Congratulations to Arizona dairyman, Paul Rovey, for being elected chairman of the checkoff-funded U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC)!
Rovey had been serving as interim chairman, filling the seat made vacant by previous chairman Les Hardesty’s retirement from the industry. Rovey is the fourth elected chairman in the organization’s history, following Elwood Kirkpatrick (1995-2004), Tom Camerlo (2004-2009) and Hardesty (2009-2012).
He will preside over the 116-member organization, which is made up of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers, export traders and industry affiliates. The group is focused on market development, market access and trade policy and is supported primarily by the dairy checkoff and complemented with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and membership dues.
Also at the meeting, Kenton Holle was elected to serve as USDEC’s vice chairman. Holle currently is the vice chairman of the National Dairy Board and a member of DMI’s Board of Directors. In addition, Tom Gallagher was re-elected USDEC’s secretary/treasurer. Since 1995, Gallagher has served as the chief executive officer for DMI, which manages the national dairy producer checkoff program.
Source: Dairy Herd Network