Our Management
A strengthened management team, now under the leadership of President and CEO Bill
Lovette, has placed the company in a position for success.
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Bill Lovette, President and Chief Executive Officer
Bill Lovette joined Pilgrim's as President and Chief Executive Officer on January
3, 2011. He served as president and chief operating officer of Case Foods for the
past two years. Before that, Bill spent 25 years with Tyson Foods in various roles
in senior management, including President of its International Business Unit, President
of its Foodservice Business Unit and Sr. Group Vice President of Poultry and Prepared
Foods.
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Jayson Penn, Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations
Jayson Penn joined Pilgrim's in March of 2011 as Senior Vice President of the Commercial
Business Group, bringing more than
22
years of experience in the poultry industry, and was later promoted to his current
role as Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations. Mr. Penn began his career
in his family's poultry further-processing operations, has held sales and management
positions at Sanderson Farms and Marshall Durbin Companies, and served as Director
of Sales at Case Foods. In addition, Mr. Penn recently served on the Board of Directors
and the Executive Committee of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.
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Kevin Miller, Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations
Kevin Miller joined Pilgrims in April of 2012 as the Director of Margin Management
for Prepared Foods. In July of 2012 he was promoted to the Executive Vice President
of Sales and Operations for the Prepared Foods business unit. Kevin brings with
him over 18 years of poultry and red meat experience in various executive roles
in finance and operations including CEO, CFO and VP of operations positions. Most
recently he was the VP and General Manager of Prepared Foods for Case Farms. Kevin
also served as the Corporate Controller and then Vice President of Operations for
Koch Foods.
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Walt Shafer, Executive Vice President of Operations – Technical Services & Engineering
Walt Shafer serves as Executive Vice President of Operations - Technical Services
& Engineering for Pilgrim's, a position he has held since April 2011. In this
role, he oversees the following areas of our business: commercial, retail and fresh
foodservice; live operations and technical services; protein conversion; engineering
services; and business development. Walt was named EVP of Operations in February
2009, having served as Senior Division Vice President, Case Ready, since 2008. He
was named Senior Division Vice President, Supply Operations in 2007 after serving
as Executive Vice President, Prepared Foods since 2005. He previously served as
Senior Vice President, Prepared Foods Regional Operations from 2004 to 2005, and
as Senior Vice President of Chicken Operations for the company's Eastern Division
from 2001 to 2004.
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Fabio Sandri, Chief Financial Officer
Fabio Sandri joined Pilgrim's as Chief Financial Officer in June 2011. He previously
served as CFO of Estacio Participações, the largest private post-secondary
educational institution in Brazil, a post he had held since April 2010. Prior to
that, he spent nearly two years as the chief financial officer of Imbra SA, a provider
of dental services based in São Paolo, Brazil. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Sandri
served as strategy director and corporate controller for Braskem S.A., a New York
Stock Exchange-listed petrochemical company headquartered in Camaçari, Brazil.
He earned a Master's in Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University
of Pennsylvania and a degree in electrical engineering from Escola Politécnica
da Universidade de São Paulo.
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Charles von der Heyde, President of Pilgrim's de Mexico
Charles von der Heyde joined Pilgrim's in February, 2010 as Senior Vice President
of Commodity Risk Management, Feed Ingredient Purchasing and Export Sales. In January
of 2012, he was promoted to President of Pilgrim's de Mexico. Mr. von der Heyde
comes to Pilgrim's from Bunge LTD in Brazil, where he had worked for more than 29
years. Bunge, a leading agribusiness and food company with integrated operations
that circle the globe, is one of Brazil's largest agricultural exporters, oilseed
processors and wheat millers.
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Kendra Waldbusser, Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance
Kendra Waldbusser has served as Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality
Assurance since joining Pilgrim's in March 2010. Ms. Waldbusser previously worked
as director of quality assurance for renewable products at Tyson Foods. During her
13 years with Tyson, she also held a variety of other positions, including product
manager for Pet Products Marketing – Renewable Products Division; Divisional Quality
Assurance Manager – Foodservice Poultry and Regional Quality Assurance Manager -
Foodservice Poultry.
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Doug Schult, Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Doug Schult joined Pilgrim's as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources in
June of 2012. Doug brings
31
years of Human Resources experience in the protein industry. Doug's protein background
includes, beef, pork, poultry, and the commercial egg industry. Most recently he
was the Head of Human Resources Business Unit Support for JBS USA, where has spent
the last twelve years of his career. Prior to joining what is now JBS USA, he was
the Vice President of Human Resources for Seaboard Corporation. In addition to heading
up Pilgrim's Human Resources, Doug also Heads up Labor Relations for JBS and Pilgrim's.
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Greg Tatum, Senior Vice President, Byproducts
Greg Tatum joined Pilgrim's in 2009 as Senior Vice President of Business Development.
He brings more than
33
years of poultry experience to the company. Prior to joining Pilgrim's, Mr. Tatum
served nearly five years as chief financial officer of Claxton Poultry in Claxton,
Ga. Before that, he spent four years as vice president of business development at
American Proteins in Cumming, Ga. He also served as director of business development
at Seaboard Farms in Athens, Ga. for 11 years, until it was acquired by ConAgra.
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Aaron Wiegand, Senior Vice President, Commodity Risk Management and Feed Ingredients
Aaron Wiegand joined Pilgrim's in 2013 heading our Commodity Risk Management and
Feed Ingredient Procurement team. Aaron came from Bunge, where he was the Director
of Bunge's Corn Product Line based in Geneva, Switzerland. He had previously served
in various capacities with Bunge including VP of Risk Management, Rail Trading Manager,
and Regional Commercial Manager, among others. He also served as Commodity Manager
for Northeast Missouri Grain LLC, a corn-based ethanol producer. He graduated from
the University of Missouri with a degree in Agriculture.
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Jose Antonio Valdes, General Director, Pilgrim's de Mexico
Jose Antonio Valdes joined Pilgrim's de Mexico in April 2011 as Sales and Marketing
Director, bringing 20 years of experience in the Mexican poultry industry, and was
later promoted to his current role as General Director of Pilgrim's de Mexico. He
previously served as the Sales Director for Avicarnes de Monterrey. Prior to that,
he worked for 15 years at Trasgo, S.A., where he held a variety of roles. He has
also held positions at Necochea Internacional de Laminados, S.A.; Cia. Vinivola
del Vergel, S.A.; and the University of Coahuila State. He earned a degree in industrial
chemical engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de
Monterrey.
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Beto Esteves, Vice President, Export Sales
Beto Esteves has been with Pilgrim's since 2011 after starting his career 13 years
earlier at a trading company in Brazil exporting Beef. He spent four years learning
the business before being hired by the second largest beef producer in Brazil as
their export manager. He spent five years at this organization before joining JBS
S.A. in São Paulo, taking charge of exports to the Trans-Atlantic region. After
a year in the São Paulo office, Beto joined JBS USA and took responsibility
for export sales, continuing with his focus on the Trans-Atlantic region. After
a year in the US, Beto began working on the Pilgrim's export team, building on his
knowledge of the international markets to expand its poultry outreach.
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