Candidate Information
Nominees For President Elect
(to serve three consecutive one-year terms as President Elect, President and Past President)
Davey B. Griffin
Associate Professor/Extension Meat Specialist, Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
AMSA Activities
AMSA Board, 2003-2005; PORK 101 Planning Committee, 2000-2008; 4-H Meat Judging Task Force, 2007-2010; PORK 100 Planning Committee, 2007-2010; Meat Judging Coaches, 2006-2007; Continuing Education Committee, 2002-2004; Extension-Industry Service Award Selection Committee, 2001-2002; Pork Quality Audit Committee, 2001-2002; Undergraduate Student Travel Award Committee, 1999-2002; Meat Evaluation Handbook Committee, 1999-2001; Intercollegiate Meat Coaches Association Executive Committee, 2000-2002; President, Intercollegiate Meat Coaches Association Executive, 2001; Committee,ICoMST Planning and Host Committee, 1999; 4-H National Meat Judging Committee; TAMU ; Meat Judging Team Faculty Coordinator; Professional member since 1989
Based on your experience with AMSA and your knowledge of the current state of meat science and the meat industry, what do you believe is the biggest challenge facing this association?
AMSA is faced with many of the same challenges as other professional organizations. Increased demands for revenue to offset rising operating budgets and member expectations as well as maintaining a visible presence as a credible source of unbiased information are going to continue to be topics of concern for every Board for the foreseeable future. I believe, however, that AMSA may have another challenge facing the organization that could be just as important. Since I have been a member of AMSA, education of the membership through sharing ideas, research findings, extension programming topics, meat judging concepts and other meat science related topics has been paramount. What has made AMSA different has been in the way this has been accomplished. The open family atmosphere at RMCs and essentially all other AMSA functions enhances camaraderie and cooperation in a way that is seldom repeated in other associations. As AMSA struggles to maintain and grow current membership numbers as one method to enhance its revenue stream, we must continue to strive to maintain those core values that endear us to this organization.
As a potential AMSA officer what would be the most important thing for the next Board of Directors to do?
I think there are two major things that any good Board of Directors must do: 1.) Encourage the membership to take ownership and run the majority of AMSA activities and 2.) Be honest, up front and transparent in all Board decisions and activities. The current Board as well as many before them have set the stage for the organization to function in exactly that manner. Many current members can certainly remember a few years back when AMSA was facing serious financial issues. The AMSA Board at that time had the unenviable task of making some very hard decisions, but when they presented the facts to the different AMSA groups, the membership as well as the meat judging group stepped forward to provide revenue savings and potential new revenue streams to put the organization back on more sound financial footing that's what makes AMSA the organization that it is!