USAPEEC Members Elect Board

White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. – Thierry Murad, global product manager-poultry at AJC International, a major food exporter headquartered in Atlanta, was elected chairman of the board of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) for 2011-12.

Murad succeeds outgoing chairman Joel Coleman, vice president and general manager of international sales at Butterball LLC in Mt. Olive, N.C. His election came during USAPEEC’s 22nd annual meeting at the Greenbrier last Friday.

As chairman, Murad will head the eight-member USAPEEC Executive Committee, which sets policy and gives direction to USAPEEC, an organization whose mission is to promote and increase exports of U.S. chicken, turkey, duck and egg products worldwide.

USAPEEC members also elected Duane Rhodes of Springdale, Ark., senior vice president of international sales of Tyson Foods, as first vice chairman of the board, and Chaz Wilson vice president of Grove Services, an international trading company with offices in Atlanta, as second vice chairman.

Jim Hoben, vice president-poultry at Interra International, an Atlanta trading company, was elected to continue serving as secretary-treasurer of the organization. Hoben is a former two-time chairman of USAPEEC.

Mike Little, international sales manager Mountaire Farms in Selbyville, Del., was re-elected chairman of USAPEEC’s Marketing Committee, and Neil Carey of Simmons Foods in Siloam Springs, Ark., will continue to serve as vice chairman. The chairman of this committee also serves on the board and has a seat on the executive committee.

Rounding out the Executive Committee as at-large members are Charles von der Heyde of Pilgrim’s Pride in Greeley, Colo., and Herbie Hoover of Sanderson Farms in Laurel, Miss. Coleman will remain on the executive as past-chairman.

Following is the full slate of USAPEEC board members for 2011-12. In addition to Coleman, Hoover and Rhodes, directors with three-year terms ending in 2012 are Mark Blanchard, NOCS; Jennifer Leyden, Metafoods; Jay Maxwell, Jennie-O Turkey Store; David Radlo, Radlo Foods; Saher Rizk, Mirasco; and Jim Wayt, Intervision Foods.

Board members with terms ending in 2013 are Hoben, von der Heyde, Tony Burnes, DGM Commodities; Kristin Kennedy, Keystone Foods; Kevin Phillips, Case Farms; Bill Sellari, Sellari Enterprises; and Kent Puffenbarger of Prestage Foods.

Board members with terms ending in 2014 are Carey, Little, Murad, Wilson, Jay Simpson, Perdue Farms; Shea Carr, OK Foods; Butch Johnson, Globex International; and Greg Tench, Mar Jac Poultry.

Members re-appointed annually to the board are Kent Kleinschmidt, Illinois Corn Marketing Board; Brian Kreps, Corn Marketing Board of Michigan; Ralph Kaufman, Indiana Corn Marketing Council; Monica McCranie, South Dakota Research and Promotion Council, Jim Schriver, United Soybean Board; Tim Scates, Illinois Soybean Association; Doug Morrow, Indiana Soybean Alliance; Dennis Hupe, Kansas Soybean Commission; Tom Oswald, Iowa Soybean Association; Laura Knoth, Kentucky Corn Board; Victor Bohaslavsky, Nebraska Soybean Board; and Kirk Merritt, Ohio Soybean Council.

The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council does not discriminate in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs and marital or family status.