Delta Council President Al Rankins announced Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas will be the keynote speaker for the 81st annual meeting of Delta Council. Members will meet at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on the Delta State University Campus in Cleveland, Miss., at 10:30 a.m., May 20.

“We are so pleased that our friend from Kansas, Jerry Moran, will be the featured speaker for this year's Delta Council annual meeting," said Rankins, a retired businessman and elected official from Greenville. "Senator Moran has been to the Delta several times to meet with us over the years and has a passion for rural development and job creation issues."

Moran was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and is a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee. Since joining the Senate, Moran has been a leading advocate for issues related to entrepreneurship, job creation, and innovation.

“We have known Senator Moran since he was a leader in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Agriculture Committee. After moving to the Senate, he has ascended into an extremely prominent position, chairing the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee,” said Gibb Steele, chairman of the Delta Council Rice and Small Grains Committee.

“Chairman Moran has been to the Delta many times in his capacity as Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman, and he has weighed in heavily on our behalf on several matters since passage of the 2014 Farm Bill."

Prior to his service in the Senate, Moran served Kansas in the "Big First" Congressional District for seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as eight years in the Kansas State Senate – spending the last two as Majority Leader.

Moran attended Fort Hays State University and later, the University of Kansas, where he received both an undergraduate degree and a juris doctorate. 

In addition to the keynote by Senator Moran, Delta Council will honor more than 140 high school seniors as Delta Honor Graduates with the ceremony beginning at 9:00 a.m., located ‘under the tent’ next to the Bologna Performing Arts Center.

Dignitaries will welcome the Honor Graduates, their families, and school officials, to the annual meeting of Delta Council and present them with engraved certificates recognizing them as 2016 Honor Graduates. The top Honor Graduate will be selected by higher education officials and be presented a $2,500 scholarship during the 10:30 a.m. business session.

“The Delta Honor Graduate event is designed to raise the level of awareness of parents, teachers, and our local communities of the importance of bringing these bright young minds back to the Delta after they have completed their formal and advanced education,” said Cass Pennington of Indianola, who serves as chairman of the Delta Council Education and Health Policy Committee.

The tradition of a fried catfish luncheon will conclude the program for the 81st annual event on the grounds of the Quadrangle on the Delta State University Campus.

Sponsors for the 81st Annual Meeting include: BankPlus, Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, Cotton, Incorporated, Sanders, Inc., Mississippi Corn Promotion Board, Mississippi Rice Promotion Board, Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, and Southern Ag Credit/Mississippi Land Bank.

To learn more about the Delta Council, visit http://deltacouncil.org.