During its final meeting at the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 7, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) unanimously elected Kim Brackett of Buhl, Idaho, to serve as CBB chairman for the coming year; Jimmy Maxey of Fresno, Calif., to serve as vice chairman; and Anne Anderson of Austin, Texas, to fill the position of Beef Board secretary/treasurer for 2014.

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.

Newly elected Beef Board Chairman Kim Brackett is a cow-calf/stocker from Buhl, Idaho. She served as vice chairman of the Beef Board in 2013; secretary/treasurer of the Board in 2012 and previously was an active member with the Idaho Beef Council, having 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.

This year’s Beef Board Vice Chairman Jimmy Maxey has been highly active in beef industry organizations, including service as president and chairman of the former 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.

Newly appointed CBB Secretary/Treasurer Anne Anderson is a cow-calf and stocker operator from Austin, Texas and a former executive vice president of the Texas Beef Council. She and her husband, Jim, own a small cattle ranch in Colorado County and a larger one, which Anne manages, in Menard and McCulloch counties. In addition to ranching, she has spent more than 15 years providing assistance to individuals and groups trying to build new companies -- mostly in the beef industry, and all in the food industry. Anne also is a co-founder and former CEO of AgInfoLink Global, one of the largest food-tracking companies in the U.S., with additional international offices in Australia, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.

CBB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The 11-member CBB Executive Committee includes the Board’s three officers and eight members elected at large. The CBB elected the following members to its 2014 Executive committee: Vice Chairman Jimmy Maxey, who will serve as chairman of the Executive Committee; and members Kim Brackett (CBB chairman); Anne Anderson (CBB secretary/ treasurer); Dean Black of Iowa; Laurie Bryant, an importer; Barbara Jackson of Arizona; Mike McCormick of Mississippi; Brett Morris of Oklahoma; Laurie Munns of Utah; Kent Pruismann of Iowa; and Gary Sharp of South Dakota.

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 2014 Beef Promotion Operating Committee during the annual meeting in Nashville include: Chairman Kim Brackett; Vice Chairman Jimmy Maxey; Secretary/Treasurer Anne Anderson; Marty Andersen, Wisconsin; Sarah Childs, Florida; Dave Edmiston, Texas; Linda Gilbert, South Dakota; Ted Greidanus, California; Brittany Howell, Kansas; and Hank Maxey, Virginia.

For more information, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.

Source: Beef Board