Board of Directors

Christopher Pappas is our founder and has served as our chief executive officer since 1985 and has been a director on our Board and our Board chairman since our IPO, and he also served as a director and the chairman of the board of our predecessor company, Chefs’ Warehouse Holdings, LLC. He has been our president since April 11, 2009 and before that was our president from our formation to January 1, 2007. Prior to founding the Company, Mr. C. Pappas played basketball professionally in Europe for several years following his graduation from Adelphi University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. Mr. C. Pappas currently oversees all of our business activities, with a focus on product procurement, sales, marketing, strategy development, business development and operations. Mr. C. Pappas currently serves on the board of directors of the International Foodservice Distributors Association and the Hudson National Golf Club, respectively. Mr. C. Pappas’ qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive knowledge of the Company and the specialty food products distribution business and his years of leadership at the Company.

Steven F. Goldstone has been a director on our Board since March 7, 2016. Previously, Mr. Goldstone was the Lead Director of Greenhill & Co., and the non-executive chairman of ConAgra Foods, Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of packaged food products in the US. He has also previously been a director of two other New York Stock Exchange firms, American Standard Companies and Merck & Company, Inc. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Goldstone was chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco, Inc. one of the world’s largest consumer product companies. Prior to joining RJR Nabisco, Inc., Mr. Goldstone was a partner in the New York City law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell (“Davis Polk”). As a Davis Polk partner from 1978 to 1995, Mr. Goldstone advised corporate clients on many of the largest national and international mergers and acquisitions transactions and securities matters of the day. Mr. Goldstone is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and attended New York University School of Law. Mr. Goldstone’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his more than 30 years of experience in leadership positions, his knowledge of the food industry, and his corporate governance expertise.

Aylwin Lewis was most recently the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Potbelly Corporation (Nasdaq: PBPB), a growing Chicago-based sandwich chain with operations throughout the United States and internationally, from 2008 to 2017. Prior to Potbelly, Mr. Lewis was Chief Executive Officer and President of Sears Holdings Corporation, which was created from the merger of two retail giants, Kmart and Sears. Mr. Lewis was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kmart at the time of the merger, a distinction that made Mr. Lewis the highest ranking African- American executive in the U.S. retail industry. He has also held various executive positions at both Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut. Mr. Lewis presently serves on the board of directors of Marriott International and VOYA Financial and previously served on the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Mr. Lewis earned his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston, Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Houston Baptist University and Bachelor of Science and Arts degrees from the University of Houston.

John Pappas is a founder of the Company and currently serves as our vice chairman, a position he has held since March 1, 2011, and chief operating officer, a position he has held since February 24, 2022. From our founding in 1985 to March 1, 2011, he served as our chief operating officer. Mr. J. Pappas has been a director on our Board since our IPO, and he also served as a director on the board of our predecessor company, Chefs’ Warehouse Holdings, LLC. He has over 35 years of leadership experience in logistics, facility management and global procurement and oversees our entire network of distribution centers in North America. Mr. J. Pappas is also active in the development of our corporate strategy. Mr. J. Pappas’ qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive knowledge of the Company and the specialty food products distribution industry and his years of leadership at the Company.

Richard N. Peretz has been a director on our board since March 2024. He has served as a Venture Partner at Playground Global, LLC, a technology-focused venture capital firm, since May 2021 and has served as an independent consultant since February 2020. Previously, Mr. Peretz served as the Chief Financial Officer of the United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”), an American multinational shipping and receiving supply chain management company, from July 2015 to February 2020. Mr. Peretz also held various leadership positions at UPS, including as the Controller and Treasurer as well as head of Mergers & Acquisitions from 2007 to 2015, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of International Operations from 2002 to 2007 and in various other roles of increasing responsibility from 1981 to 2010. Mr. Peretz also currently serves on the boards of directors of several companies, including: Boxbot, Inc., a startup venture that produces conveyors and package handling systems, since September 2023, Altus Power, Inc., a provider of alternative energy solutions, since December 2021, and Iris Acquisition Corp., (formerly Tribe Capital Growth Corp. I), a special purpose acquisition company, since March 2021 where he serves as Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Peretz previously served on the board of directors of Semper Paratus Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, from October 2021 to June 2022, Electric Last Mile Solutions, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, from June 2021 to June 2022, Tribe Capital Growth Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company from March 2021 to May 2022, and First International Bancorp, a state-chartered bank of Connecticut, from 2008 to 2015. Mr. Peretz served as an Investment Committee Member for the UPS Strategic Venture, a venture capital fund managed by the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund of UPS, from 2013 to February 2020. Mr. Peretz served as a Board Member on the Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross, a disaster and humanitarian relief organization, from 2008 to 2015. Mr. Peretz earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Wendy M. Weinstein has been a director on our board since March 2024. She has served as Chief Marketing Officer at W2K Consulting, a marketing and management consulting firm with restaurant and food and beverage industry clients, since January 2001. In addition, Ms. Weinstein is a consultant in the restaurant technology, media and food distribution verticals through the Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc., a consulting and information services company, since October 2011. Previously, Ms. Weinstein was an owner and operator of Plates Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant in Westchester, New York, from January 2003 until its sale in October 2019. Prior to that, she served as Director of International Marketing at Sanpellegrino S.p.A, an Italian mineral water company (acquired by Nestle S.A. in 1998), from 1996 to 2000, and as Director of Marketing from 1989 to 1995. Ms. Weinstein currently serves as a director on the board of Newport Restaurant Group, a hospitality services firm, where she serves as a member of the Audit Committee, since January 2024. Ms. Weinstein earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lester Owens has been a director on our board since March 2024. He previously served as Senior Executive Vice President and former head of Operations and as a member of the Operating Committee at Wells Fargo & Company, a multinational financial services company, from July 2020 to March 2023. Mr. Owens joined Wells Fargo from Bank of New York Mellon, where he was Global Head of Operations from February 2019 to July 2020. Prior to joining Bank of New York Mellon, Mr. Owens spent 10 years at JP Morgan Chase, where he was responsible for Global Wholesale Banking Operations, among other roles. He previously led significant operations functions for Deutsche Bank, Citibank and Bankers Trust. He has served on several boards of directors, including the Board of Directors of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in 2016, and he chaired the Clearing House Interbank Payments Board from 2015 to 2016. Mr. Owens is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health, Inc. Mr. Owens has a B.A. from Long Island University and an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson Executive.