Changes amid Rumors

Restless Entrepreneur Norton Simon has yet to find the all-purpose chief executive for Hunt Foods & Industries. Recently, Simon replaced President Francis Fabian, 52, an operations expert who served him for about two years. Into the gap went William E. McKenna, 48, a smooth-talking senior vice president from Litton Industries with an accounting background and a Harvard Business School degree. Simon makes no bones about the reason for the change: he wants to expand his empire of subsidiaries and affiliates, which already includes McCall Corp., Hunt-Wesson Foods, Inc., Knox Glass Inc., Canada Dry Corp. and Crucible Steel Corp. of America. Says he: "Fabian has been largely an operating chief and has been damned good at that. But Hunt is getting more acquisition-minded, so we need a man whose primary orientation is finance."

Among the takeover possibilities that are said to interest Simon is Swift & Co., which recently announced an executive change of its own. President Robert Reneker, 55, becomes sole chief executive on Dec. 1 when Board Chairman Porter M. Jarvis retires, taking his title with him. Reneker made his reputation in sales and is the first man to reach the top spot without a solid grounding in meat operations--which suggests that the company, having branched into such nonfood items as chemicals and insurance, plans further diversification. Admittedly curious about rumors of Simon's interest in his company, Reneker claims that he does not plan to let Swift go the way of other meat packers such as Wilson & Co., which was acquired by Ling-Temco-Vought, and John Morrell, which is expected to become the property of AMK Corp. by year's end. Says Reneker: "If you think I'd like that idea for Swift, you are hearing me wrong."

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