Members reappointed to FAPC Industry Advisory Committee
By Mandy Gross
FAPC Communications Services Manager
(STILLWATER, Okla. – Sept. 21, 2010) Five members of the Industry Advisory Committee of Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center have been reappointed to the committee for a three-year term.
Gary Crane, Ralph’s Packing Co.; Danny Dupree, Bar-S Food Co.; Virgil Jurgensmeyer, J-M Farms; Rodger Kerr, Southwest Technology Center; and Bill Wiley, BC Solutions, will continue their services to the 16-member advisory committee.
“The Industry Advisory Committee offers counsel, makes decisions and takes leadership action to ensure the FAPC makes sound short- and long-term plans to accomplish its mission and objectives,” said Roy Escoubas, FAPC director. “We are glad to see the return of these members to the committee and looking forward to the next three years of their services.”
Crane, appointed by the president pro tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate, is the owner and chief executive of Ralph’s Packing Co., a family-owned meat-processing business in Perkins, Okla. Crane continues to grow his business and recently opened a new sales room, where demonstrations and other interactive customer activities help sell the company’s in-house made products.
Dupree, appointed by the governor of Oklahoma, is the vice president of operations for the Bar-S Food Co. in Oklahoma. He is responsible for all production activities for Bar-S, and he oversees the manufacture of more than 2 million pounds of finished food products per day and has been responsible for Bar-S to be listed as the No. 3 sausage/frankfurter manufacturer in the United States.
Jurgensmeyer, appointed by OSU’s vice president, dean and director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, is the chair of the board of J-M Farms in Miami, Okla. He re-located to Oklahoma in 1979 and has grown his mushroom business from a start-up business to a multi-million dollar business. Jurgensmeyer has been active in value-added mushroom product development and has been visionary with his satellite mushroom production business model.
Kerr, appointed by the president pro tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate, is the director of business and industry development at the Southwest Technology Center in Altus, Okla. In his position, Kerr has been successful in directing industry training and education programs through the Southwest Technology Center, allowing business stability and growth in the entire southwest Oklahoma area. Kerr, a broadly experiences agriculturalist, also owns and operates farming and beef production units.
Wiley, appointed by the speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, is the owner of BC Solutions, a privately held consulting firm with a consultative focus on transportation and logistics-related issues. A logistics professional with 30 years of industry experience, Wiley serves the Oklahoma and national food industries as a refrigerated foods logistics consultant.
The FAPC has the privilege of oversight by this committee of Oklahoma agricultural and business leaders, appointed by the highest positions of Oklahoma state government, Escoubas said.
“Through the visionary leadership of certain state representatives and senators, such as Sens. Bruce Price, Paul Muegge and Bob Kerr and Rep. M.C. Leist, State Statute 2-5-60 was established in 1997 to provide an advisory committee for the FAPC,” Escoubas said.
In addition to Crane, Dupree, Jurgensmeyer, Kerr and Wiley, members of the committee include Gary Conkling, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill; Dick Davis, Agri-Services, Oklahoma Department of Corrections; John Griffin, Griffin Foods; David Howard, Unitherm Food Systems; Tommy Kramer, Durant Economic Development Authority; David McLaughlin, Advance Food Co.; Allen Mills, Reasor’s; Paul Schatte, Head Country Food Products; Jill Stichler, Redland Juice Co.; John Williams, Chef’s Requested Foods; and Robert Whitson, ex-officio, OSU vice president, dean and director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
For more information about the FAPC or its Industry Advisory Committee, call 405-744-6071 or visit www.fapc.biz.
- ### -
Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant system that cuts across disciplines to better prepare students for success. Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, OSU improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. OSU has more than 35,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 23,000 on its Stillwater campus, with students from all 50 states and 118 nations. Established in 1890, OSU has graduated more than 200,000 students who have made a lasting impact on Oklahoma and the world.
