative officer, and Vladimiro Sinatti as chief financial officer. Riaz and Sinatti join the executive leadership team of Baldor, and report to President David McInerney and CEO and Owner TJ Murphy.

As chief legal and administrative officer, Riaz brings decades of legal expertise and proven managerial leadership to Baldor. Prior to joining Baldor, Riaz was the longtime general counsel and secretary of e-commerce grocer FreshDirect and served as of counsel to lead the Consumer-Packaged Goods Group at Helbraun Levey, a boutique food and beverage law firm. Teepoo successfully led the sale-side of FreshDirect to global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, closed over $1 billion in deals and helped expand the company's operations along the Northeast. At Baldor, Riaz will oversee the legal, human resources and risk functions.

With the retirement of Chief Financial Officer Eileen Manitsas after 21 years with the company, Vladimiro Sinatti joins Baldor Specialty Foods to step into the role of CFO, bringing with him three decades of financial operations experience in the food industry. Formerly, Sinatti was the chief financial officer for North America for Ferrero, where he oversaw financial operations across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. His work was pivotal in aligning Ferrero's North American operations with its growth strategies, and he notably played a key role in high-profile acquisitions, including Nestlé North America Confectionery and Kellogg's North American Cookies.

These strategic hires come at a time of expansion for Baldor, following the earlier acquisition of Golden Meat Co., formerly known as Golden Packing, to provide customers with value-added cut and dry-aged meats, as well as the opening of additional cross-docking facilities that extend Baldor's reach as far north as Freeport, Maine, as far south as Richmond, Va., and as far west as Harrisburg, Pa.

"Both Teepoo and Vladimiro are experts at scaling food companies and building sustainable, best-in-class processes, skills that will be critical as we continue our growth trajectory while always aiming to outperform customer expectations," said McInerney.

Murphy said, "I'm committed to continuously evolve Baldor for the benefit of our customers, suppliers, and employees. Both these executives share that commitment, and their breadth of leadership experiences in the food industry will support the changing needs of Baldor as we go into our next generation of growth. With their passion and experience, Teepoo and Vladimiro will jump right in to make an immediate impact. I couldn't be happier to welcome them to Baldor."

Source: Baldor Specialty Foods