Tyson Foods CFO arrested for public intoxication

John R. Tyson, the chief financial officer of Springdale-based Tyson Foods, was arrested early Sunday morning (Nov. 6) in Fayetteville on misdemeanor charges of public intoxication and criminal trespassing.

According to a preliminary arrest report obtained by Talk Business & Politics content partner KNWA/Fox 24 News, Tyson, 32, was arrested early Sunday morning by Fayetteville police officers after becoming intoxicated and falling asleep in a home near Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville.

According to the arrest report, at approximately 2:05 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, Tyson was found asleep in a woman’s bed at her home at 445 N. Mock Ave. The woman called the police when she arrived and found Tyson, whom she did not know.

She told dispatchers that she believed the front door was left unlocked, which is how he gained entry. Upon arrival, police located Tyson in the back bedroom with his clothes in front of the bed and identified him through his driver’s license.

According to the report, police attempted to wake Tyson up and speak with him, but he could not verbally respond. After briefly sitting up, Tyson laid back down and tried to go to sleep.

The report states there was an odor of alcohol on his breath and body, and his movements appeared sluggish and uncoordinated.

Tyson was recently promoted to chief financial officer and executive vice president when Stewart Glendinning left the position to run the meat giant’s prepared foods business. At 32, the fourth-generation Tyson family executive drew mixed results from Wall Street analysts despite his formal education and previous work in finance before joining the company full-time in 2019 as chief sustainability officer.

Tyson is considerably younger than the average CFO age (54) of the top 1,000 companies in the U.S.

Nicole Coomber, a dean and professor of corporate management at the University of Maryland, noted at the time of Tyson’s promotion that even when executives have sufficient education, a lack of experience could be a slippery slope. She said there is no substitute for experience.

Overall, she said that when family members are also executives for public companies, there is a risk of blindspots and jeopardizing transparency for shareholders.

Tyson is also on the board of directors of Winrock International and a Council on Foreign Relations member.

Tyson Foods did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the arrest incident.

UPDATE
Tyson Foods spokesman Derek Burleson released the following statement late Monday morning to Talk Business & Politics:  “We’re aware of the incident, and as this is a personal matter, we have no additional comment.”