Peter and Kim both enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas College in 1986, however, they never met while attending classes. Kim left STAC at the end of the first semester to work full time at Bennett Brothers in Mahwah, New Jersey, where she worked her way through the ranks from data-entry to Manager of Information Systems. Peter went on to graduate in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science, he holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from the George Washington University where he graduated with honors and served as president of the Omega Rho National Honor Society for Operations Research.
Kim and Peter finally met in June 1991, married shortly thereafter, and moved to Bloomington, Illinois. Kim earned her Associates Degree at Heartland Community College in 1994 and enrolled in Illinois State University. After having their second child, Peter and Kim decided to move back to New Jersey to live closer to family. Kim eventually enrolled back at STAC and earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences. Peter and Kim credit St. Thomas Aquinas College for the strong educational foundation provided through its exceptional faculty.
Peter is an accomplished senior executive with 25 years of success as operations research leader, leveraging the power of math and computers to model business operations, solve problems and facilitate process improvement. With proven performance improvement and strategic thinking capabilities, Peter can identify opportunities and solutions and collaborate directly with stakeholders to achieve them. An objective and motivational leader, he establishes meaningful and practical short, mid, and long-term goals and objectives, while balancing the human factor and keeping enthusiasm and morale high across all levels of a company.
Currently, Peter is the Executive Vice President of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic owned food company in the US. Peter oversaw nationwide facility expansion to support continued revenue and profit growth. Since assuming this role in 2006, Peter has led several critically successful improvements, including the development of a strong workforce with lower wage costs by identifying potential talent and mentoring key specialists to become executives. Peter also led the consolidation of the company’s HQ, resulting in over $4M in annual savings. Peter was also involved with freezing pensions and moving the company to a 401K plan and negotiated union contracts to secure employee health contributions. Joining Goya Foods as Director of Logistics in 1997, Peter quickly distinguished himself and secured a promotion to Vice President of Distribution and Logistics within a few years.
Before joining Goya Foods, Peter served as Project Manager and Operations Analyst at Merck Medco Health Solutions, where he designed and implemented an optimization model to maximize the prescription volume capacity of the company’s mail order pharmacies. Prior to Merck Medco Health Solutions, he served as Senior Analyst at Baxter Healthcare, where he optimized delivery route schedules, reduced driver numbers, and improved fleet performance for the company’s Hayward California Region.
Earlier in his career, Peter distinguished himself as Operations Research Analyst for GROWMARK, Inc. In this position, he led several simulation studies to assess the cost and service implications of various bulk terminal network configurations and presented his results to senior management. He also formulated and interpreted optimizations models to present recommendations for fertilizer sourcing allocations annually.
In addition to his executive career, Peter serves on the board of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce and board of trustees of Meadowlands Regional “2040 Foundation”. He is a Counsel of Regents Member at Felician University, as well as his alma mater, St. Thomas Aquinas College. In the past, Peter was an Employer Trustee for the UFCW Local 888 Health and Welfare Fund.
Peter and Kim were inducted into the St. Thomas Aquinas College Hall of Fame in 2003. They live in New Jersey and have four children. Peter and Kim, along with other members of the Unanue Family, have been major benefactors of the Anthony V. and Eleanor E. Unanue Scholarship Fund.