John Forsythe

As vice president of Operations – Shelf Stable at Hormel Foods, John Forsythe is responsible for the shelf-stable processing plants and co-packer operations.

Hormel Foods is a global branded food company with over $12 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters^®, Skippy^®, SPAM^®, Hormel^® Natural Choice^®, Applegate^®, Justin’s^®, Columbus^®, WHOLLY^® Guacamole, Hormel^® Black Label^® and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of the best companies to work for by U.S. News & World Report, one of America’s most responsible companies by Newsweek, recognized by TIME magazine as one of the World’s Best Companies, received a perfect score of 100 on the 2023–24 Corporate Equality Index and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts.

Forsythe joined Hormel Foods in 2000 as an industrial engineer at the Austin (Minn.) Plant. He held various engineering positions in Austin and Algona, Iowa, before becoming the manager of industrial engineering at Farmer John, a former subsidiary in Los Angeles, Calif. At Farmer John, he transitioned into operations and accepted the role of production superintendent. Forsythe held similar positions at Dan’s Prize (Long Prairie, Minn.) and at the Hormel Foods canning plant in Beloit, Wis. He became the plant manager of the Atlanta Plant (Tucker, Ga.) in 2016 and was named vice president of operations for Grocery Products in 2020. Forsythe assumed his current role in 2022.

Originally from Forsyth, Mont., he is a graduate of Montana State University with a degree in industrial and management engineering. He and his wife, Sherri, have two daughters.