AUSTIN, TX - Whole Foods has welcomed a new leader to its executive team, moving up its own Christina Minardi. Effective immediately, she resides in a newly-created Executive Vice President of Operations position, joining Ken Meyer and David Lannon as the third Executive Vice President of Operations.

With 22 years at the company under her belt, Minardi brings a great deal of experience to the promotion. Most recently she served Whole Foods as its Northeast Regional President, overseeing 40 stores in three states.

Since joining Whole Foods Market in 1995, the retailer said that Minardi has forged a path in retail and culinary excellence. According to a press release, she has built a remarkable leadership team while operating some of the highest-volume stores in the most unique and demanding areas of metro New York.

Among her achievements is also having been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the “Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink.”

“I’m thrilled to welcome Christina to the leadership team and I look forward to working with her to build an exciting future,” said CEO and Co-Founder John Mackey. “I know she will be an integral part of building our relationship with Amazon and helping drive our shopper experience.”

In her new role, Minardi will both co-lead the integration with Amazon and lead four regions. Among her responsibilities will be re-imagining the customer experience and driving e-commerce initiatives, as well as other key store and regional programs.

With continuous changes at Whole Foods as it creates a new strategy under Amazon, AndNowUKnow will report on new developments as they occur.

Whole Foods