Kenneth Marc Sullivan is an American businessman, and was the chief executive officer and president of
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia, in the United States, and an independent subsidiary of WH Group. Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter ...
from 2015 to November 2020.
Career
Smithfield Foods
Sullivan joined Smithfield Foods in 2003. He has served as chief financial officer, chief accounting officer, executive vice president and vice president of finance, and was named chief operating officer and president of Smithfield Foods in December 2015. He was shortly thereafter promoted to chief executive officer, and from January 2016 was a director of Smithfield Foods and its Chinese parent company
WH Group
WH Group (), formerly known as Shuanghui Group (), is a publicly traded Chinese multinational meat and food processing company headquartered in Hong Kong. Sometimes also known as Shineway Group in English-speaking countries, the company's busin ...
.
During the summer of 2020, animal rights activists from
Direct Action Everywhere
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is an international grassroots network of animal rights activists founded in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area. DxE uses disruptive protests and non-violent direct action tactics, such as open rescue of animals fr ...
attacked Sullivan's home, along with some Smithfield facilities, by spraying it with pig feces. After the attack they displayed a banner with a profanity-laden slogan. A video of the incident received at least 700,000 views on YouTube.
In November 2020, Sullivan was succeeded as president and CEO of Smithfield Foods by Dennis Organ, and promptly left the company after briefly working as an adviser to the new CEO.
Consulting and accounting
Sullivan worked in consulting and accounting for 12 years before joining Smithfield Foods. He assisted clients in manufacturing, technology, and government contracting while working for
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...
in Washington, D.C.
Education
Sullivan earned a bachelor's degree from
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...
.
See also
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Kenneth
Virginia Commonwealth University alumni
American chief executives of food industry companies
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)