Smithfield Foods Names Shane Smith Presidentand Chief Executive Officer, Succeeding DennisOrgan
Smithfield Foods
Prior to becoming chief strategy officer, Mr. Smith served as executive vice president of Smithfield's Europeanoperations. In this capacity, he spent much of the last decade in Europe, overseeing the company's operations, capital investments, expansion into new markets, and mergers and acquisitions abroad. Today, Smithfield's European operations encompass nearly 18,000 employees, 21 processing facilities, 58 company-owned farms,and over 1,000 contract farms in five countries. Mr. Smith's extensive experience with both Smithfield's European and U.S. businesses will aid the company in further establishing more robust and strategic global collaboration to franchise best practices across the company's expansive footprint.
"I am honored to serve as Smithfield's next President and CEO and lead an incredible team of more than 63,000people who all work together to provide families worldwide with wholesome, safe and affordable food. AtSmithfield, 'Good food. Responsibly.®' is more than something we say. It's how we approach our work and whatwe carry out through our mission to produce good food the right way with respect for our people, animals,communities and planet. Together with our talented leadership team, I look forward to furthering our long-termvision that has made us one of the world's leading consumer packaged protein companies, creating value for abroad range of stakeholders," said Mr. Smith.
A North Carolina native, Mr. Smith graduated from Mount Olive College in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science inaccounting. After holding accounting positions at other companies, he was hired as a financial analyst bySmithfield in 2003. While at Smithfield, Mr. Smith earned a Master of Business Administration from the Collegeof William & Mary. He was promoted to director of financial reporting in 2008 and then to internationalcontroller for Smithfield's international business in 2010. In this role, Mr. Smith managed Smithfield's financialoperations in Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Spain. From 2012 until 2018, he served as vicepresident and chief financial officer, Smithfield Europe, and as president, Smithfield Romania.
In 2019, Mr. Smith became executive vice president of European operations, leading the company's businessesin Europe. In late 2020, Mr. Smith was promoted to his prior role, chief strategy officer, where he helpeddevelop, execute and sustain the company's efforts to achieve growth through its own resources, as well asthrough mergers and acquisitions. He oversaw the company's hog farming operations, as well as SmithfieldRenewables, the platform that unifies Smithfield's carbon reduction initiatives. As chief strategy officer,Smithfield's top executive in Europe also reported directly to Mr. Smith.
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