Contact: Diane Henderson                      303-867-6302                 dhenderson@beefboard.org

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - (February 11, 2008) - The Cattlemen’s Beef Board seated new board members and elected officers and representatives to its 2008 Executive Committee and the Beef Promotion Operating Committee during its annual meeting in Reno on Feb. 9. 

In addition, the Beef Board unanimously elected Oregon, Illinois cattleman Dave Bateman to serve as 2008 chairman of the Board, with outgoing chairman Ken Stielow of Kansas handing over the gavel as he ended his chairmanship. Massachusetts dairywoman Lucinda Williams was elected vice chairman, and Dan Dierschke, a cow-calf producer from Austin, Texas, was elected to serve as secretary/treasurer of the Beef Board for the year.

After being appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in December, a total of 39 Board members were seated for service on the CBB – including 22 reappointments of existing members to a second term and appointment of 17 new members – who accepted the oath of office from USDA representative Craig Morris during a CBB meeting on Feb. 6.

New members seated and the states they represent include: Max Bozeman, Jr., Alabama; Mary Lou Bradley, Texas; R. Wayne Buck, Colorado; Charles “Leroy” Ezer, Texas; Will Frazee, Iowa; Brian Healey, Oklahoma; Dan Hinman, Idaho; Paul Kent, Minnesota; Daniel Kniffen, Pennsylvania; Sharon Livingston, Oregon; Manuel Rodrigues, California; David Schubel, New York; Dianne Sites, Missouri; Sid Sumner, Florida; Larry Switzer, Montana; Andy Wick, Colorado; and Weldon Wynn, Arkansas.

Reappointments and the states they represent include: Dave Bateman, Illinois; Austin Brown, III, Texas; Virginia Coelho, California; Bobby Combs, Virginia; O.D. Cope, Missouri; Jeff Dahl, North Dakota; Virginia Davis, Indiana; Terry Detrick, Oklahoma; Glenda Flora, Kansas; Robert Fountain, Jr., Georgia (SE Region); Dave Fugate, Tennessee; Ross Garwood, Nebraska; Dana Hauck, Kansas; Richard Hodge, Texas; Merrill Karlen, Jr., South Dakota; Neil Kayser, Washington (NW Region); Al Pedigo, Kentucky; Dan Petersen, Iowa; Frank Phelps, Ohio; Doris Rush, Nebraska; Sharon Spenrath, Texas; and Don Stewart, Importer.

NEW BEEF BOARD OFFICER TEAM

Newly elected Beef Board Chairman Dave Bateman was the 2007 vice chairman of the Board and served as secretary/treasurer of the Board in 2006. He was originally nominated to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board by the Illinois Beef Association and appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 2000. He served on the Board from 2000 to 2003, when Illinois lost a seat due to reapportionment/ reduced cattle numbers. He then was appointed as a replacement to finish another’s unfinished term from 2003 to 2005, and then was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve his own term from 2005 to 2008.

Bateman, who considers himself “semi-retired,” owns 200 head of cattle that are fed on his family’s farm, established more than 100 years ago. Bateman has been a highly active member of the Beef Board during the last seven years, including service on the Beef Board Executive Committee; the Beef Promotion Operating Committee; the CBB Administration Subcommittee; the Joint Food and Nutrition Issues Subcommittee; Joint Public Relations Subcommittee; Joint Information Committee; and the Joint Evaluation Advisory Committee. He is also a pastor at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Belvidere, Ill.

The 2008 Beef Board Vice Chairman, Lucinda Williams, is a 12th-generation dairy producer and farmer in Hatfield, Mass., on her 220-acre family owned farm, which dates back to 1661. She was appointed to the Beef Board by the Secretary of Agriculture in 2004. Williams was very active during her first term on the Beef Board, serving on committees including the CBB Executive Committee, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, Joint Evaluation Advisory Committee; and the Joint Information Committee, which she chaired in 2007.

Williams has been active in the dairy and beef industry in her state and region, as well, in organizations including Agri-Mark, for which she served as president in 2002-03; Farm Bureau; Genex; and Farm Credit. She is also very active in her church, the local school district, and PEO, a women’s educational organization. She and her husband, Darryl, have four children.

Elected as the 2008 Beef Board Secretary/Treasurer is Dan Dierschke of Austin, Texas. A fifth-generation cow-calf producer and farmer, he was nominated for the Board by the Texas Farm Bureau and appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture in 2006. As a Beef Board member, Dierschke has served on committees including the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, the CBB Audit Committee, and the Joint International Markets Committee, which he says holds particular interest to him.

Dierschke has been very active in other beef industry organizations, as well: He is a past chairman of the Texas Beef Council, is active with the Texas Farm Bureau and a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Other organizations on which he has or continues to serve include the Technical Subcommittee on Farm Land Preservation for USDA’s National Resources Conservation Service (Texas) and the Animal Identification Advisory Committee of the Texas Animal Health Commission.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The 12-member CBB Executive Committee includes the Board’s three officers and another eight members elected at large. In addition, the immediate past chair of the Beef Board (Ken Stielow of Kansas) serves on the committee in an advisory-only capacity.

Based on recommendations from the Joint Beef Industry Nominating Committee, the CBB elected the following members to its 2008 Executive committee: CBB Vice Chairman Lucinda Williams, who will serve as chairman of the Executive Committee; and members Dave Bateman (CBB chairman); Dan Dierschke (secretary/treasurer); Laurie Bryant, an importer from Virginia; Virginia Coelho of California; Robert Fountain, Jr. of Georgia (SE Region); Charles Miller of Kentucky; Daryl Berlier Owen of Texas; Sugie Sartwelle of Texas; Myron Williams of South Dakota; and Preston Wright of Nevada.

The Executive Committee operates under the direction of, and within the policies established by the full Board and is responsible for carrying out Beef Board policies and conducting business and making decisions necessary to administer the terms and provisions of the Act and Order between meetings of the full Board.

OPERATING COMMITTEE

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee was created by the Beef Promotion Research Act to help coordinate state and national Beef Checkoff Programs. The 20-person committee includes 10 members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, among them the Board’s three officers and seven others elected directly by Beef Board members.

CBB members elected to the 2008 Beef Promotion Operating Committee during the annual meeting in Reno include: Chairman Dave Bateman; Vice Chairman Lucinda Williams; Secretary/Treasurer Dan Dierschke; Virginia Davis of Indiana; Tom Jones of Arkansas; Merrill Karlen of South Dakota; Chuck Kiker of Texas; John Shafer of Minnesota; Don Stewart, an importer from Illinois; and Roger West of Florida.

The other 10 members of the committee are representatives of state beef councils, including the chair and vice chair of the Federation of State Beef Councils and eight other members elected by state beef councils. Those representatives include Federation Chairman Alan Albright of Iowa; JD Alexander of Nebraska; David Dick of Missouri; Laurie Lickley of Idaho; Scott McGregor of Iowa; Andrew Murphy of Kansas; Craig Uden of Nebraska; Becky Walth; South Dakota; Helen Wiese of Iowa; and Jim Wilson of Oregon.
                                                                      ____

#          #          #