MEAT & POULTRY BRIEFS:ReuterssaidTyson Foods' search for a new chief executive officer likely will take several more months but is progressing well according to interim CEO Leland Tollett. Tollett, Tyson's former chairman, rejoined the Springdale, Ark., company in January after Richard Bond resigned. At a time, Tollett said it the executive search process could take anywhere from three months to three years. In an email exchange withReuters, Tollett said Tyson is ahead of its timetable for a financial recovery (particularly in its chicken business) and that a CEO will be named closer to the "front end of my original estimate than the back end." Analysts speculate that CEO candidates include Donnie Smith, who oversees chicken and prepared foods; James Lochner, who manages Tyson's beef and pork units; and Rick Greubel, who runs international operations. . . . In other newsTysonrecently confirmed to industry media that it is adding 100 jobs in Harrisonburg, Va., for chicken de-boning and marinated whole bird processing. . . . City officials in El Dorado, Ark., told Shreveport, La.'sKTBS Newsthat a group of local investors placed a bid for aPilgrim'sPrideoperation that closed in El Dorado earlier in May. A federal bankruptcy court in Fort Worth, Texas, reportedly will consider the bid (for an undisclosed amount) on June 16. The operation had employed between 800 and 900 people.
