Consumer packaged goods executive Joe Cavaliere is joining C&S Wholesale Grocers as chief commercial officer, a newly created position.
C&S said Monday that Cavaliere, most recently president and global chief customer officer at Newell Brands, is scheduled to start at the wholesaler on Sept. 4.
“C&S has an impressive legacy of innovation and delivers distribution excellence for the lowest cost in the food business,” Cavaliere (left) said in a statement. “In the years ahead, we have a unique opportunity to build on this success to leverage industry-leading capabilities to become the undisputed partner of choice for growth.”
Cavaliere’s more than 30 years of experience include leading national sales organizations at Newell, Unilever and Kraft Foods.
He has served as chief customer officer at Newell since joining the company in December 2012, coming over from Unilever, where he was president of customer development for nearly eight years. Before that, he had a 21-year career at Kraft Foods, most recently as vice president of sales.
Keene, N.H.-based C&S noted that Cavaliere brings a reputation as a strategic leader and a customer development specialist in the CPG and food sectors. The company said its move to add a chief commercial officer reflects a sharper focus on customer collaboration in the fast-changing grocery retail landscape.
“Joe is a results-driven, strategic leader focused on people leadership, customer development and identifying creative solutions for solving customer issues,” C&S Chief Executive Officer Mike Duffy said in a statement. “He has a passion for building high-performing teams and developing new capabilities and will be instrumental in defining solutions to help our customers win.”
The nation’s largest grocery wholesaler, C&S supplies over 14,000 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases and institutions with more than 140,000 products.
