Smithfield Foods Inc. has named George Richter as president and COO of its pork group, a new position, effective April 28.
Richter is based in Kansas City and will remain here in the new job, Farmland Foods spokesman Emanuel McCrainey said Monday. Richter has worked for Farmland Foods for 34 years and has been president of Farmland Foods since Smithfield bought the company in October 2003.
The presidents of Smithfield Foods' five pork processing companies will report to Richter. Smithfield's domestic pork sales will exceed $9 billion in 2008, the company said in a release.
Richter said in an interview that the company has no plans for changes in the pork division.
"The whole reason for the change is to push the performance of the entire group forward," he said. "I think we've quickly put ourselves in the position where we're Smithfield's most prized operating company. We want to raise the performance level of all of Smithfield in the pork division. We quickly became the most profitable among the pork division companies."
Smithfield also said James Sbarro, Farmland Foods' senior vice president of sales and marketing, will become the company's president and will remain in Kansas City. Sbarro has 25 years of experience in the food industry and has been senior vice president of sales, marketing, research and development at Farmland since 1999.
Tim Schellpeper, senior vice president of operations at Farmland, will leave Kansas City to become president of Smithfield Packing Co. Schellpeper has worked in the pork industry for 21 years, including the past 17 with Farmland.
Joseph Luter IV, president of Smithfield Packing, will become an executive vice president of Smithfield Foods and will concentrate on sales and marketing. Luter has had several jobs at Smithfield Foods since 1993. He will be based in Smithfield, Va.
Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), based in Smithfield, Va., is the leading processor and marketer of fresh pork and packaged meats in the United States, and the biggest hog producer, with annual sales of $14 billion.