Perdue Farms Completes CEO Succession Plan; McAdams Takes the Reins

July 12, 2023

COO and president Kevin McAdams will take over Perdue Farms’ CEO role from Randy Day, who had served in the position for more than six years.

Andy Hanacek

Following the prescribed succession plan announced in April 2023, Kevin McAdams, COO and president of Perdue Farms, transitioned to the CEO role effective today, July 12, 2023.

McAdams takes the reins of the Salisbury, Md.-based processor from Randy Day, who had held the CEO position since April 2017. Day will remain on board with the company as an advisor through 2024, a company release stated.

McAdams brings three decades of leadership experience to his new role with Perdue. He joined the company in July 2022 after serving in senior leadership roles at Jack Link’s, Schwan’s Consumer Brands and Pabst Brewing Co. He also held operations roles at Mizkan, Red Bull North America, The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo/Frito-Lay.

McAdams graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.