BOSTON — Tom Hayes, former chief executive officer of Tyson Foods Inc., has been named president and CEO at Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. Hayes stepped down from his role with Tyson in September 2018, for personal reasons. Noel White took over as president and CEO.
Hayes also served as chief supply chain officer at Hillshire Brands Co. and Sara Lee Foodservice, Tyson Foods subsidiaries, and was zone president at US Foods and vice president of sales and marketing for Conagra Brands’ foodservice segment.
He most recently was a partner at Entrepreneurial Equity Partners (e2p), a private equity firm that invests in middle market companies in the food industry.
Hayes holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Hampshire and master’s degree in business administration from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
“Ocean Spray is a unique company — one that asks its leaders to speak the language of consumers, farmers, grocers, bankers, manufacturers and employees all at once,” said Peter Dhillon, chairman of the Ocean Spray board of directors. “In Tom Hayes, we believe we have found a leader who can speak to all of these audiences and continue the transformation of this cooperative. Tom's expertise in supply chain management, his understanding of agriculture and the challenges faced by growers, and his decades of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry make him ideally suited to lead Ocean Spray into its second century.”