Another 50 years for NAMA.

The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) is coming upon its golden anniversary--50 years strong! NAMA has seen many changes and so has our industry. Whether it's technology changes from slide presentations to PowerPoint, typewriters for correspondence to blackberries, traditional gene breeding to biotechnology, of fence lines marking tractor paths to GPS technology, we've seen a lot. However, some things probably haven't changed as much. We're still trying to answer the same questions--how to we gain brand loyalty? what does our customer really look like? and how can we best drive purchase decisions?

As we more through 2006, the NAMA executive committee plans to take past learnings and focus on three areas--increased transparency, greater member input and implementing an actionable marketing plan.

What do I mean by increased transparency? We want to be sure NAMA members have access and understand how our organization runs.

The second area we're focusing on this year is greater member input. We encouraged members to provide input whether it was a new seminar topic or a better way to integrate students into professional activities.

The final component we'll focus on in our year ahead is completion of an actionable marketing plan. As we continue this year, the Executive Committee will be putting the final pieces in this marketing plan. Then, we plan to get member input on the plan and implement it.

With these three things in motion, we'll be setting the foundation for the next 50 years. NAMA today isn't the same as yesterday but we can be even stronger in the future.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Stephanie Gable (Carolines/Virginia)--President Bayer CropScience, Durham, NC [phone]

Patty Travis (Mid-America)--President-Elect 5MetaCom, Cannel, IN [phone]

Monte Reese (Rocky Mountain)--Secretary/Treasurer Cattlemen's Beef Promotion & Research Bd., Centennial, CO [phone]

Ken Anderson (Midlands) David & Associates, Lincoln, NE [phone]

Carol Anderson (Missouri-Kansas) Anderson Kisner Fallon, LLC, Kansas City, MO [phone]

Kyle Bauer (Great Plains) KFRM Radio, Clay Center, KS [phone]

Vicki Henrikson (Cornbelt) Progressive Agriculture Foundation, Davenport, IA [phone]

Beth Burgy (North Central) Broadhead + Company, Minneapolis, MN [phone]

Sarah Vacek (Gateway) Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO [phone]

CHAPTER PRESIDENTS *

Badger (Wisconsin) Jane Griswold [phone] Carolinas/Virginia, Frank Timberlake [phone]

Central California NAMA, Sandy Creighton [phone]

Chesapeake (Baltimore, Philadelphia) Kara McDonald [phone]

Chicago, Julia Goebel [phone]

Cornbelt (Quad City Area. IA, IL) Terry Reilly [phone]

Desert Southwest, Lee Dueringer [phone]

Eastern (New York)

Florida Gary Cooper [phone]

Gateway (St. Louis) Becky Rasmussen [phone]

Great Plains (Dodge City. Wichita) John Seatvet [phone]

Heartland (Illinois) Amy Bradford [phone]

Iowa (Des Moines) Doug Reynolds [phone] Michigan

Mid-America (Indiana) Mike King [phone]

Midlands (Omaha) Stephanie Perry [phone]

Midsouth (Memphis) Bill Pittard [phone]

Missouri-Kansas, Steve Tomac [phone]

NAMA Cal (Los Angeles/San Diego)

NAMA Pacific (San Francisco/Sacramento) Bob Foiles [phone]

North Central (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Peter Rupert [phone]

Northern Prairie(Dakotas) Becky Peterson [phone] Ohio, Joe Monahan [phone]

Rocky Mountain (Denver) Tamara Arnold [phone]

Southeastern (Georgia) Judy Austin [phone]

Southwest (Dallas/Ft. Worth/Houston) Richard Potts [phone]

* Updated as chapter presidents are elected.

National Agri-Marketing Association 11020 King Street, Suite 205 Overland Park, KS 66210 E-mail: [e-mail] Web Site: www.nama.org