GARNER, NC. - Art Lankford has joined Butterball LLC as vice president of operations. In his new role, Lankford will be responsible for overseeing the daily operations at Butterball's six turkey processing facilities in Arkansas, Missouri and North Carolina.

Lankford joins Butterball from North Ryde, Australia-based Inghams Group Ltd., where he spent the past nearly four years, most recently as chief agribusiness officer. He also was general manager of farming and feed milling and general manager of primary processing. Prior to Inghams he was complex manager at Pilgrim's Pride. Earlier, he was a general manager at Tar Heel Oil Inc. He also has held human resources roles at Conagra Brands, Cargill and Tyson Foods.

He received a bachelor of arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

"Art has come full circle back to North Carolina," said Neal Walsh, chief operating officer at Butterball. "His mindset that people are our greatest asset, and his impressive industry knowledge will be an incredible asset to our organization. We're glad he choose Butterball."