Meat&Poultry - August 2012 - 32

TURNING TO TURKEY

Foods, he was involved as part of that team. “That launched my career in the meat and poultry industry,” he says. In talking about his personal commitments, Brenneman points out worker safety is a top priority of his. In fact, Butterball has earned worker-safety recognition awards from the AMI. “Without great associates, our company could not and would not be successful,” he says. “My desire is to protect our greatest asset – our associates. In addition to the AMI worker-safety award, our Huntsville, Ark., facility recently achieved seven million work hours without a losttime injury. That’s the kind of success we want to celebrate and build on.”

Habit at for Hu ma n it y, a nd t he American Cancer Society. In presenting the award, AMI Chairman Dennis Vignieri, head of Kenosha Beef International, noted Seaboa rd’s com m it ment to t he community starts at the top. He said Brenneman and his wife, Shelley, have traveled on mission trips with

lessons he is using at Butterball to make it a better company for fellow employees, executives and consumers. Does morality play a role in how he runs the company? “I was raised in a small town and brought up in the Mennonite Church, so my Christian faith is important to me,” he answers. “I was taught the value of hard work

“Butterball is committed to partnering with charitable groups throughout its plant communities to provide hunger relief.”
their church where they participated and I feel very strongly that integrity is the key to success in any business. I hope I model these values in how I run the company and in the decisions I make.” Brenneman knows that no matter how successful a business is, challenges exist. “Clearly, the grain-price impact of ethanol is one of the biggest issues facing the protein industry,” he says. “Beyond that, Butterball strives for continuous improvement in the areas of food safety, animal care and well-being, and delivering innovative products that our customers and consumers desire and deserve.” How important is food safety? “Food safety is paramount to all customers and consumers, and we are committed to delivering the safest, highest-quality products for them to enjoy,” he says. “This will continue to be a key area of focus for our company.” ■
Bernard Shire is a contributing editor based in Lancaster, Pa. Shire also works as a food safety consultant and writer for Shire & Associates LLC. We would like to hear from you – to comment on this story or to request reprints, contact us by e-mail at: meatpoultry@sosland.com.

Caring for community
Community involvement is also very important to Brenneman, who says Butterball is very committed to being a good corporate partner with the communities in which the company operates. “This is not only done by the company itself being involved, but by the associates taking an active individual role as well,” he says, in part because Butterball employees and their families not only work in their communities, but live there, as well. One exa mple of h is i nterest in community involvement took place last year while he was still at Seaboard. The company received AMI’s Edward C. Jones Community Service Award during t he trade association’s 2011 convention in Chicago. The company donated la rge a mou nts of money to t he L eot i, K a n., school system, to the Oklahoma State Univ. Swine Education and Research Center, to Guymon, Okla., a Seaboard plant community, to build a new YMCA, and to Ronald McDonald House,

i i n com mu n it y development projects. Closer to home, following a devastating tornado in Greensburg, Kan., that destroyed the town’s high school just before graduation, the Brennemans traveled to Greensburg where their team had towed a cooker and served pork burgers and pork loins for the school’s graduation celebration. These concerns about the community have continued since Brenneman came to Butterball. In the spring, the company joined the Poultry Federation, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and the Arkansas Foodbank to donate 6,500 lbs. of turkey products to support the No Kid Hungry Arkansas Campaign as part of a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. “Butterball is committed to partnering with charitable groups throughout its plant communities to provide hunger relief and support the local community as we strive to serve as a strong corporate citizen,” Brenneman says. Brenneman’s upbringing and moral t rain ing also taught h i m

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