John Tyson (born September 5, 1953) is an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

heir and businessman.Bloomberg BusinessWeek
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Walking the walk, on the assembly line
''

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

'', 3/24/2005Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace
/ref> He was chief executive officer (CEO) of the family business,

Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annually ...

(), from 2000 to 2006, and has been chairman since 1998.Tyson Rewards Top Executives After Return to Profit
''The New York Times'', December 27, 2007

Biography

Early life

Tyson was born on September 5, 1953, in

Springdale, Arkansas Springdale is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, fourth-largest city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington County, Arkansas, Washington and Benton County, Arkansas, Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on th ...

. His grandfather was

John W. Tyson John W. Tyson (July 26, 1905 – January 15, 1967) was an American businessman, the founder of American multinational corporation Tyson Foods and, from 1935 until his death in 1967, its chief executive officer. Biography Tyson was born in Mound ...

, the founder of

. His father,

Don Tyson Donald John Tyson (April 21, 1930 – January 6, 2011) was an American businessman who was the President and CEO of Tyson Foods during its rise to the top of the food business. Early life Donald J. Tyson was born in Olathe, Kansas. He attended the ...

, was CEO of the family business. His mother was Jean Tyson. He graduated from

Springdale High School Springdale High School is a public high school in Springdale, Arkansas, United States for students in grades ten through twelve. Springdale High School is one of three high schools administered by the Springdale School District, the others being H ...

in 1971. He attended the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in Fayetteville, where he was initiated into the

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad ...

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

in 1972. He then transferred to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in Los Angeles. Finally, he transferred to

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, where he received a bachelor of business administration degree. He attended the

University of Arkansas School of Law The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Law (LL.M) programs and is home to ...

for a year, but dropped out, deciding that becoming a lawyer was not for him.

Career

He worked at the family business, Tyson Foods, since his teenage years. In 1984, he joined the board of directors. In 1990, he served as vice chairman and in 1993, as president of the beef and pork division. He was CEO from 1999 to 2006. Since 1998, he has been chairman. Under his leadership as chairman and CEO, Tyson Foods acquired

IBP, Inc. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., formerly IBP, Inc. and Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., is an American meat packing company based in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, United States. IBP was the United States' biggest beef packer and its number two pork processor. ...

, becoming the world's largest protein-processing company. Under his leadership as Chairman, Tyson acquired

Hillshire Brands The Hillshire Brands Company was an American food company based in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to its acquisition by Tyson Foods, the company employed over 9,000 people and generated nearly $4 billion in annual sales. History Founding and early yea ...

for $63 per share, making the merger the largest deal within the meat industry. He is a member of the board of directors of

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

. He has served on the boards of the

Walden Woods Project The Walden Woods Project (WWP) is a nonprofit organization located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, devoted to the legacy of Henry David Thoreau and the preservation of Walden Woods, the forest around Walden Pond that spans Lincoln and Concord, Massachuse ...

, which seeks to maintain the land, literature and legacy of

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...

. He has also served on the advisory board for the

Yale Center for Faith and Culture Miroslav Volf (born September 25, 1956) is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University. He previously taught at the Ev ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, the board of trustees of the

, and as committee chairman of the University of Arkansas Capital Campaign for the 21st Century. He has also served on the Boards of the

American Meat Institute The American Meat Institute (AMI) was the oldest and largest trade association representing the U.S. meat and poultry industry. In 2015, it was merged into the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). Overview Founded in 1906 in Chicago as the Amer ...

, the

National Chicken Council The National Chicken Council (NCC) is a non-profit trade association based in Washington, D.C. that represents the interests of the United States chicken industry to the United States Congress and United States federal agencies. The association ch ...

, the

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) is an American advocacy organization focused on alcoholism, drug addiction and the consequences of alcohol and other drug use. NCADD is built on a foundation of participation by members ...

, and the

Searchlight Leadership Fund A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

. The

Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace Tyson is a male given name of old French origin meaning 'high-spirited', 'fire'. It is from this that a surname arose 'son of Tyson'. Surname *Alan Tyson (1926–2000), British musicologist *Barbara Tyson (born 1964), Canadian actress *Bill Tyson ...

at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas is named in his honor. He is a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship from the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (or Wilson Center) is a quasi-government entity and think tank which conducts research to inform public policy. Located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washi ...

. He has received the International Faith and Spirit at Work award. He is the founder of the Blessings Golf Club in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

Personal life

He is an

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

. He collects art, and owns paintings by

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

and

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. He married in 1987 and divorced in 1998. He lives in Johnson, Arkansas. He fathered two children John Randal and Olivia Laine. John Randal is the current CFO for Tyson Foods. His son John Randal had been arrested for allegedly drunkenly falling asleep in a stranger's home https://www.businessinsider.com/cfo-john-tyson-arrested-allegedly-intoxicated-falling-asleep-strangers-bed-2022-11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, John H. 1953 births Living people People from Springdale, Arkansas Springdale High School alumni Southern Methodist University alumni Businesspeople from Arkansas American chief executives of food industry companies University of Arkansas people Tyson Foods people American billionaires