Safe Foods Announces New Management Structure
(NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR – DEC. 15, 2005) Arkansas-based Safe Foods Corporation announced today the appointment of two new division presidents as part of a new management structure designed to facilitate the company’s global expansion plans. CEO Curtis Coleman announced the appointments of Rush B. Deacon as President of Safe Foods International, Mark A. Hill as President of Safe Foods North America, and Bruce A. Smith as Executive Vice President of Safe Foods North America.
“I am enormously excited about where Safe Foods is going and how we’re going to get there,” Coleman said. “Under the leadership of Rush Deacon, Mark Hill, and Bruce Smith, these two new operating units, Safe Foods International and Safe Foods North America, will not only facilitate the Company’s domestic and international growth, they will allow us to focus the extraordinary talents of our Research and Development division on the world-wide future of Safe Foods Corporation.”
Safe Foods North America will include all of the Company’s sales, marketing, and operations activities in the U. S. and Canada while Safe Foods International will include all of the Company’s international sales, marketing, and operations activities in all other world-wide markets, according to Coleman. Safe Foods International will manage the Company’s relationships with its global partners and the Company’s direct subsidiaries in the markets where the Company believes that its direct presence will be more desirable and profitable, Coleman said.
”From the outset, Safe Foods has been attuned to the worldwide opportunities and the global focus of its mission,” Deacon said. “This new structure gives Safe Foods a better platform for developing these global markets and realizing the full potential of its very promising technologies.”
Deacon has served as the Company’s Chief Strategic Officer since December 2001. Before joining Safe Foods, Deacon served in Governor Mike Huckabee’s cabinet as President of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority.
‘We are faced with tremendous market opportunities for our food safety intervention technologies,’ Hill said. “This restructuring allows us to build a customer centric organization and leadership team that will be dedicated to the successful development of the US and Canadian markets delivering rapid growth of our business activities and revenue.”
Hill joined the Company as its Chief Marketing Officer in August 2002. Over the previous 15 years, Hill had held executive sales and marketing positions with Pitney Bowes Inc.
Coleman also announced the appointment of Bruce A. Smith as Executive Vice President of Safe Foods North America. Smith joined Safe Foods Corporation in February 2001, as Chief Operating Officer, assuming responsibility for manufacturing and distribution as well as customer service and technical support. Over the previous twenty-two years, Smith had held progressively senior positions with Entergy Corporation.
Chief Financial Officer Terry A. Elliott was also appointed as Chief Administrative Officer of Safe Foods Corporation. Elliott has been the Company’s Chief Financial Officer since July 2000. Previously, Elliott was with Ernst & Young LLP in the Dallas and Little Rock offices in a variety of positions, including Managing Partner for the firm’s operations in Arkansas.
About Safe Foods
Safe Foods Corporation is an Arkansas-based food safety company with corporate offices in North Little Rock and microbiology, chemistry, and engineering laboratories in Rogers, AR. Founded in January 1999, the company specializes in the development and commercialization of food safety technologies, which it makes available to producers, processors, and consumers of dairy, meat, poultry, eggs, fish, fruits, and vegetables.
The first of multiple patents for Safe Foods’ premier food safety technology, Cecure®, was granted in 1994 to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and in June 1999, Safe Foods acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to the patents from UAMS. Safe Foods also provides the proprietary ultraviolet sterilization technology, FreshLight®, for a variety of food safety applications.