Angus Elects New Officers and Board Leadership

Serving as officers for the American Angus Association (from left) are Jerry Connealy, Whitman, Neb., president and chairman of the Board; Chuck Grove, Forest, Va., vice president and vice chairman of the Board; and Barry Pollard, Enid, Okla., treasurer.

Five directors were elected to the American Angus Association Board of Directors, as well as a president and chairman, and a vice president and vice chairman of the Board, during the 138th Annual Convention of Delegates Nov. 8, hosted in Fort Worth, Texas.

Delegates represented Association members at the Annual Convention of Delegates and elected the 2021-2022 officers and directors.

Elected to serve as officers of the American Angus Association were Jerry Connealy, Whitman, Neb., president and chairman of the Board; and Chuck Grove, Forest, Va., vice president and vice chairman of the Board.

Connealy says the Angus breed is positioned to continue to lead the industry.

“It’s so important that we keep thinking forward, that we keep coming up with new ideas, that we don’t be satisfied,” Connealy says. “The Angus breed is at the top of the pyramid. The cattle industry has some really good years ahead of it … I’m excited to be in the position where maybe I can help keep us moving in the right direction.”

Elected by the Board at its September meeting, Barry Pollard, Enid, Okla., who is currently serving his second term on the Board of Directors, will be treasurer for 2021-2022.

Directors elected

Elected to their first terms on the Board of Directors are Paul Bennett, Red House, Va.; John Dickinson, Sacramento, Calif.; Greg McCurry, Sedgwick, Kan.; and Loran Wilson, Orleans, Ind.

Elected to his second term is Jim Brinkley, Milan, Mo.

Directors can serve up to two three-year terms on the Board and, if elected, serve additional one-year terms in office as president and chairman and/or vice president and vice chairman.

Elected to the American Angus Association Board of Directors (from left) are John Dickinson, Sacramento, Calif.; Greg McCurry, Sedgwick, Kan.; Paul Bennett, Red House, Va.; Loran Wilson, Orleans, Ind.; and Jim Brinkley, Milan, Mo.

Bennett is a fourth-generation seedstock producer who grew up on his family’s operation, Knoll Crest Farm, Inc. (KCF). He graduated from Virginia Tech with an animal science degree, then returned home to run the farm with his brothers, Jim Brian and Paul, and nephew, Dalton. KCF focuses on annually generating 400 high-quality bulls to supply the commercial beef industry. A lifetime cattleman, Bennett has served as president of the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF), Virginia Cattlemen’s Association, Virginia Beef Cattle Improvement Association, as well as a board member of the Virginia Angus Association and the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium.

Brinkley was born and raised in northern Missouri on his family’s farming operation. Today, the family’s diversified farming operation is made up of more than 1,300 acres and 400 registered Angus cows. During Brinkley’s time on the Board, he has served on the Finance & Planning, Commercial Programs, Communications & Public Relations, and Member Services committees, and as Chairman of the Commercial Programs committee. He also served on the Boards of the Angus Foundation, Angus Genetics, Inc. (AGI), and as the Association’s representative on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) live cattle marketing policy committee.

Dickinson is a fifth-generation Angus breeder and a former National Junior Angus Board (NJAB) chairman. He attended the University of Illinois and obtained a bachelor’s degree in animal science. After graduating, he served as a regional manager for the American Angus Association. During his tenure, he coordinated the 2002 National Angus Conference and Tour in California, hosted one of the first Angus Boot Camp seminars at Cal Poly State University and performed some of the first age-and-source audits for the AngusSource® program at its process verified program (PVP). In 2007, Dickinson formed Parnell Dickinson, Inc., a full-service marketing firm that works in all facets of promotion, management, and cattle trade; both seedstock and commercial.

McCurry was raised in south central Kansas, where he grew up working for his family’s cattle operation as a third-generation Angus breeder. McCurry and his wife, Pamela, live on their family’s operation, McCurry Bros. Angus. The operation manages 500 Angus cows in addition to farming corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and cotton. McCurry Bros. markets 150 Angus bulls private treaty each year and sells many females. McCurry has served on many committees and boards including serving as president of Kansas Angus Association, a Kansas FSA Board of Directors member and chairman, and a Reins of Hope Riding Academy chairman.

Wilson is a lifelong Indiana cattleman of Indiana. Following graduation from the Purdue Winter Course in 1973, having majored in animal science, he returned to his family’s operation. Regularly producing top-quality carcass cattle is the priority at Wilson Angus. The current operation consists of cow-calf pairs and a 300-head capacity finishing feedlot, where consistently producing carcasses that grade high-Choice and Prime is always the goal. Wilson has served as an adult co-chair of the National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) and as president of the Indiana Angus Association and Indiana Beef Cattle Association.

Editor’s note: Find more news from Angus Convention in the January Angus Journal.