It would appear that Tyson Foods has a new president of its Prepared Foods business, but it is taking more effort to get that confirmed than it should.
I got a email notification regarding a statement of beneficial ownership of securities had been filed by Tyson Foods with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Publicly traded companies are required to make such disclosures.
The Tyson employee mentioned in this filing was Kyle Narron, who was identified as the Prepared Foods group president.
Hmm. I thought Melanie Boulden held that position, in addition to being Tyson’s chief growth officer.
I checked Narron’s LinkedIn profile, and it stated that Narron now holds that role, effective in October, as well as the role of senior vice president of pork and Prepared Foods. Yet Tyson’s leadership webpage still lists Boulden as heading up Prepared Foods.
I reached out to the company with related questions, but at the time of this writing, it is 24 hours after that inquiry, and I still wait for a response.
Oddly enough, it was through a beneficial ownership securities filing that I learned Boulden, already the chief growth officer, had been given the additional duty with the Prepared Foods division. That was shared not long after I learned of the departure of Stewart Glendinning from the Prepared Foods leadership role, also through a securities filing.
It was a similar story when Devin Cole, was named the president of the International business division and head of Tyson’s global McDonald’s accounts. At the time, I was thinking, hmm, Cole was with George’s and Amy Tu was the head on international. Tyson CEO Donnie King then highlighted those changes in an earnings call that came not too long after that.
I’m glad that Tyson is sharing this information with the SEC and therefore making it available to the media, but I remember a time not long ago when you could rely on Tyson to inform you of executive level personnel changes by way of a press release. The company was so reliable that I realistically took for granted that when these changes were made, I would receive a release.
Case in point: When Glendinning was named Prepared Foods president, Tu was named International president and John R. Tyson was named chief financial officer (CFO), I did receive a press release.
I must also give credit where it is due, because when CFO Tyson was succeeded by Curt Calaway in August, Tyson Foods did issue a press release. It also earlier issued a statement about how the then-CFO had been put on suspension and Calaway was named to that position on an interim basis.
But the reduced transparency is cause for concern. If the role a person has is deemed important enough to be listed on the company’s leadership webpage, shouldn’t all people whose pictures end up on that page be viewed with equal worth when it comes to issuing press releases?
Agrifood companies are subjected to enough scrutiny as it is, and if you are a publicly traded company there are additional expectations to be transparent. So why not do what you can to squelch any criticism about a lack of transparency?
