February 11, 2008
Contact:
Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030
MEMPHIS - Larry McClendon, a Marianna, AR, cotton ginner, was elected chairman of the National Cotton Council (NCC) for 2008. Named during the NCC’s annual meeting here today, he served as the NCC’s vice chairman in 2007 and succeeds John Pucheu, a Tranquillity, CA, producer.
McClendon, who is president and manager of McClendon, Mann and Felton Gin Company in Marianna, also operates a cotton and grain farm in Lee County and serves on the board of Staplcotn cooperative.
Active in national, regional and state associations, he is past president of the National Cotton Ginners Association, Southern Cotton Ginners Association and the Arkansas Agricultural Council. He has served on numerous NCC panels, including chairing both its Budget Committee and Marketing Loan Working Group in 2007. He currently chairs the NCC’s Farm Policy Working Group and is a member of its Doha Strategy Task Force.
The recipient of numerous industry awards, McClendon was the 2002 Southern Cotton Ginners Association Ginner of the Year and in 2003, he received the Horace Hayden National Ginner of the Year award. In 2006, he received Cotton Grower magazine’s Achievement Award, in recognition of growers who are outstanding innovators, sound stewards of the environment and leaders in the cotton industry and their communities.
A University of Arkansas graduate, Larry is a deacon of First Baptist Church of Marianna and currently is serving on the Board of Trustees for Baptist Hospital Systems in Memphis. He and his wife, Betty Jo, reside in Marianna and have a daughter and a son.
The NCC’s vice chairman for 2008 is Jon W. Hardwick, a Newellton, LA, cotton producer.
Re-elected as NCC vice presidents were: COOPERATIVE - Robert Norris, Bakersfield, CA; GINNER - Charles Owen, Pima, AZ; COTTONSEED - Gail Kring, Lubbock, TX; MERCHANT - Robert Weil, II, Montgomery, AL; WAREHOUSE - Shane Stephens, Greenwood, MS; and TEXTILE MANUFACTURER - Harding Stowe, Belmont, NC. Craig Shook, a Corpus Christi, TX, producer, was re-elected secretary-treasurer.
NCC staff officers for 2008 include: Dr. Mark Lange, NCC president/chief executive officer; John Maguire, senior vice president, Washington Operations; Allen Terhaar, vice president, Foreign Affairs; Dr. Gary Adams, vice president, Economics and Policy Analysis; Craig Brown, vice president, Producer Affairs; Dr. Bill Norman, vice president, Technical Services; Harrison Ashley, vice president, Ginner Services; and Fred Johnson, vice president, Administration and Program Coordination.