New Swift & Co president

Published: 03 September, 2007

Swift & Co announced that president and CEO Sam Rovit relinquished all executive and director responsibilities immediately following the sale of the Greeley, Colorado-based company to Brazil-based JBS SA. Rovit, who has been with Swift since July 1, 2005, is succeeded by Wesley Mendonca Batista, who is currently the executive director of operations of JBS SA, Latin America's largest beef processor.

At the same time Batista will replace Rovit as a member of Swift's board. Batista has been employed in the beef industry his entire career and has served in various capacities at JBS since 1987. In a presentation to analysts in Brazil just after the May 29 announcement of the acquisition, JBS outlined ten 'planned actions' that they say will apply to Swift Beef. One of these was to make greater use of byproduct utilisation which included hides and wet-blue.

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