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National Cotton Council names McClendon chairman for 2008

Feb 22, 2008 9:50 AM

National Cotton Council delegates named Larry McClendon, a Marianna, Ark., cotton ginner, as their chairman at their 2008 annual meeting. McClendon served as the NCC’s vice chairman in 2007 and succeeds John Pucheu, a Tranquillity, Calif., producer.

McClendon, president and manager of McClendon, Mann and Felton Gin Co. in Marianna, also operates a cotton and grain farm in Lee County and serves on the board of the Greenwood, Miss.-based 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.

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.

NCC delegates elected Jon W. Hardwick, a Newellton, La., cotton producer, as vice chairman of the industry organization for 2007.

Re-elected as NCC vice presidents were: Robert Norris, Bakersfield, Calif, representing cooperatives; Charles Owen, Pima, Ariz., ginners; Gail Kring, Lubbock, Texas, cottonseed handlers; Robert Weil, II, Montgomery, Ala., merchants; Shane Stephens, Greenwood, Miss., warehouses; and Harding Stowe, Belmont, N.C., textile manufacturers. Craig Shook, a Corpus Christi, Texas, 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; Gary Adams, vice president, economics and policy analysis; Craig Brown, vice president, producer affairs; Bill Norman, vice president, tchnical srvices; Harrison Ashley, vice president, gnner srvices; and Fred Johnson, vice president, aministration and program coordination.