Big change for french fry giant Lamb Weston as ‘activist’ shareholders reshape board
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lamb Weston adds six new board directors amid agreement with top shareholders.
- Four current board members exit as new chairman Bradley Alford takes helm.
- Agreement with JANA Partners and Continental Grain averts proxy board battle.
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., one of the largest private employers in the Mid-Columbia, signaled Monday morning major changes ahead for the Eagle, Idaho-based french fry giant.
Lamb Weston announced it will install six new independent directors, including a new chairman, to its board after signing a new agreement with two of its largest shareholders, JANA Partners Management L.P. and Continental Grain Co.
The document was shared publicly in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday and confirmed the changes.
Lamb Weston employs roughly 3,000 people in the Mid-Columbia, where it operates corporate offices, research facilities and more than a dozen potato processing factories that transform Northwest-grown potatoes into french fries for customers such as McDonald’s.
Lamb Weston shocked the region in late 2024 when it shuttered its plant in Connell, where it was one of the community’s largest employers, taxpayers and utility customers. The plant closure affected 375 workers.
The company’s October 2024 quarterly earnings statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed net income fell 46%.
Lamb Weston’s restructuring plan included closing the Connell plant, curtailing production in North America and trimming $100 million in capital spending. Global demand for potatoes has slowed, but is still positive, say industry officials.
Reuters reports that the new agreement between Lamb Weston and JANA Partners gives the “activist investor” a big voice on the board and spares the company a “bruising board fight.”’
Under the agreement, Lamb Weston will appoint six new directors to its board, including two who were mutually agreed upon by Lamb Weston, JANA and Continental Grain.
Four current members will step down, resulting in a net increase to 13 directors, from 11.
The new appointees are Bradley Alford, who will serve as chair of the Lamb Weston board, along with Ruth Kimmelshue, Timothy McLevish and Scott Ostfeld. The mutual directors are Lawrence Kurzius and Paul Maass.
The departing board members include Charles Blixt, W.G. Jurgensen, Robert Niblock and Maria Reena Sharpe.
The changes will take effect by July 11.
“I look forward to working closely with the board and management team to build on these strengths through a customer-centric approach to growth and execution,” Alford, the incoming board chair, said in a news release.
Alford’s resume includes serving as a director for Conagra Brands Inc., former parent to Lamb Weston before it spun off into an independent, publicly-traded company.
Lamb Weston shares were trading at $51.85 Monday morning, less than half its all-time peak of $114.95, set a little over two years ago.
A spokeswoman for Lamb Weston said the agreement with JANA and Continental Grain is expected to be made public via SEC filings by mid-morning Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM.