Hormel Foods Global FS&Q VP to Retire After 35 Years; Successor Named

Hormel Foods Corp. vice president of global food safety and quality management, Richard Carlson, will retire after 35 years with the company, according to a release from Hormel. He will had over the position to Jeremiah Johnson, a 20-year veteran of the company who currently serves as its director of food safety management, effective May 1, 2026.

Carlson started with Hormel in 1990 as a quality and process control engineer at the Austin, Minn., plant, after which he moved into quality assurance and production management positions at Hormel’s former Stockton, Calif., and Owatonna, Minn., facilities, as well as the Jennie-O Willmar, Minn., plant. He became director of quality assurance at Jennie-O in 2000, and 10 years later was named vice president of quality management for the division. In 2014, he earned the role from which he is retiring in May.

Interim CEO Jeff Ettinger said Carlson led the company “through critical food safety initiatives, including the expansion into new product categories and implementing new and enhanced food safety protocols.”

Taking over for Carlson, Johnson will oversee all company quality, plant regulatory and food safety activities. He joined Hormel in 2005 as a quality and process control supervisor in Austin, moving on to various managerial roles in Algona, Iowa, and the former Vernon, Calif., facility. He worked as a staff engineer for the corporate quality team and was named corporate manager for regulatory, compliance and HACCP in 2015. In 2017, he also began to oversee the sanitation process in Hormel’s production facilities. Johnson was named assistant director of food safety management in 2023 and took on his current role in 2025.