Mr. Chappelle was appointed Chief Executive Officer in February 2022, after serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer, and was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees in November 2021. He most recently served as an executive of Tyson Foods, holding a variety of leadership roles including Chief Corporate Services Officer; General Manager of Emerging Proteins, Research and Development and Logistics; Chief Operating Officer of Prepared Foods; and Chief Integration Officer. Prior to joining Tyson Foods in 2017, he served as Chief Operating Officer at several leading consumer packaged goods companies, including AdvancePierre Foods, Vi-Jon and Solo Cup Company. Previously, Mr. Chappelle spent more than four years with Sara Lee Foods, including as Chief Supply Chain Officer and Chief Information Officer. He also served as Chief Information Officer of HJ Heinz from 2002 to 2005. Mr. Chappelle currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Flagstone Foods and as a member of the Boards of Apex International and Randall Foods. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of AGRO Merchants Group from 2018 to 2020.
Sam Charleston joined Americold as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer in January 2022. She is responsible for leading all talent initiatives to support the overall business direction and formulating appropriate organization strategies for the future development, attraction, onboarding, and retention of high-caliber talent.
Ms. Charleston has deep experience in HR and the supply chain with a proven record of accelerating performance, building organizational capability, and developing talent across a variety of companies. Prior to joining our company, she was Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Talent & Culture at Newell Brands. Before joining Newell Brands, she spent over 20 years with Kraft Foods in roles spanning logistics, customer service, change management, and HR.
Ms. Charleston holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Second Nature Brands.
Marc J. Smernoff has served as our Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President since August 2015. Prior to that, he served as our Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President from August 2014 until August 2015.
From August 2004 through April 2015, he served as a Director at The Yucaipa Companies, LLC. Prior to joining Yucaipa, from 2003 to 2004 he was a Manager in the Transaction Services group at KPMG, and from 2000 through 2002, he was an investment banking associate at Wells Fargo Securities.
Mr. Smernoff was a member of our board of trustees from March 2008 until December 2009 and served on the board of directors of Eimskipafélag Islands hf (NASDAQ OMX: EIM) from September 2009 until September 2018.
Mr. Smernoff is a certified public accountant. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his Master’s in Business Administration from UCLA.
Jim Snyder joined Americold in March 2018 and is serving as Americold’s Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. He is also the company’s Secretary and is responsible for the Company’s legal, risk management, internal audit and compliance functions.
Prior to joining Americold, Mr. Snyder was General Counsel for Pet Retail Brands, Inc., an international pet retail company. Prior to that he was the General Counsel for Family Dollar Stores, Inc., a Fortune 300 retailer with $10 billion in sales. Prior to Family Dollar, he was an Assistant General Counsel at the Home Depot Inc., where he oversaw the company’s litigation and risk management functions. And before the Home Depot, Mr. Snyder was a Partner at King & Spalding, LLP.
Mr. Snyder earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at Wake Forest University, and received his J.D. degree from George Washington University.
Robert Chambers joined the Americold Executive Leadership Team in January 2020 as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Chambers is responsible for global business development and account revenue growth for an array of products and supply chain solutions.
Mr. Chambers brings nearly 20 years of commercial finance and accounting experience to Americold. Most recently, he held the title of Chief Financial Officer for Saia, a publicly traded transportation logistics company. Previously, Mr. Chambers was the Vice President of Commercial Finance at Americold where he was instrumental in developing the Company’s commercial business rules and underwriting process.
Mr. Chambers is a certified public accountant with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Accounting from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.
Richard Winnall was appointed Chief Operating Officer, International in August 2022. He joined Americold in January of 2019 as the Managing Director, International and held the role of Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Latin America prior to his appointment as Chief Operating Officer, International.
Mr. Winnall is responsible for leading Americold’s International operations and critical support functions to enable the organization to drive efficiency and provide best-in-class service to customers. Mr. Winnall has deep executive experience within some of the largest logistics companies in the world, having previously served at DHL Supply Chain (DPDHL Group) in Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Linfox in the Asia Pacific region. He holds a Master of Science Management, Intermodal Transport from the University of Denver, Colorado, and a Master of International Business from Swinburne University, Melbourne, and is a graduate of the GAICD International Company Directors Program.
Scott Henderson was appointed Executive Vice President & Chief Investment Officer in March 2023, after serving as Senior Vice President, Capital Markets, Treasury, and Investor Relations since joining the company in 2018.
Mr. Henderson is responsible for leading Americold’s investment and other capital allocation activities. He has deep experience across capital markets, M&A, corporate finance and investor relations. Prior REIT experience includes working at SITE Centers and STAG Industrial. He also worked in REIT Finance at Citizens Bank.
Mr. Henderson holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Michael Spires was appointed Chief Information Officer in December 2022. He is responsible for global information technology and leads Americold’s IT team to provide customers the highest level of systems security and leading-edge supply chain technologies to support their business.
Mr. Spires brings over 20 years of executive-level technology leadership experience to Americold, having previously served in senior roles at The Hackett Group, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
Mr. Spires holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Finance from Bradley University.