Leadership
Scott George
NCBA President
Scott George is a second generation dairy farmer from Cody, Wyoming. Scott's parents homesteaded in Cody in 1947 and established the George Dairy in 1954. Although primarily devoted to the dairy industry, Scott and brothers Arley and Lynn are also involved in cow/calf production. He and his brothers also have the American Breeders Service dealership in Cody. Together they conduct custom AI programs, breeding several thousand beef cattle each year. The Georges are also forage producers, raising all of the corn silage and earlage and the majority of hay required to feed their beef and dairy herds.
Scott attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah as a student in the school’s nationally acclaimed dairy program. He also completed a two-year mission for the LDS church traveling northern Texas before returning to the dairy where he has worked full time since 1977. Locally, he has been an active member of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation where he served as chairman of the General Issues Committee. In addition, he has been involved with the Wyoming Beef Council, both as a Council member and national director to the Federation of State Beef Councils since 1991. Scott is a recent past chairman of the Federation’s Youth Education and Information Subcommittee and was the Federation’s Region V Vice President in 2008. He has also served on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee and the Audit Committee. He has served as the Federation Division Vice-Chairman and Chairman.
Scott has been an influential supporter of the beef checkoff program. In Wyoming, he has traveled the state speaking to hundreds of beef producers about the accomplishments of the beef checkoff. Scott is committed to sharing his belief that the beef checkoff program is a crucial entity that all segments of the industry should rally around because the program benefits each and every producer.
Scott and wife Debra have nine children between them, including the youngest, Jillian, who still lives at home.
Bob McCan
NCBA President-Elect
Bob McCan of Victoria, Texas, oversees the cattle operations and recreational hunting and wildlife operations for his family’s company, McFaddin Enterprises, Ltd. in Victoria, Refugio, and Bee Counties. The ranches are stocked with Victoria cattle, a commercial cross-bred of three-fourths Hereford and one fourth Brahman with a uniform Hereford coloring.
McCan was born in Victoria County on October 16, 1957. He graduated from public high school in 1975. After spending his freshman year at Victoria College, he transferred to Texas A&M University in College Station and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Range Science in 1980.
McCan was appointed to the board of Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association in 1990. In 1999, he was named second vice-president of the Association and in 2003 he became president of TSCRA. Some of the accomplishments McCan is most proud of during his tenure there were organizing the association’s long range strategic planning process and creating a partnership stewardship award program between TSCRA and the Society for Range Management Texas section to honor Texas ranchers for their stewardship achievements.
During his tenure as president, TSCRA received an award for their leadership role along with Texas Beef Council and Texas A&M Extension Service on creating the Texas Beef Quality Assurance training program.
In 1995, Governor George Bush appointed McCan to serve on the Fire Ant Research and Management Account Advisory Committee. He was then elected chairman of this state committee. Under his leadership, McCan was responsible for helping coordinate research efforts for controlling the red imported fire ant between Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, and The University of Texas.
Since 1993, McCan served on the National Cattleman’s Beef Association board. He served as vice chairman of the Private Lands and Environment Committee. From 2005 through 2008, he served as a regional vice president for NCBA and served on the Executive Committee during this time.
McCan has also taken an active role with the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, serving as the state chairman on two separate tenures over the past fifteen years. GLCI is an organization founded by grassroots producers in an effort to re-establish technical assistance for range land producers and grazing managers and also to help provide education to grazing land managers. Under the leadership of McCan and many others in Texas, this coalition effort has been very successful in increasing technical assistance for ranchers.
In 2001, McCan was given the outstanding Rangeland Management Award for the State of Texas by the Society for Range Management. In 2007, he received the Lone Star Land Stewardship Award for the Gulf Prairies and Marshes region by Texas Parks and Wildlife Agency.
From 1995 to 2008, McCan served as chairman of the local Victoria Soil and Water Conservation District where he and other board members oversee the many different state and federal conservation programs. During his leadership tenure, the Soil and Water District of Victoria received an award for being the top soil and water district office in the state.
Governor Rick Perry appointed McCan to serve on the Farm and Ranch Land Conservation Council in 2006. Then in 2008, the Governor appointed him to serve on the Coastal Coordination Council of Texas.
McCan has served as a director for the First Victoria National Bank since 1997. He also serves on the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management Council, which oversees a ranch management graduate degree program at Texas A&M University in Kingsville.
One accomplishment Bob and his wife, Julie, are most proud of are their two children, Robert August and Mary Isabel. The children are the sixth generation of their family to work on the McFaddin Ranch.
Don Pemberton
NCBA Vice President
Don Pemberton works for his family’s cattle business, Fox Creek Cattle Company, located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Fox Creek is an order buying firm that buys cattle throughout the Southeast. They also have a cattle backgrounding and stocker operation.
Don has served the beef industry at the county, state, and national levels. He has been NCBA’s Region I Policy Vice President, served on NCBA’s Executive Committee since 2008, and has been on NCBA’s Policy Board of Directors since 2007. He has also served on various NCBA committees and was a Young Cattlemen’s Conference participant in 2004.
Don is the past president of the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association and has been a member of their board since 1999. He has served on the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Foundation Board of Trustees since 2007. He is also a member of the Christian County Cattlemen’s Association.
Don worked for Schering-Plough Animal Health for 14 years. He held various positions of increasing responsibility including Territory Sales Representative, Feedlot Specialist, Regional Sales Manager, and National Accounts Manager. Numerous awards received over his career include National Account Manager of the Year, Regional Manager of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.
Don currently serves on the Board of Directors for Integrated Traceability Services, a company that provides identification and traceability services for stocker cattle.
Don grew up in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks where his family has a cow/calf, stocker, and a livestock order buying business, Richland Livestock, LLC.
Don Pemberton graduated from Drury College located in Springfield, Missouri, with a double major in Business Administration and Economics. Upon graduation, he entered Drury’s graduate program and received his Masters of Business Administration. Don and his wife, Laurie, have two children Carson and Chase.
J.D. Alexander
2013 Past President
J.D. Alexander, a cattleman from Pilger, Nebraska, owns Alexander Cattle & Farms, a 2,000 acre corn/soybean/alfalfa farm that markets approximately 15,000 head of cattle per year. He has owned Alexander Cattle & Farms since 1984.
Alexander is a 1975 graduate of South Dakota State University with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics. While at SDSU, he was a member of the Jackrabbit football team from 1971 to 1974, and served as Captain in 1974. Between 1975 and 1984, Alexander held two positions with FMC Corporation Ag Chemicals Division: he was a Sales Representative in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska from 1975 to 1980, and he was a Sales Manager in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana from 1980 to 1984.
Upon returning to the family operation in 1984, J.D. was selected as a member of the two-year Nebraska LEAD program. He became very active in cattle industry organizations at the local, state and national levels.
The 1990s was a busy decade for Alexander. He participated in NCBA's Young Cattlemen's Conference in 1991. He was appointed to serve on the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board from 1992 to 1998. During his terms on the CBB, he served on the Domestic Marketing Subcommittee from 1993 to 1994, was Administrative Subcommittee Vice Chairman in 1995, and Administrative Subcommittee Chairman from 1996 to 1998. He also served on the CBB Executive Committee from 1996 to 1998, as well as the Joint Beef Industry Nominating Committee in 1998.
Alexander was a member of the National Beef Industry Planning Group from 2000-2001. In 2001 he served as President of the Nebraska Cattlemen and that year was elected to the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement. In addition, he has participated in trade missions in several countries in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.
J.D. was a founding member of the Wisner-Pilger Community Schools Foundation, serving as its President for over ten years. He currently serves as a Bank Director for both Midwest Banks in Pierce, Nebraska and United Republic Bank in Omaha, Nebraska.
J.D. is serving as 2012 President of NCBA. He is past-chairman of the Federation Division and has served on numerous NCBA committees. In his home state, Alexander is a member of the Nebraska Beef Council.
Alexander and his wife, Debra, have two children: Joshua and Kesa. Like their parents, they are both graduates of South Dakota State University.
.jpg)
Richard Gebhart
NCBA Federation Division Chairman
Richard Gebhart is a fourth generation cattleman and owns Beacon Hill Ranch, which has been a family-owned Hereford operation in northeastern Oklahoma since 1909. He has been an active volunteer leader in the industry for many years, at the local, state and national levels.
Nationally, he is a member of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, a Federation director and vice chair of the Joint Issues Management Subcommittee. He is certified in Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and a graduate of the Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA), both of which are national producer-oriented education programs.
Gebhart is the current vice-chair and former treasurer of the Oklahoma Beef Council. He is a board member of the Rogers County Cattlemen’s Association and is a former director and lifetime member of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association. Gebhart has long been active in Hereford breed activities. He is a recipient of the Golden Hereford Breeder Award, a past president of the Oklahoma Hereford Association and a lifetime member of the American Hereford Association.
He was chair of the Junior National Hereford Expo in 2009 and has served as a superintendent for both junior and open Hereford shows at the Tulsa and Oklahoma state fairs. He is the current chairman of the Tulsa State Fair Junior Livestock Auction and current treasurer of the Rogers County Fair Board.
In addition to his ranching operation, Gebhart is professor of operations management and director of assessment in the Collins College of Business at the University of Tulsa (TU). He is a retired U.S. Army colonel and holds a law degree from TU; an MBA from Syracuse; a master’s degree in agricultural economics/animal science from Mississippi State University; and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas.
Cevin Jones
NCBA Federation Division Vice Chairman
Cevin Jones is a cattle feeder from Eden, Idaho, operating Intermountain Beef, a full-service, custom feedlot.
Jones grew up on a family feedlot and farming operation and is a graduate of Boise State University. He has been involved with and dedicated to the beef industry his entire life. He is chairman of the Idaho Beef Council Board of Directors, and serves on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, where he has represented the Federation of State Beef Councils since 2010. From 2006-2009 Jones was the NCBA Federation Region V vice-president, representing fellow cattlemen in Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
In addition, Jones served on the NCBA Board of Directors from 2002-2004, and has been a member of the NCBA International Markets Committee. He has been on the U.S. Meat Export Federation Board of Directors since 2011.
In 2008 Jones was awarded the Idaho Cattle Feeder of the Year award by the Idaho Cattle Association (ICA). He served as president of the ICA in 2004, as well as on ICA’s Executive Committee, Board of Directors and numerous ICA committees. He has been inducted into the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame.
.jpg)
Philip Ellis
NCBA Policy Division Chairman
Philip Ellis is a fifth-generation rancher who stewards a family business and range resources that his ancestors settled on Bear Creek in southeast Wyoming in the 1880s. Currently the majority owner and managing member of Marsh and Ellis Ranch, LLC., he has grown the operation and evolved from a Hereford seedstock and summer yearling operation to a commercial cow/calf and stocker operation over the last 20 years.
Ellis began volunteering in the cattle industry more than 30 years ago, starting with Laramie County Stock Growers Association. He has been active in the Wyoming Stock Growers Association where he has served on committees and as committee chairman. Ellis was elected WSGA Second Vice President from 1996 to 1998, served as First Vice President from 2001 to 2003, and then President from 2003 to 2005.
As a WSGA officer, Ellis served on the NCBA Board of Directors from 2001 through 2005 and became active on the Ag Policy Committee, where he continues to serve as a member. He has also served as NCBA’s Region V Vice President of the Policy Division and on the NCBA Executive Committee.
Ellis is a graduate of the University of Wyoming. Before returning to the ranch full time in 1987, he worked as a farm and ranch lender in Cheyenne, Wyo., for several years. He has served as President of Chugwater Economic Development, Inc. and the Platte County (WY) Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Oregon Trail Bank and Chairman of the Chugwater Valley Church Council.
Craig Uden
NCBA Policy Division Vice Chairman
A fourth-generation cattleman from Elwood, Neb., Craig Uden has always been active in helping shape the ever-challenging and ever-changing beef industry. He believes in giving back to an industry that has been good to him, and while he has stepped aside from the day to day management, he still enjoys buying and selling cattle and his customer relations title, because it is the relationships that are built in the cattle industry that make this business so rewarding. People work toward a common goal to improve and learn so that their industry is sustainable for future generations.
Craig is a partner in Darr Feedlot Inc., a commercial cattle feeding operation in central Nebraska. Craig and his wife, Terri, also own and manage three commercial cow-calf operations. They have a daughter, Blair, who is involved in agribusiness and a son, Andrew, currently an Animal Science/Ag Business major at the University of Nebraska with a B.S. degree in Animal Science.
Craig graduated from the University of Nebraska. He has been involved with NCBA since the mid 1980s and has been involved with several committees throughout the organization, currently finishing his term as chairman of the Research, Education and Innovation group. Starting his seventh year and currently president of the Nebraska Beef Council, Craig has been elected to the NCBA Federation Division Board for the fifth time. He has been involved in a number of functions on a local and state basis, including past chairman and elder of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington, Nebraska, the board of the Dawson County Ag Society, member and past chair of the Dawson County Cattlemens, and a 4-H leader. Along with serving on the Nebraska Beef Council, Craig has served on the Nebraska Cattlemens Board of Directors as a committee chairman and vice chairman, the Nebraska Cattlemens Research & Education Foundation, and involved in Nebraska Feedlot Council. Craig is also a member of Nebraska Ag Builders and sits on the Foundation Board of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity.
Dave True
NCBA Treasurer
Dave True is the Managing Member of True Ranches, LLC, a Wyoming family-owned, integrated agricultural operation located in the eastern third of the state. True Ranches runs seven cow calf operations, two farms and two feedlots. Over the years, Dave has been involved with many livestock industry organizations including the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Wyoming Beef Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the Cattlemen's Beef Board. Incrementally, he spent eight years on the Cattle-Fax Board, serving as President in 2004. Dave began his service with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in 1977. He has served on NCBA’s Board of Directors, various committees, and as Treasurer during his tenure. In addition to his agricultural-related endeavors, Dave, along with other family members, is engaged in the oil and gas industry through several enterprises such as True Oil, True Drilling, Black Hills Trucking and Toolpushers Supply. The family is also involved in community banking, with Dave serving as chairman of the board of their family owned financial institution.
Dave’s years of service have earned recognitions from Wyoming Game and Fish, the Casper Chamber of Commerce, the University of Wyoming, Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame, Sigma Chi Fraternity and the National Western Stock Show. Dave is married to Melanie Jackman, and they have four children.