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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Walt Shafer, Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations
Walt Shafer serves as Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations 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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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
21
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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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, Senior Vice President of Commodity Risk Management, Feed
Ingredient Purchasing and Export Sales
Charles von der Heyde has served as Senior Vice President of Commodity Risk Management,
Feed Ingredient Purchasing and Export Sales since joining Pilgrim's in February
2010. 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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Greg Tatum, Senior Vice President, Byproducts
Greg Tatum joined Pilgrim's in 2009 as Senior Vice President of Business Development.
He brings more than
32
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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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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