Smithfield CEO to retire next year
Oct. 20, 2020
The CEO of Smithfield Foods Inc. plans to retire next year.
Ken Sullivan, who has spent nearly half of his 40-year career at Smithfield, will retire in early 2021 and be succeeded by Dennis Organ, chief operating officer of U.S. operations.
“It has been a great honor and privilege to lead Smithfield for the past five years,” Sullivan said in a statement.
“As a leading global food and agriculture company, we have an incredibly important role to play in society. It is an obligation we have proudly embraced over our more than 80-year history. We have persevered through an extraordinary time in 2020. Together, we have met unprecedented challenges head-on.”
Smithfield has 55,000 employees in the U.S. and Europe.
The Sioux Falls location is one of the largest pork-processing facilities in the U.S., representing 4 percent to 5 percent of pork production in the country. It supplies 130 million servings of food per week, or 18 million servings per day
When Sullivan visited the community last year to speak to the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he praised the plant’s workforce, which at the time totaled 3,600.
“We have a tremendous workforce in Sioux Falls. We’ve really fostered an environment where people are engaged,” he said. “When you have hourly employees, to get engagement is really difficult, and when you’re able to do that, the magic happens.”
During his five years as president and CEO, Sullivan delivered record results and led Smithfield through a monumental transformation, the company said. Several years of his tenure were devoted to the ultimate realization of “One Smithfield,” the initiative that unified all Smithfield’s operations, brands and more than 55,000 employees globally under one corporate umbrella, which included transitioning the Sioux Falls operation from the John Morrell name to Smithfield.
The first four years of Sullivan’s tenure marked the highest profit periods in the company’s history. In 2020, his fifth year, the company was well on its way to yet another record year, recording “an incredibly successful first quarter,” it said.
“Then, the pandemic hit. Mr. Sullivan did not hesitate to put the company’s pursuit of profits on the back burner, throwing over $600 million year to date to implement a wide range of extraordinary benefits designed to keep team members as healthy and safe as possible, assist them through the pandemic and reward them for their willingness to accept the enormous responsibility of maintaining the nation’s food supply.”
Sullivan called it the right time to “make way for the next generation of leadership.”
“I am leaving our company in extremely capable hands,” he said. “Dennis lives and breathes our operational excellence guiding principle. At his core, he tirelessly seeks out opportunities to improve the way we do business. We must be operationally excellent to succeed, and Dennis will continue to transform our company into a best-in-class operator in his role as president and chief executive officer.”
Organ joined Smithfield in 2010 and was promoted to his current role in 2019. Since then, he has overseen daily operations of the company’s entire vertically integrated domestic business, including its more than 40,000 workers across 32 states.
“I am incredibly thankful and excited to have the opportunity to lead and serve Smithfield. I want to personally thank WH Group for their trust and confidence in me. We are tremendously fortunate to have had Ken at the helm of our company for the last five years, and particularly this past year,” he said. “Thanks to Ken and his leadership, and the actions of our Smithfield family, our ROI guiding principles now underpin everything we do and are our keys to success. Building on our ROI foundation together is our path forward.”
Sullivan praised the way the company’s employees have performed during his time at Smithfield.
“The strength, resolve and guts I have witnessed in our Smithfield family during those 20 years, and particularly this year, will stay with me forever, as will the losses we have endured,” he told employees. “Your heroism kept this country fed. Never forget that.”
