NAMA announces award winners.

NAMA has named two award winners, the Agribusiness Leader of the Year and the NAMA Marketer of the Year. Both awards will be presented at the 2006 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 19-21 in Kansas City.

George Thornton, president and CEO of Agriliance LLC will be presented with the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award, NAMA's highest honor. This award honors an outstanding leader in agribusiness, education, government service or other related areas.

Thornton joined Agriliance in 2001 and spent his first 12 months traveling throughout the country, listening to dealers and growers share ideas on products and services they most value in a supplier. With a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the company, Thornton has set clear goals for the organization, motivated his teams and given them the resources needed to achieve a dramatic turnaround in every facet of the company's business.

Under his leadership, Agriliance developed global crop nutrients supply connections, added a deep-water port at Galveston, Texas, introduced crop nutrients supply and price risk management tools, grew the company's Agronomy Production Specialist program, and increased sales of its proprietary brand of AgriSolutions[TM] crop protection products by roughly 16 percent annually.

Thornton is also committed to helping dealers strengthen their buying power and improve their local business bottom line through the formation of strategic alliances such as joint ventures or other partnerships.

Thornton is past president of Chemical Producers and Distributors Association (CPDA), a trade organization that advocates the interests of the generic crop production industry.

NAMA Marketer of the Year. NAMA recognizes its active members with senior management of marketing and/or sales responsibilities with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. This award is NAMA's most prestigious honor awarded to active members of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agrimarketing. This year, Tom Davis, Group Publisher of Meredith Corporation's Men's Brands, will receive this award.

Davis had the foresight to envision the major shifts taking place in the way information is distributed and consumed by readers. Not only has he continued to reinvest in Successful Farming magazine with a major redesign underway, but he has also been alert to the power of the internet by viewing Agriculture Online (Successful Farming's online presence) as a profit center of its own.

In 2002, Davis also oversaw the launch of Living the Country Life, a magazine conceived and developed to target the affluent rural/suburban acreage audience.

In addition, Davis negotiated an agreement with RFD-TV (26 million rural viewers) to develop a short program called "Living the Country Life." Davis served as President of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) from 1997-98. He received NAMA's R.C. Ferguson Award for Distinguished Service in 1991. He currently serves as vice president for the Agri-Business Educational Foundation (ABEF).