The Memphis-based National Cotton Ginners Association elected David Blakemore, ginner from Campbell, Mo., to be its president for 2017during its annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The new slate of officers includes president – David Blakemore, Campbell, Mo.; first vice president – Stanley Creelman, Tulare, Calif.; second vice president – Wes Morgan, New London, N.C.; third vice president – Curtis Stewart, Spade, Texas; and chairman – Ron Craft, Plains, Texas. Harrison Ashley of Cordova, Tenn., serves as NCGA’s executive vice president.

Blakemore, who moves up from NCGA first vice president, is president of Blakemore Cotton & Grain, LLC which has interests in ginning, grain, fertilizer and trucking. An active leader in the U.S. cotton industry, Blakemore served as a Cotton Incorporated director from 1992-2002, as president of Cotton Producers of Missouri from 1994-1996, and as president of Southern Cotton Ginners Association in 1999.

In 2015, he was elected as a director of the National Cotton Council and currently serves as chairman of the NCC’s Flow Committee. Blakemore holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration in accounting, a Management Information Systems degree and an M.B.A. in Finance from Southeast Missouri State University.

Also announced at NCGA’s annual meeting was that Kent Fountain, managing partner of Southeastern Gin and Peanut in Surrency, Ga., and a tireless industry leader, is the 2016 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year.

In addition, Rick Byler, research leader at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Cotton Ginning Research Unit at Stoneville, Miss., is the recipient of NCGA’s 2016-17 Charles C. Owen Distinguished Service Award.