Butterball announces the hiring of Darrell Bradfield as director, corporate safety, health and security. Bradfield provides strategic planning and oversight of policies, programs, and processes to ensure on-the-job safety, health, and well-being of all Butterball team members. He is responsible for supporting Butterball’s Safety-First culture and promoting continuous improvement of safety performance.

Bradfield brings more than 20 years of experience in environmental health and safety leadership across manufacturing and service industries. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University.

“Darrell’s depth of experience in developing and implementing proven risk reduction programs, especially in manufacturing environments, make him well suited for Butterball,” said Suzanne Griffin, Butterball’s senior vice president, general counsel and chief risk officer.

Bradfield joins Lankford Ruffin, director of environmental affairs and sustainability, on the company’s risk management team. Ruffin was appointed to this director role in 2019 and provides corporate oversight on all affairs involving environmental matters, such as compliance, operational/engineering changes and responding to emergency events.

In addition to his role at Butterball, Ruffin was also recently elevated from vice chair to the chair of the board of directors for 2021 of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Egg—the nation’s multi-stakeholder sustainability initiative for the U.S. poultry and egg value chain.

“Lankford is a leader and influential advocate for sustainability who routinely seeks out best practices and opportunities for the company to reduce its impact on natural resources as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Griffin.

Griffin added, “Butterball has made significant commitments to remaining an industry leader in workplace safety and to our commitment as responsible environmental stewards. Darrell and Lankford share these company values, and we are excited to have their expertise leading these functions.” 

About Butterball

Headquartered in Garner, N.C., Butterball is the largest producer of turkey products in the U.S. – producing more than 1 billion pounds of turkey each year. For more than 60 years, the company has provided foodservice and retail products to customers and consumers around the world. As an industry leader in quality, food safety and animal well-being, the company employs numerous processes to ensure the health of flocks and implements recognized prevention measures to exceed food safety standards. Butterball products are currently distributed throughout the U.S. and in more than 45 countries. Butterball operates six processing plants located in North Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri.