John R. Tyson, the recently appointed CFO of Tyson Foods, was arrested in Arkansas on Nov. 6, after becoming intoxicated and waking in a home belonging to a woman he did not know.
Per a preliminary arrest report, as reported by KNWA, Tyson was discovered at approximately 2:05 a.m. on Sunday. The woman who discovered Tyson did not know him and called the police. Tyson was unresponsive when police discovered him unconscious in the woman’s bed. He was arrested for criminal trespass and public intoxication and later released Sunday morning.
“I am embarrassed for personal conduct that is inconsistent with my personal values, the company’s values, and the high expectations we hold for each other here at Tyson Foods,” Mr. Tyson said in a statement. And a Tyson Foods spokesperson made no additional comment, stating it was a personal matter.
Tyson, who was appointed to the CFO role on Oct. 2, drew attention at the time of his promotion. He is the son of board chairman John H. Tyson, and the appointment raised red flags due to both a potential conflict of interest and his inexperience. The younger Tyson, 32, previously served as chief sustainability officer before succeeding Stewart Glendinning but had minimal executive experience prior.
At the time of Tyson’s promotion, Rebecca Scheuneman of Morningstar said, “It is concerning [that] they appointed a 32-year-old with minimal financial experience, but that is the risk that minority shareholders take on when they purchase shares of a family-owned company,” the WSJ reported.
The potential conflict of interest arises out of the corporate governance concern. In the event that the inexperienced younger Tyson is not able to perform his duties, questions arise whether the board would have the ability to terminate him from the role, despite the father-son relationship, according to Joseph Grundfest, a senior member at Stanford University’s corporate governance center, the WSJ reported.
“We can have blind spots when it comes to our loved ones… Typically, any family-run business where a family member is appointed to leadership needs to make sure they have a transparent governance model, and a family charter that specifically addresses how they will manage any conflicts of interest,” said Nicole Coomber, assistant dean at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, CFO Dive reported.
With Tyson’s malfeasance and subsequent arrest, the food company must address both his inexperienced appointment as well as the conflict of interest, as critics’ predictions have already come home to roost.