BEEF BOARD SEATS NEW MEMBERS, ELECTS LEADERSHIP
Tucker, Curry, Svajgr Are CBB Officers for 2003
DENVER - (February 6, 2003) - The Cattlemen's Beef Board seated new board members and elected officers and representatives for its 2003 Executive Committee and Beef Promotion Operating Committee during its annual meeting in Nashville Jan. 29 - Feb.1, 2003.
After being appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the fall, a total of 35 board members were seated for service on the CBB in 2003 - including 22 reappointments of existing members to a second term and appointment of 13 new members. New members seated and the states they represent include: Carlyle Currier, Colorado; Greg Benedict and Kim Holzner, importers; Ken Stielow, Kansas; Charles Miller, Kentucky; Jim Almond, Montana; John "Pat" Woods, New Mexico; Rita McConnell and Randy Meabon, Pennsylvania; Edward Blair, South Dakota; Lavinia "Sugie" Sartwelle, Texas; Bill McKinnon, Virginia; and Dave True, Wyoming.
In addition to the fall appointments, Roger Kite of Sulphur, Oklahoma attended the first annual meeting since his appointment by the Secretary of Agriculture on July 22, 2002. Kite is completing a vacated term that expires in early 2005. Similarly, CBB member Dave Bateman of Illinois was appointed in January 2003 to complete a vacated term that also expires in early 2005.
New Officer Team 
At its annual meeting, the board also elected Andy Tucker of Rockledge, Florida to serve as its chairman in 2003. In addition, board members elected Nelson Curry of Paris, Kentucky to serve as their vice chairman and Alan Svajgr of Nebraska to serve as secretary/treasurer of the Beef Board for the year.
Tucker was the 2002 vice chairman of the board and was first appointed to the CBB by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1999. He is a fourth-generation cattleman whose family ran a livestock auction market for 15 years and now produces commercial cattle, F1/F2 Brangus and purebred Brahmans at three locations in Brevard County, Florida, near Cape Canaveral. 
Curry was the 2002 secretary/treasurer of the board. He was nominated to the Beef Board by the Kentucky Cattleman's Association and appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1999. Curry is farm manager of Clay Charolais, a 2,200-acre intensive grazing beef operation in Paris, Kentucky. The farm runs 250 registered Charolais cows, 300 commercial cows and develops 400 to 600 bred replacement heifers annually.
Svajgr is a stocker/feedlot operator from Cozad, Nebraska, who was nominated to the Beef Board by the Nebraska Cattlemen and appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture in 2000. Svajgr is owner and manager of a farming/ranching/stocker/backgrounding operation of about 5,000 head per year and is co-owner of a 30,000-head commercial feedlot that owns and finishes about 8,000 head/year.
Executive Committee 
Based on recommendations from the Joint Beef Industry Nominating Committee, the CBB elected the following members to its 2003 Executive committee: CBB Vice Chairman Nelson Curry of Kentucky, who will serve as chairman of the Executive Committee; and members Andy Tucker (CBB chairman) of Florida; Alan Svajgr (CBB secretary/treasurer) of Nebraska; Dave Bateman of Illinois; Laurie Bryant, an importer; Mike Cline of Iowa; Jay O'Brien of Texas; Kay Richardson of Florida; John Roberts of Vermont; Carllyn Walker of Texas; and Gary Sharp of South Dakota. 
The 11-member CBB Executive Committee includes the board's three officers and another eight members elected at large. In addition, the immediate past chair of the Beef Board (Dee Lacey of California) serves on the committee as an ex-officio member, for advisory purposes. The 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. 
CBB members elected to the 2003 Beef Promotion Operating Committee during the annual meeting in Nashville include: Chairman Andy Tucker of Florida; Vice Chairman Nelson Curry of Kentucky; Secretary/Treasurer Alan Svajgr of Nebraska; Pat Blum of South Dakota; Tracy Brunner of Kansas; Lisa Hefner of Oklahoma; Jim Little of Idaho; Ken Stielow of Kansas; Linda Joy Stovall of Texas and Perry Teeter of North Carolina. 
The other 10 members of the committee are representatives of state beef councils, including the chair and vice chair of the Federation of State Beef Councils and eight other members elected directly by state beef councils. Those representatives include Bob Schmidt, Federation chairman from Tennessee; Bob Rolston, Federation vice chairman from Colorado; Alan Albright of Iowa; Van Amundson of North Dakota; Kent Bamford of Colorado; Velmar Green of Michigan; Lowell Hobbs of Oklahoma; Dick Nock of California Ferren Squires of Florida; and Myron Williams of South Dakota.