Sanderson Farms Expands Employee Recruiting and Training Team

LAUREL, Miss. – March 18, 2016 – Sanderson Farms has expanded its employee recruiting and training teams to include a second Corporate Recruiter and two additional Training Managers. Expansions to employee recruiting and training functions will help to support the company’s growing employee base of more than 12,000 employees spanning five states and thirteen different cities.

Additions to the company’s employee recruiting team include the promotion of Katie Beth Walton to Corporate Recruiter. As Corporate Recruiter, Walton will be responsible for identifying, recruiting and screening employees for the company’s Corporate Trainee and Summer Internship Programs, designed to identify the talent necessary to lead the company’s growing poultry operations. She will also provide information regarding the operations of Sanderson Farms to all college campuses from which the company recruits in an effort to align qualified candidates with strategic employment opportunities.

Walton began her career with Sanderson Farms as a Recruiting Trainee in August 2013. A graduate of Mississippi State University, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. Walton is a current member of Jones County Young Professionals and Pine Belt Young Professionals.

On the employee training side of the organization, Sanderson Farms has promoted both George Dawson and Marcus Brown to Training Manager. As Training Managers, Dawson and Brown will be responsible for designing training curriculum, as well as implementing and facilitating training programs intended to increase management and employee effectiveness. They will also be responsible for recruiting and developing Corporate Trainees to become successful members of Sanderson Farms’ management team.

Dawson began his career with Sanderson Farms in 2002 as a Flock Supervisor at the company’s Hazlehurst, Mississippi production division. Throughout his more than thirteen-year tenure with the company, Dawson has held various positions including Flock Supervisor, Advanced Trainee, Breeder/Hatchery Manager and, most recently, Advanced Trainee I. Prior to joining Sanderson Farms, he worked as a Youth Counselor for the Boys & Girls Club in Collins, Mississippi.

A graduate of Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi and Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, Dawson earned an Associate of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. In 2014, Dawson received a graduate certificate in occupational safety from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

Marcus Brown joined Sanderson Farms as an Organization Development Trainee in June 2013. As an Organization Development Trainee, he facilitated training in the areas of employee safety, employee wellness, as well as leadership training for supervisory personnel.

A native of Laurel, Mississippi, Brown is an honors graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies. During college, Brown composed two original poems that were published in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Literary Journal.

Sanderson Farms, Inc., founded in 1947, is engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh and frozen chicken and other prepared food items. Employing more than 12,000 employees in operations spanning five states and 13 different cities, Sanderson Farms is the third largest poultry producer in the United States. As a company, Sanderson Farms is committed to adopting a fresh approach in everything that they do. Not only where products are concerned, but companywide as well. Though the company has grown in size, it still adheres to the same hometown values of honesty, integrity and innovation that were established when the Sanderson family founded the company back in 1947.