The Fresh Market Inc. has named Richard (Rick) Anicetti as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective Sept. 1. Anicetti has also been elected to the company’s board of directors.

Anicetti joins The Fresh Market with more than 30 years of experience across all key retail functions at Hannaford Bros. Co. and Food Lion LLC. He served for eight years as president and CEO of Food Lion grocery stores, a subsidiary of Delhaize Group with more than 1,300 locations primarily in the southeastern United States. In addition, he serves as a member of the board of directors at Number Holdings Inc., the parent company of 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, where he also served as interim CEO, and he is a director on the board of Smart & Final Stores Inc. In conjunction with his appointment to The Fresh Market, Anicetti will resign after a period of transition from his current board positions.

“After an extensive search, we are delighted that Rick Anicetti will join us as the chief executive officer of The Fresh Market," Ray Berry, founder of the company and chairman of the board of directors, said in a press release. "Rick is a highly accomplished food retail executive serving in leadership roles at Hannaford and Delhaize. He and I have spent time together reviewing the competitive marketplace and I am impressed with his knowledge of store operations, as well as his demonstrated vision, innovation and ability to successfully run large grocery organizations. We have every confidence Rick will lead The Fresh Market effectively and creatively and are assured of the Company's future under his direction. We remain grateful to Sean Crane for his efforts towards improving our operations in this time of transition.”

Rich Noll, lead independent director of The Fresh Market’s board of directors, said, “As we look to return the company to growth, we focused on identifying a performance-driven leader with the ability to create a performance-driven culture. Rick will be the first CEO hired from outside the company, and we believe that he has the right combination of strategic leadership and personnel skills to lead The Fresh Market into a new phase of growth and build value for our stockholders in the coming years.”

Anicetti brings exceptional food retail experience and a strong track record of strategic leadership to The Fresh Market. During his tenure at Food Lion, he led a major business model transformation, changing Food Lion from a distribution company to a customer-centric organization and he was also the co-CEO of Delhaize America. After leaving Delhaize in 2010, he joined Ares Capital as a strategic advisor and served on the board of two of their portfolio companies, Number Holdings Inc., the parent company of 99 Cents Only Stores LLC and on the board of publicly-traded Smart & Final.

“I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to lead The Fresh Market,” said Anicetti. “I have admired the company’s brand and unique shopping experience for many years and believe that we have tremendous opportunity to further evolve our offerings and services. I look forward to working with our leadership team and employees to realize the growth potential of The Fresh Market.