SALISBURY, MD. (July 10, 2017) — Randy Day, Chief Executive Officer of Perdue Farms, is pleased to announce that Kelly Fladger, Vice President of Human Resources Services, has assumed additional responsibility as the company’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

In this expanded role, Kelly will be responsible for providing executive leadership in guiding a comprehensive range of services, policies and procedures related to diversity and inclusion excellence across the organization.

“At Perdue Farms, we take pride in the diversity of our workforce and remain committed to creating an inclusive work environment,” said Day. “I’m confident that we will benefit from Kelly’s leadership in creating a workforce that parallels the constituencies whose quality of life we strive to enhance through great food and agricultural products, and whose trust we seek to earn.”

“Diversity and inclusion are critical to who we are as company,” said Fladger. “Our people are as diverse as our products and are representative of the communities in which we operate. I am honored to have been entrusted with leading our Inclusion Council and advance our dialogues around diversity and inclusion, and creating an environment of inclusion among our stakeholders.”

Kelly joined Perdue Farms in September 2016 as VP of HR Services. Prior to Perdue, he was Vice President of People Strategy and Corporate Human Resources for Belk in Charlotte, N.C.  From 1998 to 2014, he served in HR capacities of increasing responsibility to include Vice President of HR Global Functions and Chief Diversity Officer for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. As a result of his leadership, Coca-Cola garnered recognition for its diversity and inclusion programs to include the Georgia Multicultural Leadership Award from the National Diversity Council; the French Diversity Label, the 2013 European Diversity Team of the Year Award, a Diversity Journal honorable mention Innovation in Diversity Award, and a 2014 Leader In Diversity Award.

Kelly graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

About Perdue Farms
We’re a third-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers and farmers through trusted choices in products and services.
We focus on continuously improving everything we do, constantly learning, and sharing those insights across different production methods. That innovative approach is driving change throughout the company and onto farms. This continuous advancement is leading us toward our vision of becoming the most trusted name in food and agricultural products.
The PERDUE^® brand is the number-one brand of fresh chicken in the U.S., and Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company. As we approach our 100^th anniversary in 2020, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork, and in USDA-certified organic chicken. We’ve increased our support for the family farm by creating new markets, including specialty crops. Through agricultural services, we give farmers more options for the acre, including conversion to organic production and products and services that increase the sustainability of conventional agriculture. Learn more at www.perduefarms.com.