Donnie Smith on financial crisis
From Dean's Dialogue | Donnie Smith on the Future of Agriculture and Global Leadership · · OkState Ag
“In 2008, our company was not doing very well at all. In the fall of that year, our stock got down to $4 a share. I didn't have much money, but I sold everything I could get and I bought $4 a share of stock. I wish I had a lot more. I wish I went and borrowed money to do that, but um and then we added $1.3 billion to our capital structure between September of '08 and March of '09. And if we hadn't have done that, we'd have lost the company. It was bad.”
On , Donnie Smith, Former President & Chief Executive Officer at Tyson Foods, spoke about financial crisis during Dean's Dialogue | Donnie Smith on the Future of Agriculture and Global Leadership on OkState Ag.
About Donnie Smith
Donnie Smith, former CEO of Tyson Foods, participated in a Dean's Dialogue at Oklahoma State University on April 27, 2026, discussing his career and current work. He described his leadership philosophy as "humble confidence" and recounted his actions during the 2008 financial crisis, stating that he bought company stock at $4 a share and helped add $1.3 billion to the capital structure, which he said prevented the company's collapse. Smith also argued that the agricultural industry has "the technology to feed 10 billion people" but expressed uncertainty about whether society will "get permission to use it," calling for a need to "win this communication war." Smith discussed his current work in Rwanda through his foundation, where he said they have built a commercially viable chicken business. He stated that growers in the program have paid school fees, obtained insurance, and developed new income streams, with some increasing production from 100 to 400 or 500 chickens per batch. Smith said the foundation has committed an additional $3.5 million to expand operations, including a new egg farm, broiler business, feed mill, hatchery, and breeder program. He asserted that "the only sustainable form of agriculture is commerce" and that the goal is for the Rwanda chicken business to support itself and generate profits for foundations.