The Board of Directors of Tyson Foods has chosen Donnie Smith to be the company's president and chief executive officer, and Jim Lochner as the chief operating officer, with immediately effect.

Leland Tollett, who has been serving as interim president and CEO of the company since January, will continue in the coming months to assist Smith and Lochner in the transition, and he will be available for strategic advice and support. 

Donnie Smith joined Tyson Foods in 1980 after graduating from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Animal Science. After seven years experience in various live poultry production jobs, he moved to the corporate headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, to join the Tyson commodities purchasing group. Since then, he has had various leadership roles in the company,  including Purchasing; Environmental, Health and Safety; Food Safety and Quality Assurance; Manufacturing Services; Information Systems; and Logistics, before reaching his current position of senior group vice president of Poultry and Prepared Foods.

Jim Lochner joined IBP, inc., later purchased by Tyson, in 1983 as director of research. Previously, he was a quality control food technologist at Oscar Mayer Foods and a laboratory technician at the University of Wisconsin. In his first 14 years at IBP, Lochner held several different officer positions in various quality control and technical services areas. He became executive vice president of IBP in 1997, responsible for all of IBP's beef and pork plants. In 2000, he was promoted to president and CEO of IBP. After Tyson Foods acquired IBP in 2001, he was named group vice president of Tyson Fresh Meats. He was then named Tyson Foods' senior group vice president of Margin Optimisation in 2005 before becoming senior group vice president of Fresh Meats in 2007. Lochner earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in meat and animal science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Successors to Smith and Lochner will be named within the next two weeks, along with any other related announcements.

Tyson Foods, Inc. is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, providing products and service to customers throughout the US and more than 90 countries. The company has more than 300 facilities and offices in the US and around the world.