The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has started the search for a new president and CEO to succeed Barry Carpenter, who will be retiring.
Carpenter was named president and CEO of NAMI on January 1, 2015, upon the completion of the merger of the American Meat Institute and the North American Meat Association (NAMA), where he had served as CEO since 2013.
He was named CEO of NAMA’s predecessor organization, the National Meat Association, in 2007 following his retirement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). During his distinguished 37-year career at USDA, Carpenter headed the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Livestock and Seed Division. He created the United States’ beef export verification program that was critical to reestablishing American beef exports following the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in 2003.
He also oversaw development and authorized video technology for beef yield and quality grading.
Carpenter has received numerous governmental awards, including Presidential Rank Awards from President Clinton and President Bush, an honor bestowed on less than one percent of senior career employees throughout the entire federal government. He has also received the National Meat Association’s prestigious E. Floyd Forbes Award for his contributions to the livestock and meat industry, as well as the pork industry’s Distinguished Service Award, and is a member of the Meat Industry Hall of Fame. Carpenter was raised on a multi-faceted farm in Central Florida that produced cattle, hogs, corn, peanuts and melons. He graduated in 1969 from the University of Florida with a B.S. in animal science.
Search for a successor
NAMI has retained the firm Raffa, Inc. to coordinate the search for Carpenter’s successor, and a CEO selection committee comprised of 10 members of the board of directors has been appointed to oversee the process and to conduct interviews.
NAMI aims to announce the new CEO by the spring of 2018 with an anticipated start date of July 1.
Carpenter will continue on the staff through 2018 to ensure a smooth transition
