December 10/Dayville, Conn./PRNewswire-FirstCall -- United Natural Foods Inc. announced the promotion of Carl F. Koch to the position of vice president, Human Resources and the appointment of Robert A. Sigel, former president and CEO of Millbrook Distribution Services Inc., to the newly created position of president of Specialty Distribution of UNFI. Sigel will continue as president of Millbrook, which was acquired by United Natural Foods in November 2007. In making the announcements, Michael Funk, United Natural Foods' president and chief executive officer, commented, "We continue to position the company for sustainable growth and we see the wealth of operating experience and management skills of both Robert and Carl as integral components to the senior management team we are building at United Natural Foods." Koch joined United Natural Foods in 2001 and most recently served as the Company's vice president of Risk and Compliance with corporate wide responsibilities for risk management and human resource functions. Prior to joining the company, he worked for a nationwide construction staffing company as their director of Finance and Risk Management and, previously, was a manager with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Risk and Insurance Management Society. Koch graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a BS in Finance & Insurance and Management and also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Hartford. Sigel held several management positions at Millbrook since 1977, including vice president, Sales and Merchandising, and executive vice president, and was a key factor in building the company from a small distributor to a full-line distributor with a substantial specialty food business and an extensive selection of health and beauty care items. In 1986, McKesson Corporation acquired Millbrook, and he was promoted to president and CEO of Millbrook Distributors in 1990. He became a corporate vice president of McKesson in 1995, a position he held until 1997. He graduated from Bowdoin College with a BA in Economics and from Syracuse University with an MBA in Accounting and Finance.

From the December 17, 2007, Prepared Foods e-Flash