Cotton Board: new Regional Communications Managers
Oct 28, 2008 10:42 AM
After an extensive interview and selection process, the Memphis-based Cotton Board announces the hiring of four Regional Communications Managers to serve as direct links to the Cotton Research & Promotion Program for U.S. cotton producers and ginners across the four production regions of the Cotton Belt.
“Formerly called Field Services, we have renamed these positions Regional Communications Managers to more accurately reflect what they will be doing — communicating the activities and achievements of the Cotton Research & Promotion Program,” explains Drayton C. Mayers, the new president & CEO of the Cotton Board. “We will also closely integrate our communication resources to assist their efforts to transfer Program information to their audiences through speaking roles at key industry meetings and events while use the latest technology to assist them in their daily work assignments.” The Regional Communications Managers will be managed by Brad Robb, vice president of Communications and supported by his department as well as other departments within the Cotton Board.
The new Regional Communications Managers are as follows:
West — Brent Murphree — Maricopa, Ariz. — He is well recognized throughout the Western region, having served the last twelve years as a Member Services Representatives for the National Cotton Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at the University of Arizona and was a partner in Pat Murphree Farms from 1985 to 2005.
Southwest — Bob J. Stanley — Lubbock, Texas — He has been working in cotton for the last twenty years. For ten of those years, he was the vice president of sales and marketing for Lummus Corp., working a broad range of assignments from direct sales of new cotton gins, to training and management of field sales staff. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanized agriculture with an emphasis on agribusiness management from Texas Tech University.
Southeast — James Montgomery “Monty” Bain, Sr. — Deatsville, Ala. — He has been working in the cotton business for over 30 years. He has purchased cotton from producers and ginners and sold cotton to mills in the Carolinas for Thorton-Bain Cotton Co. and for Dunavant Enterprises, Inc. He also graduated from Murdock International Cotton School in Memphis, Tenn. For the past two years he has chaired the Atlantic Cotton Associations’ Warehouse and Transportation Committee.
Mid-South — James Robert “Bobby” Skeen, Jr. — Monroe, La. — He has worked for the Louisiana Agricultural Corp. L.L.C. for the last seven years as director of safety where he provided safety and loss control services to cotton gins, cotton warehouses and cotton farming operations in Louisiana and Arkansas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in ag business from the University of Louisiana.
The new Regional Communications Managers will undergo an extensive and thorough on-boarding process which will include training at the Cotton Board, Cotton Incorporated senior staff division presentations prior to a tour of the World Headquarters in Cary, N.C., and presentations and a tour of Cotton Incorporated’s Consumer Marketing division in New York, N.Y.
