US: Armanino appoints president, CEO

By: just-food.com | 13 February 2009

Armanino Foods of Distinction has announced that Edmond Pera, currently chief operating officer, would become president and CEO following the death of William Armanino.

Armanino passed away on 24 January .

Deborah Armanino Le Blanc, the company's national sales manager, was elected to fill the vacancy on the board created by his death.

Douglas Nichols, who has served on the board since 2001, was named chairman of the board.

"While we mourn the loss of Bill Armanino we know that he would energetically encourage us to forge forward to build on his legacy. All of us in the company have re-dedicated ourselves to that goal," Pera said.

"During these uncertain times we are pleased to report that preliminary results for our year ended December 31, 2008 show mid- to high-single-digit percentage growth in sales and pre-tax income from operations and that our sales growth curve continued into the first month of 2009. We remain cautiously optimistic regarding our prospects for 2009 as our sales and broker teams continue to show good traction across our product lines and market segments."