Bo Reagan, Senior Vice President, Research, Education & Innovation
JAMES O. REAGAN, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research, Education and Innovation
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Dr. Reagan grew up on a cattle and sheep operation in Lampasas, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University where he received his BS, MS and Ph.D. in Animal Science/Meat Science.
He served a 16-year tenure at the University of Georgia (UGA) where he attained the rank of Professor of Meat Science in the department of Animal Sciences. Reagan has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific publications in the areas of food microbiology and beef and pork quality. He was the recipient of the UGA’s “Creative Research” award which is presented by the Vice President of Research as well as the “Meat Processing” Award from the American Meat Science Association. Dr. Reagan has also received the “Outstanding Research Faculty” award from Sigma Chi as well as an award for the “Top Ten” grant recipients in the College of Agriculture.
In 1991, he joined the National Live Stock & Meat Board as a Director of Research with responsibilities in the areas of product enhancement and beef safety. He served as the staff coordinator for the industry’s Blue Ribbon Task Force which was charged with developing an industry blueprint for addressing the issues associated with E. coli O157:H7. Following the merger, Dr. Reagan was named Executive Director of Science & Technology for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The strong research program developed under his guidance has resulted in numerous significant contributions to the beef industry in the areas of beef quality, customer satisfaction, beef safety and beef cattle genomics.
Dr. Reagan managed the beef industry’s Genome Mapping project which identified over 400 quality-related markers. Currently, over fifty of the markers are being validated across 13 different breeds of cattle. Reagan has also served as a member of the research team for the Carcass Merit project which is being managed by NCBA staff under his direct supervision. He has served as the Executive Director and Co-Leader for NCBA’s Center for Research and Technical Services, and in December 2002, Dr. Reagan was named Vice President of the NCBA Research and Knowledge Management Center.