During its final meeting at the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention in Tampa Feb. 9, the Beef Board unanimously elected Weldon Wynn of Star City, Arkansas to serve as CBB chairman for the coming year; Kim Brackett of Buhl, Idaho to serve as vice chairman; and Jimmy Maxey of Fresno, California to fill the position of Beef Board secretary/treasurer for 2013.
The Beef Board also elected members to serve on the CBB Executive Committee and others to fill the CBB seats on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee.
NEW BEEF BOARD OFFICER TEAM
Newly elected Beef Board Chairman Weldon Wynn He is an active member of his community and industry, including service on the board of directors of the Pine Bluff National Bank of Star City; former emcee and judge of the National Beef Cook-Off; National Beef Ambassador judge; past president and active member of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association; member of the University of Arkansas Animal Science 2000 Advisory Council; and past president, treasurer, and fair manager of the Lincoln County Fair, among many others.
On the Beef Board, Weldon served as secretary/treasurer during the first half of 2011 before being elected to fill a partial term as vice chairman during the second half of the year, then was elected vice chairman of the Board for all of 2012. He has also served on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, the CBB Executive Committee, the Joint Advertising Committee, for which he served as vice chair in 2010, and the Joint Beef Industry Budget Committee.
This year’s Beef Board Vice Chairman Kim Brackett is a cow-calf/stocker from Buhl, Idaho. She served as secretary/treasurer of the Beef Board in 2012 and also has been an active member with the Idaho Beef Council, having previously served as chair, vice chair and treasurer. Kim has served on the Idaho Cattle Association, as committee and subcommittee chair; and on the 71 Livestock Association. Kim was an active member of the Beef Board and the Joint Producer Education Committee during her first term on the Board, and was reappointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in December 2011 to serve a second consecutive three-year term.
Newly appointed CBB Secretary/Treasurer Jimmy Maxeyhas been highly active in beef industry organizations, including service as president and chairman of the National Meat Association and chairman of the California Beef Council. Jimmy grew up on his family's small cattle ranch and was also very involved in its meat processing plant. After attending Fresno State University, he returned to the family business, including the beef packing and processing plant and the cattle feeding business. Since selling Beef Packers, Inc./Fresno Meat Co. in 2006, he has remained active in cattle feeding and meat processing by working for his sons at Certified Meat Products.
CBB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The 12-member CBB Executive Committee includes the Board’s three officers and eight members elected at large. The CBB elected the following members to its 2013 Executive committee: CBB Vice Chairman Kim Brackett, who will serve as chairman of the Executive Committee; and members Weldon Wynn (CBB chairman); Jimmy Maxey (CBB secretary/ treasurer); Anne Anderson of Texas; Dean Black of Iowa; Laurie Bryant, an importer; Steve Irsik of Kansas; Hank Maxey of Virginia; Sugie Sartwelle of Texas; Gary Sharp of South Dakota; and Eric Smith of Alabama.
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. The other 10 members are appointed from the Federation of State Beef Councils.
CBB members elected to the 2013 Beef Promotion Operating Committee during the annual meeting in Tampa include: Chairman Weldon Wynn; Vice Chairman Kim Brackett; Secretary/Treasurer Jimmy Maxey; Spencer Ellis of Wyoming; Will Frazee of Iowa; Linda Gilbert of South Dakota, Joe Guthrie of Virginia; Chuck Kiker of Texas; Dan Kniffen of Pennsylvania; and Brett Morris of Oklahoma.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program
