Bruce R. Schweitzer
Vice President,
Operations
Refrigerated Foods
As Vice President of Operations for Refrigerated Foods and President of PFFJ LLC — Farm Operations, Bruce R. Schweitzer is responsible for overseeing all operations in Refrigerated Foods, including pork operations.
Schweitzer has acquired extensive experience in operations management over his 37-year career with Hormel Foods. He started his career in 1974 as a production management trainee at the Fremont (Neb.) Plant where he was quickly promoted to supervisor later that year. Following a series of supervisory positions, he was named linear program coordinator at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minn.) in 1980. He was promoted to superintendent of sausage and cured and smoked meats two years later at the Atlanta (Tucker, Ga.) Plant and then served as plant superintendent at the Dold Foods (Wichita, Kan.) Plant. Schweitzer then served as plant manager of the Houston (Texas) and Atlanta Plants.
In 1989, he was named general manager of further processing for Jennie-O Foods in Willmar, Minn., and was promoted to director of operations a year later. He became vice president of production for Jennie-O Foods in 1991 and senior vice president of marketing and sales for Jennie-O Foods in 1995. He returned to Fremont as plant manager in 1999 and relocated back to Austin as plant manager in 2004. He was named to his current post in 2005.
A native of St. Louis, Mo., he holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics from Drury College (Springfield, Mo.).
Schweitzer is a member of the Austin Rotary Club and a YMCA volunteer. He has served as an Austin Chamber of Commerce board member and is the past cochair of the Mower County United Way fundraiser campaign.