Providence, Rhode Island-based United Natural Foods (UNFI) has recruited Mahrukh Hussain to become general counsel and corporate secretary, effective May 16. She will report to UNFI chief executive Sandy Douglas.
Hussain is at present McDonald’s senior vice president and chief commercial and privacy officer. She has spent more than two decades at the fast-food company in a variety of positions, most recently overseeing global responsibility for commercial transactions, marketing, intellectual property, technology, privacy and safety, security and intelligence.
Hussain was previously McDonald’s US general counsel from 2013 to 2020, Europe general counsel from 2011 to 2013, central division general counsel from 2009 to 2011 and senior counsel/counsel for the US real estate practice groups from 2000 to 2009. In addition, from 2018 to 2020 she was corporate secretary for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
In her new role she will be responsible for all UNFI’s legal activities including board governance, compliance, employment law, securities, strategic transactions and contracts and real estate.
Before working at McDonald’s, Hussain spent four years as an associate at law firm Schwartz Cooper Greenberger and Krauss and one year as a judicial clerk for Justice Rita Garman, currently a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.
Douglas says in a statement: ‘Mahrukh is a great addition to UNFI as she brings a wealth of experience overseeing large corporate legal functions with a passion for building collaborative support teams. With our focus on helping customers grow and succeed and on continuing to expand market reach, UNFI’s legal function will be a critical link in supporting business growth, future commercial transactions and UNFI’s high standards for ethics and compliance.
‘Mahrukh will also help us continue diversifying our leadership team, bringing fresh thinking and new perspectives to how we work and support our more than 28,000 company associates.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
