CARPENTER TAKES REINS AT NMA TODAY

OAKLAND, CA – Barry Carpenter started his new position as CEO and Executive Director of the National Meat Association today.

“I am pleased and privileged to have been selected for this distinguished position by the National Meat Association and will do my utmost to assure that the association’s high standard of executive excellence is kept,” Carpenter said. “Rest assured you will be able to count on NMA in the future just as you’ve always been able to count on us in the past.”

Carpenter comes with an outstanding track record. Until the end of 2006, he was Deputy Administrator of the Livestock and Seed Program, Agricultural Marketing Service. During his tenure at USDA he led the development and implementation on such high profile issues, including mandatory price reporting, country-of-origin labeling, process verification programs and the approval of beef grading technology. In addition, he has been instrumental in working to reopen exports markets to beef worldwide. 

In 1999, he was awarded the Presidential Rank Award—Meritorious Executive, and in February 2000 he received the National Meat Association’s prestigious E. Floyd Forbes Award. Most recently, Carpenter was awarded the 2005 Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executives—an honor only bestowed on less than one percent of senior career employees throughout the entire Federal government.

“We’re overjoyed to have Barry on board,” said Rosemary Mucklow, who herself stepped down as NMA’s Executive Director to become its Director Emeritus. “I am thrilled with the way this is working out. Barry and I have similar value systems, and we both understand the tools needed to run an association.”

National Meat Association is a non-profit trade association. Since 1946, NMA has represented meat packers and processors, equipment manufacturers and food suppliers who provide services to the meat industry. The association has members throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia and Mexico.

-30-