Salisbury, Md. — Perdue Farms announced today the promotion of Randy Day to chief executive officer. Day has served in a number of executive positions, including presidents and chief operating officer. He first joined Perdue in 1980 and worked his way up the corporate ladder.

He earned a master’s degree in poultry nutrition from the University of Maryland at College Park and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He was born and raised in the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He currently lives in Salisbury, Maryland.

There have only been four CEOs in the company's century-long history.

“Randy has done an outstanding job as chief operating officer over the past year, and he has my trust and the trust of our leadership team in this new role,” said Jim Perdue, who has been chairman and chief executive officer of Perdue Farms since 1991, in a press release.

Perdue will remain the chairman and company brand spokesperson.