internal
Robert L. Steer
President & Chief Executive Officer
Corporate
10 yr
22 reports
Seaboard Corporation ·SEB
Six autonomous business presidents report directly to the CEO
Food, Beverages & Tobacco · Fortune #439 · Holding structure · 14K employees · Merriam, Kansas
View as of:
7
CEO span
↓ tighter than peers (avg 10)
2.4
Avg span
tight
4
Max depth
4 levels
6.4 yr
Avg tenure
stable vs FY2024
57%
Internal hires
near industry avg
Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-12-31 · 10-K
Revenue
$9.7B
Operating income
$239M
Net income
$501M
Total assets
$8.2B
Shares out
957794
Sourced from Seaboard Corporation DEF 14A · filed 2026-03-06 ↗ View on SEC
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Seaboard Corporation organizational chart
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Six autonomous business presidents report directly to the CEO, an unusually wide span for a public company. This page maps Seaboard’s decentralized holding-company structure, executive team, segment leadership, recent changes, and peer comparison.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal Chad M. Groves joined as President, Seaboard Foods LLC
Appointed July 1, 2024
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
- Add a Chief Operating Officer Introduce a COO to consolidate oversight of the segment presidents and reduce CEO span of control.
- Move Audit under CFO Shift Audit Services to report to the CFO, increasing financial integration but reducing independence.
Atlas work this supports
- Connect Workday or UKG Get these analytics for YOUR org — tenure, span of control, headcount, automatically from your HRIS.
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- Plan a Reorg Use this as a starting point. Model scenarios, compare structures, present options to your board.
The people
Who's running this
7 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
internal
David H. Rankin
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Finance
12 yr
3 reports
Edward A. Gonzalez
President, Seaboard Marine Ltd.
Marine
13 yr
3 reports
Jacob A. Bresky
President, Seaboard Overseas & Trading Group
CT&M
3 yr
3 reports
Chad M. Groves
President, Seaboard Foods LLC
Pork
1 yr
3 reports
David M. Becker
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Legal
6 yr
2 reports
internal
Senior Vice President, Audit Services
SVP, Audit Services
Audit
5 yr
2 reports
The pay
Executive compensation
From the most recent DEF 14A Summary Compensation Table. 5 named executive officers disclosed. Bar length scales with total compensation.
Robert L. Steer $7.0M
- Base salary
- $1.18M
- Bonus
- $3.50M
- Pension change
- $2.05M
- Other
- $272K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
David H. Rankin $1.9M
- Base salary
- $556K
- Bonus
- $700K
- Pension change
- $514K
- Other
- $108K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Edward A. Gonzalez $3.1M
- Base salary
- $670K
- Bonus
- $2.10M
- Pension change
- $174K
- Other
- $166K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Jacob A. Bresky $1.6M
- Base salary
- $491K
- Bonus
- $1.00M
- Other
- $113K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Chad M. Groves $1.6M
- Base salary
- $525K
- Bonus
- $945K
- Other
- $119K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
The businesses
How Seaboard Corporation divides the work
4 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Pork
6K employees
President, Seaboard Foods LLC (Chad M. Groves)
Vertically integrated hog production, pork processing, and renewable natural gas operations.
Commodity Trading & Milling
4K employees
President, SOTG (Jacob A. Bresky)
Global agricultural commodity trading, milling, and logistics operations.
Marine
2K employees
President, Seaboard Marine Ltd. (Edward A. Gonzalez)
Ocean shipping and terminal operations serving the Americas.
Corporate
500 employees
President & CEO (Robert L. Steer)
Finance, legal, audit, governance, and capital allocation functions.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Six operating business presidents and functional heads report directly to the CEO, creating a very wide span of control.
Seaboard’s structure reflects its history as a controlled, family-owned holding company with highly autonomous segments. Each major business—Pork, CT&M, Marine, and others—runs with its own president and management team, while the corporate center remains lean.
The absence of a COO and the limited number of centralized functional executives reinforce decentralization. Finance, Legal, and Audit are the primary corporate functions, while operations, engineering, and commercial decisions largely sit within the segments. This design prioritizes speed and accountability at the business-unit level but places heavy coordination demands on the CEO.
- No COO role
- Highly decentralized segment presidents
- Lean corporate center
The comparison
How Seaboard Corporation stacks up
Compared with diversified food peers, Seaboard is unusually decentralized. Companies like Tyson Foods or ADM employ stronger corporate centers with COOs and enterprise-wide functional leaders. Seaboard’s approach more closely resembles a private holding company, despite its public listing. This structure is facilitated …
C-suite size
Reporting depth
Seaboard Corporation
4 levels
5 levels
Archer Daniels Midland
6 levels
5 levels
Hormel Foods
5 levels
Avg C-suite tenure
Has COO / Has CAIO
Seaboard Corporation — no COO — no CAIO
Archer Daniels Midland ✓ COO — no CAIO
Hormel Foods — no COO — no CAIO
Current signals
What changed recently
The most significant recent change was the appointment of Chad Groves as President of Seaboard Foods in mid‑2024.
- new
- Date not confirmed reorgLiquid Fuels Segment Segment separation
Liquid Fuels became a separate reportable segment in 2024
Source
Leadership Timeline
Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.
FY2025
DEF 14A filed 2026-03-06
- CEO
- Robert L. Steer
- CEO span
- 7
- C-suite
- 5
- Avg tenure
- 6.2 yr
Highly decentralized structure with all segment presidents reporting to the CEO.
Named executive officers (5)
- Robert L. Steer - CEO since 2016
- David H. Rankin - CFO since 2013
- Edward A. Gonzalez - President, Marine since 2012
- Jacob A. Bresky - President, SOTG since 2023
- Chad M. Groves - President, Foods since 2024
FY2024
DEF 14A filed 2025-03-07
- CEO
- Robert L. Steer
- CEO span
- 6
- C-suite
- 5
- Avg tenure
- 6.8 yr
Foods leadership transition underway.
Named executive officers (5)
- Robert L. Steer - CEO since 2016
- David H. Rankin - CFO since 2013
- Edward A. Gonzalez - President, Marine since 2012
- Jacob A. Bresky - President, SOTG since 2023
- David M. Becker - General Counsel since 2020
FY2023
DEF 14A filed 2024-03-08
- CEO
- Robert L. Steer
- CEO span
- 6
- C-suite
- 5
- Avg tenure
- 7.1 yr
Transition year preceding Foods leadership change.
Named executive officers (5)
- Robert L. Steer - CEO since 2016
- David H. Rankin - CFO since 2013
- Edward A. Gonzalez - President, Marine since 2012
- Jacob A. Bresky - President, SOTG since 2023
- Peter B. Brown - President, Foods
Year-over-year changes
CT&M leadership stabilized under a new president while overall structure remained unchanged.
- CEO span: 6 → 6
- C-suite size: 5 → 5
- Avg tenure: 7.1 → 6.8 yr
- new Jacob A. Bresky - President, SOTG (DEF 14A, Mar 2024)
Appointment of a new Foods president increased the CEO’s span of control.
- CEO span: 6 → 7
- C-suite size: 5 → 5
- Avg tenure: 6.8 → 6.2 yr
- new Chad M. Groves - President, Seaboard Foods (DEF 14A, Mar 2026)
The board
Board of directors
5 directors. 3 of 5 independent (60%). Source: most recent DEF 14A.
Ellen S. Bresky
Chair Inside
Chairwoman, Seaboard Corporation
David A. Adamsen
Independent
Former VP Wholesale Sales, C&S Wholesale Grocers
Douglas W. Baena
Independent
Managing Principal, CreditAmerica Corporation
Paul M. Squires
Inside
COO, Seaboard Flour LLC
Frances B. Shifman
Independent
Nonprofit Director
The board, organized
Board committees
1 standing committees. Audit and Compensation must be 100% independent under SEC rules; the rest vary.
Audit Committee
100% independent 4 mtgs/yr
- David A. Adamsen
- Douglas W. Baena Chair
- Frances B. Shifman
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of Seaboard Corporation?
Robert L. Steer has served as President and CEO since 2016.
What type of organizational structure does Seaboard use?
Seaboard operates a decentralized holding-company structure with autonomous business segments.
How many direct reports does Seaboard's CEO have?
The CEO has seven direct reports, primarily segment presidents and core corporate leaders.
How has Seaboard's leadership changed recently?
In July 2024, Chad M. Groves was appointed President of Seaboard Foods, and Liquid Fuels was separated as its own segment.
Does Seaboard have a COO?
No. Seaboard does not have a Chief Operating Officer; segment presidents report directly to the CEO.
Sources
- DEF 14A, Mar 2026
- 2025 Form 10-K
- SEC EDGAR: Seaboard Corporation DEF 14A Proxy Statement
- SEC EDGAR: Seaboard Corporation 10-K Annual Report
Reference
Cite this page
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APA 7th
Creately. (2026). Seaboard Corporation organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/seaboard/MLA 9th
"Seaboard Corporation Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/seaboard/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "Seaboard Corporation Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/seaboard/.Original SEC source View on SEC ↗
Seaboard Corporation. DEF 14A. Filed 2026-03-06. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/88121/000008812126000025/tmb-20260420xdef14a.htmPermanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/seaboard/ · last updated 2026-04-01