FORT WORTH, Texas — The American Angus Association® announced the 2017-2018 board of directors and officers elected by state delegates during the 134th Annual Convention of Delegates in Fort Worth, Texas. Those elected to serve the Association for a second three-year term are: Jerry Connealy, Whitman, Nebraska; David Dal Porto, Oakley, California; John Grimes, Hillsboro, Ohio; James Henderson, Memphis, Texas; and Dave Nichols, Bridgewater, Iowa.
Kevin Yon, Ridge Spring, South Carolina, was elected as Association president and chairman of the board. He succeeds Charlie Boyd, May’s Lick, Kentucky. Yon and his wife, Lydia, established Yon Family Farms in 1996, and the operation is now home to 700 head of Angus brood cows and 300 commercial cows. Yon has served on the Association board for six years, was treasurer in 2016, and was vice president and vice chairman of the board this past year. He also has served as president of the South Carolina Angus Association and South Carolina Cattlemen’s Association, and as chairman of the South Carolina Farm Bureau Beef Advisory Committee, among other positions.
John Pfeiffer Jr., Mulhall, Oklahoma, was elected by the delegates to serve as Association vice president and vice chairman of the board. His family operates a diversified farming operation consisting of 2,200 acres of crops and pasture. Much of the wheat, alfalfa and corn go directly toward the 140 registered- and 75 commercial-Angus cows. Pfeiffer has served on the board for six years and was treasurer this past year. He also has been president of the Oklahoma Angus Association, a member of the first Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program, a director for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, and president of the Logan County Cattlemen’s Association.
Don Schiefelbein, Kimball, Minnesota, will serve as the 2017-2018 treasurer. He has served on the Association board of directors for five years. His family operation was started in 1955 by Frank Schiefelbein, and 62 years later with the addition of nine sons and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the operation continues to grow as fast as the family. Today, Schiefelbein Farms runs more than 1,000 registered females, farms 4,600 acres and feeds out 7,500 head of cattle.
A total of 308 delegates from 40 states and the District of Columbia represented Association members during the Annual Convention of Delegates hosted Nov. 6 during the 2017 Angus Convention.
Nearly 2,500 Angus breeders and commercial cattle producers attended the three-day event and enjoyed educational seminars, a dynamic trade show, networking and entertainment.
Board Members Elected
Elected to his second three-year term, Jerry Connealy, Whitman, Nebraska, was raised on the family ranch, which he has ran since 1981 with his wife, Sharon. The Connealys have three sons, Jed, who works on the ranch; Gabriel; and Ben; and a daughter, Hannah.
Connealy, his family and Connealy Ranch employees feel enormously indebted to the forward-thinking Angus leaders who have dedicated so much time and talent into making the Angus breed dominant in the cattle industry. Connealy feels a great responsibility to ensure that the breed continues to move forward and maintains its strength.
David Dal Porto, Oakley, California, was elected to his second term on the American Angus Association board of directors. Dal Porto and his wife, Jeanene, still manage their registered and commercial Angus operation in Oakley, Brentwood and northern California. They have three children—Lindsey, AJ and Dawson.
Dal Porto has firsthand experience at every level in the evolution of performance information and how to apply it. He complements that knowledge with a management background developed from his experiences. Dal Porto and his bull sale partner, David Medeiros, were awarded the 2011 Certified Angus Beef® (CAB) Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award at the CAB Annual Conference.
Elected to his second term on the Association board of directors is John Grimes, Hillsboro, Ohio, a second-generation Angus breeder. Grimes was raised on his family’s Angus and commercial cow-calf operation, Maplecrest Farms, near Decatur, Ohio.
During Grimes’ youth, he was elected to the original National Junior Angus Board (NJAB). An associate professor at The Ohio State University, Grimes and his wife, Joanie, have two daughters, Lindsey and Lauren.
James Henderson, Memphis, Texas, was elected to his second term on the Association board of directors. A fourth-generation rancher, Henderson has two daughters, Hayley and Mary Katherine. He and his wife, Mary Lou Bradley, operate Bradley 3 Ranch (B3R).
Henderson has spent more than 30 years in all segments of the meatpacking and processing industry, and he and Mary Lou currently market 250 bulls per year to commercial and seedstock customers throughout the U.S.
Elected to serve a second term on the Association board of directors, Dave Nichols, Bridgewater, Iowa, has been in the cattle business his entire life, having grown up on his father’s cattle-feeding operation. Nichols Farms now has grown to 5,500 acres, 1,400 cows and a small feedlot.
The operation annually markets more than 500 bulls and a large number of commercial heifers. Nichols and his wife, Phyllis, and sister-in-law, Lillian, manage the ranch, which has a very active feeder calf-marketing program to enhance their customers’ profitability.
For more information about the American Angus Association board of directors, visit www.angus.org.
–Compiled by Sarah Hill, Angus Media
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