ATD names new CEO for retiring Berry

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Dec. 2, 2015) — American Tire Distributors Holdings Inc. (ATD) has hired food industry executive Stuart Schuette as its CEO, effective Jan. 4, replacing William Berry, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Mr. Schuette most recently was COO of US Foods Inc., the second largest food service distribution company in the country, with more than $23 billion in annual revenue and approximately 24,000 employees.

In his role with the company, Mr. Schuette oversaw the operational and administrative functions across over 60 locations servicing more than 250,000 customers nationwide.

During his 20-year career at US Foods, Mr. Schuette held a variety of executive sales, finance and operations positions. Most recently he was integrally involved in the transformation of the US Foods brand, sales and functional organization, according to ATD.

Prior to joining US Foods, Mr. Schuette was an executive at Martin Brower, a subsidiary of Reyes Holdings L.L.C., and a distributor of products to more than 8,400 McDonald's Corp. restaurants.

“I look forward to leading the American Tire Distributors team and building on the strong record of performance they have achieved under Bill Berry's leadership,” Mr. Schuette said in an ATD press release.

“ATD's focus on operational excellence in serving its customers across the U.S. and Canada has established a firm foundation for the business. My goal will be to drive the innovation necessary to continue to grow the business and exceed our customers' expectations.”

Mr. Berry announced his retirement in August after more than 30 years in the industry, including the last 17 with ATD. Upon his retirement, Mr. Berry will transition into an advisory role, ATD said at that time.

Mr. Berry started in the industry as the corporate controller for ITCO Tire Co. and joined ATD in 1998 as a result of ITCO's merging with ATD. He was named ATD's executive vice president and chief operating officer in January 2002 and was named president and COO in 2003. Mr. Berry assumed the president and CEO roles in April 2009.

ATD reported a $94.6 million net loss in fiscal 2014 on 31-percent higher sales of $5.03 billion.

ATD is jointly owned by affiliates of Ares Management L.P. and TPG Capital L.P., following the acquisition of a 48.4-percent ownership stake in March by the Ares affiliates.