The American Soybean Association (ASA) Board of Directors elected its governing committee this week during the annual winter board meeting in St. Louis, and new board members immediately began their terms.
Davie Stephens of Clinton, Kentucky, will serve as 2019 ASA president. Mr. Stephens farms more than 5,000 acres in Kentucky and Tennessee. In addition to soybeans, he grows corn and raises chickens.
Mr. Stephens replaces former USSEC director John Heisdorffer, Iowa, as president, and Mr. Heisdorffer moves to the role of ASA chairman. Former ASA chairman and USSEC director Ron Moore, Ill., rotates off the nine-member governing committee.
The ASA board also elected Bill Gordon of Minnesota to serve as vice president, a position that places him in line to serve as the association’s president in 2020. Gordon is a fourth-generation farmer who grows soybeans and corn across 2000 acres, including 250 acres of buffer strips and wetlands.
In addition, the ASA board voted to elect Bret Davis, Ohio, as secretary and Brad Kremer, Wisconsin, as treasurer; Kevin Scott, South Dakota, Joe Steinkamp, Indiana, Brad Doyle, Arkansas, and Ronnie Russell, Missouri, were elected as at-large members of the governing committee.
New members of the ASA board are Daryl Cates, Illinois, David Droste, Illinois, and Christopher Hill, Minesota.
USSEC is pleased to partner with the new ASA executive committee and looks forward to working with them in the coming year.