Q: What motivated you to run for the Board?
A: My motivation for running for the Board was pretty simple: a love for the Angus breed. It’s what our family does for a living. It is everything that pretty much encompasses our everyday life and wanting to get involved, wanting to give back. Not unlike a lot of people, you saw some things maybe that you didn’t exactly love and thought it might be a good way to impact change, to get involved and be a part of it. It’s pretty hard to complain when you aren’t willing to get involved and be a part of the solution.

Q: Looking back on your tenure on the Board, what are some of the things that you’re most proud of?
A:  I’ve been [on the Board] several years, and it’s been extremely rewarding. Some of the things that we accomplished while I was on the Board that probably will go home with me and give me a real spot of gratitude is the AngusLink^SM program. While it had some strife and some struggles to get started, that program has turned into exactly what we thought it would be — a way to reward registered Angus-sired calves for their value in the marketplace. A way to distinguish differences in those registered Angus-sired cattle and quantify their value in the chain and in turn, drive value back to registered Angus bulls. I’d also be crazy if I didn’t say one of my greatest accomplishments as part of the Board was hiring Mark McCully. I think Mark McCully is probably one of the greatest things that’s happened to this association in many years. I’m proud to say I was a part of the Board that hired him and put him in that position, and we’re blessed that he still is there today.

Q: If you can go back and give yourself advice before joining the Board, what would it be?

A: I was totally unaware of vast programs and advantages that are in this building for every single member. I was truly humbled and truly made aware of how little I really knew about my association and my business, as it pertained to the association every day of the week before I came on this Board.

Q: What were some of your goals going into your term as president this year?
A: Going into my term as president, I don’t know that I had a bucket list of items I wanted to accomplish, but my belief was that we have a true diversity in membership. And that everything that we do in this building, everything we do on that Board represents every end of that membership. Whether you have five cows or whether you have 5,000 cows, this association is here to serve every one of you. I think that as a chairman of that Board, I wanted to be sure that our emphasis was put on that diversity.

Q: What has been some of the board’s priorities?
A:  The Board’s priorities are pretty expansive. Obviously our Number 1 charge is to handle registrations and transfers, to create services and programs for our membership to thrive and survive with. The data that comes out of this building has to be as accurate as possible. Understand that also, while I’ve been on this Board, I’ve been really reminded that the people in this building can only use the data that comes in the door. I mean, the members send the data in, they analyze and they utilize the data and turn it around and send it back out as tools. So those tools are only as accurate as the data that we as members send in. That’s something that constant priorities have to be put on, that we continue to improve our way of data collection on the farm and getting it to the association, so that they can create reliable, consistent tools for us.

Q: What do you see as some of the challenges for the Association in the future?
A: One of the greatest challenges the association has is the diversity. The same thing that makes us strong also makes us challenged. The diversity in this membership, the different needs and the different desires of every member make it very challenging to progress in one area without offending someone in another area. And I think that will become more and more of a challenge for the association to balance and remain relevant while balancing the fact that it has to be able to represent every member. It gets tougher and tougher to satisfy that 22,000 members that all have a different expectation and a different desire.

I truly believe our biggest challenges in this business today as a breed come from within ourselves, and understanding that diversity that makes us so strong, we’ve got to learn to appreciate that diversity from one breeder to another. We have to understand that the reason that we have such market share, the reason that we have been so blessed in the marketplace as a breed, is that we offer that diversity from every corner of our breed. A commercial producer doesn’t have to go outside of our breed to get those things that he needs to be successful.

Q: What do you see as some of the Angus breed’s opportunities?
A:  I think the opportunities of the Angus breed are endless, as long as we don’t allow arrogance to creep in. As long as we don’t allow that mentality that we’ve got it figured out and we know the only way, I mean we’ve got to still be innovative. We still have to listen to our customer base, both the commercial breeder and the consumer. We’ve still got to watch what’s happening in the landscapes and the markets and be sure that we still create the right kind of cattle to fit those holes.

Q: What’s a decision you’ve made as president or during your nine years on the Board that you believe will have a lasting impact on the breed or the Association?
A: The decisions that were made on this Board while I have been here that impact the breed or will impact the breed well into the future — I still will say Mark McCully and the staff that we have been able to put in place in this building. Let me tell you, the passion for our business, the passion for our breed, the amount of young people that are coming up through this staff that were born, bred and raised in this breed and have a love and a heart for it that money can’t buy. That’ll probably be one of the most lasting impressions that this building can leave on our business.

Q: How do you balance tradition with innovation, with leading an organization like the American Angus Association, when it’s rooted in the heritage?
A:  In my opinion, we can never forget our heritage. We can never forget the traditions that have happened or have become so popular in our business. But we constantly have to look at ways to create new traditions, create new goals, new standards and still have reverence to the past, still have reverence to how we’ve done things in past that got us to this point. You never forget that. You never forget the pieces that built us, but you absolutely have to be looking to the future to create new traditions and pave the way.

Q: What’s a piece of advice that you received early on in your life that still guides you today?
A:  The best advice that I’ve ever gotten and that I give is live life with a passion. Get up and do something that you love every day, and you’ll never work. Raise your family with values and towards the good Lord. Keep things that matter right in the center of your every day. Don’t lose focus. Do things right. Do what you say you will do, and you’ll end up in a good spot when life’s done.

Q: How do you hope to be remembered as president of the American Angus Association?
A:  My years on the Board have been very interesting, very fun. I have grown so much and learned so much about the breed and the business that I live in every day. As a Board member, I’d like to be remembered as a guy that took his hat off at the door every day when we went into a board meeting, never was self-serving and considered the membership in every decision I made. I like to think that I was extremely fair. One of the things that I really tried hard on that Board was to act as a unifier. I think that over time there were many things that we may not agree on, but I think that I was one of those Board members that would step back and say, “Hold on guys. If we’re this far apart, maybe it’s not the right thing.” Maybe we needed to reconsider. Maybe we should come up with a new idea, because if this room cannot agree, then obviously it’s not going to suit or enhance our membership.

Q: What will you miss most about being a member of the Board?
A:  Being a member of the Board is very much an honor and a great, great, great accomplishment in my life. I’ll miss the camaraderie. I’ll miss the interaction that I’ve had with our staff on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. You get to know the people in this building and the people that drive the countryside for you on your behalf every day and realize just how much passion they have for what we do.

Q: What part of raising Angus cattle do you most enjoy?
A: I love every cycle of [raising Angus cattle]. Watching baby calves be born is always everybody’s go-to, and I’m the same. New birth, new calf crops, new sire groups, those are always fun to see. Where’s your progress report? How are you doing? Every generation is supposed to get better, and I want to see it proven out that that’s what we get. The guys at home would tell you breeding cows is probably my favorite time of the year. I love synchronization and AI (artificial insemination), and we do about 95% AI at our place so it takes some real dedication to get that done, but that’s one of my real passions.

Q: If you weren’t raising Angus cattle, what would you be doing?
A:  I can’t imagine what I would be doing if I wasn’t raising Angus cattle. Those of you that know me know that I have a passion for Certified Angus Beef and cooking food. My wife and I have a restaurant that’s been very successful. We serve 100% Certified Angus Beef, and I guess if tomorrow I couldn’t live on the farm anymore, I would live in that restaurant and try to grow it more.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with the membership?
A: I’d like for the membership to understand the dedication that’s in this building, the dedication that is inside of this staff. I mean, these people get up every day, and they help us make a living in this business. They have a passion for it. Their everyday charge is to help us become more successful. I think sometimes that gets missed out in the membership. I mean, obviously the association’s nothing without its members, but the members would sure be challenged without the wonderful minds and the dedicated hearts that are in this building every day.