Cotton Incorporated, the producer and importer-funded research and promotion arm of the cotton industry, has named Kater Hake as its new vice president for agricultural research.

Hake, currently vice president for technology development at Delta and Pine Land Co., has served as an Extension cotton specialist in west Texas and was director of the National Cotton Council’s Cotton Physiology Education Program.

His appointment was announced at the NCC’s mid-year board of directors’ meeting in Memphis, Tenn. Hake was a speaker at the Cotton Council International portion of the NCC meeting.

“We are truly excited to have Kater on our staff,” said J. Berrye Worsham, president and CEO of Cotton Incorporated. “His in-depth knowledge of cotton will allow him to assist our efforts to build on cotton’s message of sustainability — a topic that continues to increase in importance with both consumers and retailers.”

Hake’s career in cotton spans three decades since receiving his bachelor of science degree in genetics from the University of California in 1975. He also earned a master of science degree in agronomy in 1977 and topped it off with a Ph.D. in plant biology in 1996, also from the University of California.

Hake is married to wife Stephanie and has a daughter, Kayley, and son, Davis, who works as a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C.