Chris Hitt, Whole Foods President, Retires

Chris Hitt, Whole Foods President, Retires

AUSTIN, Texas--Whole Foods Markets issued notice that itspresident, Chris Hitt, was stepping down from his position to spend more timewith his family; he has been on a sabbatical from the company since thebeginning of the year. Hitt has been at the company (www.wholefoodsmarket.com)since 1986 and assumed the role of president in 1999.

Effective Aug. 1, John Mackey, chairman and chief executive officer of thecompany, will now have president tacked onto his list of monikers.According to the company, Mackey will remain focused on Whole Foods long-terminitiatives and will continue to delegate day-to-day operations to Walter Robband A.C. Gallo, the companys executive vice presidents of operations.

The strong, positive impact that Walter and A.C. are already making intheir new positions allows me to comfortably make this decision, Hitt stated,who added that he hopes to stay involved in the natural foods industry.