Tyson exec quits, 2nd one this month
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Wade Miquelon, Tyson Foods Inc. ’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said Monday that he will leave the company in June to accept a similar job at Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, one of the nation’s fastest growing retailers.
The top executive’s departure is the second announced by the Springdale meat processor this month, and the fourth since April 2007. General Counsel and Executive Vice President J. Alberto Gonzalez-Pita left the company May 2.
“I leave with reluctance because of the wonderful people I’ve worked with and the great experiences I’ve had, and I’m confident about the future success of Tyson Foods,” Miquelon said in a statement.
In 2007, Miquelon made a base salary of $ 619, 615, according to the company’s proxy statement. He received $ 320, 000 in incentive pay, $ 299, 500 in stock and options awards, and $ 49, 914 in other compensation — which were tax reimbursements and executive life insurance. His pension increased in value by $ 20, 578 last year.
“We will miss the passion and strategic approach Wade brought to his job here at Tyson, but realize the move to Walgreens is a great opportunity for him and his family,” Richard Bond, Tyson’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Miquelon joined Tyson foods in April 2006 after leaving Proctor & Gamble Co. In earnings calls, Miquelon and Bond are often heard speaking together about the financial performance of the company. Miquelon will become chief financial officer of Walgreens, which had sales of $ 54 billion in 2007. That’s roughly double Tyson’s sales of $ 26. 9 billion last year.
Bond said Miquelon “has strengthened our finance and accounting functions by helping them move beyond financial reporting to become more in tune with our overall operations.” Under his financial leader- ship, Tyson experienced a run of five consecutive net positive quarters, with the largest gain in the three months that ended June 30, 2007, when Tyson made $ 111 million.
Tyson lost $ 52 million in the quarter that ended July 1, 2006, the first three-month period in which Miquelon entered Tyson’s ranks. Tyson lost $ 5 million in the quarter ended March 29. Those financial results came amid skyrocketing grain costs, tight cattle supplies and months of net-negative margins on beef processing since last summer.
“I think he will be very, very missed. He was a great CFO at Tyson and I’m sorry to see him go,” said Tim Ramey, an investment analyst with D. A. Davidson & Co. who follows Tyson’s performance. “I thought he was a good influence.” Dennis Leatherby, Tyson’s treasurer and senior vice president of finance, will take over Miquelon’s responsibilities until the job is filled.
That’s not a new role for Leatherby, who worked as interim chief financial officer after Steve Hankins, a 21-year veteran of the company, left the post in July 2004.
Ramey said hopefully it won’t take as long to find a new CFO as it took to find Miquelon. Since April 2007, Tyson has seen several top-level executives leave for a variety of reasons. That month, Greg Lee, a 27-year veteran at the company, retired as chief administrative officer and international president. Bill Lovette, retired as senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods in October, but the company didn’t fill his position. John Tyson, the chairman of the board and grandson of the company’s founder, loosened control over the business in September, handing more executive power to Bond. Bond took over for John Tyson as chief executive officer in May 2006. Shares of Tyson rose 43 cents, or 2. 48 percent, to close at $ 17. 78 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
To contact this reporter: dirvin@arkansasonline. com
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