Tyson Foods Continues management shakeup

Arkansas Business, Oct 15, 2007 by Lance Turner

Bill Lovette, senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods at Tyson Foods Inc., is leaving the company and his position will not be filled, the meat processor said last week.

The departure of the long-time senior executive was one of many senior management changes the company announced just two weeks after board chairman John Tyson relinquished his executive duties. The company said it is implementing "immediate changes in the senior management of its poultry and fresh meats operations, which are designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the company's business structure."

Tyson Foods said the changes are part of its "FAST" initiative. FAST stands for "focus, agility, simplify and trust."

"The goal is to place greater emphasis on value-added activities and encourage faster decision making. These changes will involve modifying and reducing some layers of management and giving team members more decision-making authority," the company said.

Tyson Foods said the three executives who had been reporting to Lovette would now report to Richard L. Bond, Tyson's president and CEO. Those executives are Donnie King, group vice president of poultry and prepared foods operations; Bernard Leonard, group vice president of food service; and Scott McNair, group vice president of consumer products. The leadership of Tyson's beef and pork business is also being restructured. "These changes are designed to help us make the best use of our talent in addressing the continuing challenges of the beef and pork business," Bond said in a news release.

James Lochner will continue managing Tyson's beef and pork business as senior group vice president of Tyson Fresh Meats but will leave Tyson headquarters in Springdale to return to Dakota Dunes, S.D., where Tyson Fresh Meats is based.

Noel White, a long-time member of the Tyson Fresh Meats leadership team, has been named senior vice president of Pork Margin Management. Chris Daniel, previously senior vice president of specialty products, is now senior vice president of Beef Margin Management and will oversee the buying and selling side of the company's beef business.

Many of Daniel's management duties in specialty products are being shifted to Jeff Webster, who will now be senior vice president of the newly created Tyson Renewable Products Division.

Read DuPriest, group director of strategy, will assume Webster's responsibilities in managing corporate strategy and development and will report to Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon.

Dan Brooks, an operations executive with Tyson Fresh Meats, will now be senior vice president of beef production operations. Jim Schmitz, another Tyson Fresh Meats executive, is now vice president of pork production operations and will oversee the company's six pork plants.

Brooks and Schmitz will report to Lochner, as will lerry Holbrook, a long-time sales and marketing executive with Tyson Fresh Meats, who will now serve as vice president of fresh meats field sales.