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Wayne-Sanderson Farms has announced the promotion of two veteran executives to its senior leadership team, effective April 1, 2026. Aaron Leach and Michael Crump have been elevated to the roles of Chief Commercial and Supply Chain Officer and Chief Operations Officer, respectively. Both leaders will continue to report directly to Kevin McDaniel, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The restructuring comes at a critical time for the nation's third-largest poultry producer as it moves beyond the initial integration phase of the Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms merger to focus on commercial acceleration and operational excellence across its 24-facility network.

The Commercial and Supply Chain Pillar

The promotion of Aaron Leach to Chief Commercial and Supply Chain Officer represents a move to unify the company's "front-end" market strategies with its "back-end" logistics. In this newly expanded role, Leach will oversee:

• Market-Facing Functions: Sales, Marketing, and Research and Development (R&D).

• Back-Office Logistics: End-to-end Supply Chain management.

Leach, who joined the organisation in 2005, possesses deep institutional knowledge of the merger's mechanics, having previously led the integration team for the Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms transaction. His previous tenure as SVP of Supply Chain and GM of the Prepared Foods Business Unit provides him with the technical expertise required to manage the complex flow of a multi-billion-dollar poultry portfolio.

Overseeing 24 Facilities

Michael Crump’s elevation to Chief Operations Officer places him in command of the company’s extensive manufacturing and live production footprint. His mandate covers:

• Regional Operations: Oversight of 24 fresh and further-processing facilities across seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas).

• Vertical Integration: Management of live production and the company's 2,000+ farm partnerships.

• Engineering Strategy: Leading the technical and facility maintenance functions to ensure industrial uptime and safety.

Crump joined the company in 2014 and most recently served as SVP and GM of the Fresh Business Unit. His transition to COO is intended to standardise operational rigour across the company's geographically diverse network of processing plants.

Strengthening the Sales and Supply Chain Hierarchy

To support the new leadership structure, the company has announced several additional appointments designed to align sales capabilities with supply chain execution. Reporting directly to Aaron Leach are:

• David Gadd: Senior Vice President of Retail Sales.

• Randy Meyers: Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales.

• Craig Watkins: Vice President of Supply Chain.

Industrial Significance and Market Outlook

For B2B stakeholders and retail partners, the Wayne-Sanderson leadership shift highlights a broader trend toward "end-to-end" accountability in the protein sector. As the poultry industry faces continued volatility in feed costs, labour availability, and logistics, companies are increasingly merging their commercial and supply chain functions under a single leader (Leach) to ensure that sales promises are backed by logistical reality.

By empowering Michael Crump to oversee both live production and processing facilities, Wayne-Sanderson is also reinforcing its commitment to a "closed-loop" production model. This level of vertical integration is critical for maintaining the biosecurity and quality standards required by modern retail and foodservice accounts.

As the company enters the second quarter of 2026, industry observers expect this unified leadership team to focus on extracting further synergies from the 2022 merger, potentially leading to increased investments in automated processing technology and "clean-label" R&D in the prepared foods segment.