January 4/Springdale, Ark./Prime Newswire -- A long-time senior executive of Tyson Foods Inc. has been named the new group vice president of Consumer Products, the company announced. Donnie Smith assumes this position immediately, lending his considerable industry experience and leadership abilities to Tyson's talented consumer products team.

Smith has most recently been group vice president of Logistics and Operations Services for Tyson. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the food industry and has been part of the Tyson team since 1980 in a wide variety of key roles. He started his career in poultry operations and became a senior leader in the purchasing and supply chain departments. He also served as chief information officer, successfully leading the company's development of a new information technology strategic plan.

Scott McNair is leaving the head position in Tyson Consumer Products and will be joining The Schwan Food Company as president of the company's home delivery business unit.

"We are extremely fortunate to have a tremendously talented group of professionals in consumer products, who have worked in this field for many years and launched several impressive and successful campaigns," said Tyson's president and CEO Dick Bond. "Now, we have an extraordinary opportunity to merge this talent with Donnie Smith's inspirational leadership skills as we continue our momentum in meeting customer and consumer needs with innovative, new products."

Tyson's strategic focus is built on creating innovative and insight-driven food solutions and optimizing commodity businesses and managing margins. It also includes building a true multinational enterprise and revolutionizing the conversion of raw materials and by-products into significantly profitable initiatives.

Hal Carper, senior vice president of Corporate Research and Development, will assume most of Smith's previous duties. Carper's new title will be group vice president of Research & Development, Logistics and Technical Services. Craig Bacon, vice president of Research & Development, will become senior vice president of Corporate Research and Development, and will continue to report to Carper. Ted Burnett, vice president of Manufacturing Services, will remain in his current position, but will report to Donnie King, group vice president of Operations.

From the January 7, 2008, Prepared Foods e-Flash