BRF global CEO resigns after 4 months in office

His resignation comes at a time when Petrobras president, Pedro Parente, was invited to head the BRF Board of Directors.

José Aurélio Drummond Jr. | Screenshot from YouTube
José Aurélio Drummond Jr. | Screenshot from YouTube

José Aurélio Drummond Jr. presented on April 23 his resignation as BRF global chief executive officer, four months after assuming that position, the company said in a statement.

Drummond also resigned as a member of the Board of Directors of BRF, and his decision comes after Petrobras president, Pedro Parente, was invited to chair the board, according to a Reuters report published by Brazilian media Estadão. The BRF Board of Directors will meet on April 26 to determine its new composition.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Jornal O Globo, Drummond was expected to remain as Global CEO even after Parente was confirmed as president of the Board of Directors of BRF, one of the largest poultry companies in Brazil and the world.

However, Reuters sources indicated that Drummond understood that he would be replaced after Parente enters the company, because he anticipated there would be clashes between both of them about the future of BRF. Drummond also did not have the full support of two of BRF's main investors, Previ and Petros, according to both newspapers.

Interim global CEO appointed

The Board of Directors, at a meeting held on the same date, appointed Lorival Nogueira Luz Jr., chief financial and investor relations officer of BRF, as interim global CEO, but without abandoning his current responsibilities.

The situation occurs only days after the European Union decided to ban chicken imports from 20 plants in Brazil, 12 of which belong to BRF. This decision will be appealed by the Brazilian government, while the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) questioned the true reasons for the ban, suggesting that, beyond health-related issues, there are political and economic ones.

BRF will now have to find its fifth president in five years, at a time when the company has reported losses and has been hit hard by Brazil’s Operation Weak Flesh.

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