BEN LAMENSDORF has been unanimously elected chairman-elect of the board at the spring meeting of the board of directors of StaplCotn Cooperative Association and StaplCotn Discount Corporation.

Billy Percy, current board chairman, is not standing for re-election to the board at the conclusion of his term in September 2003 because he is no longer a full-time producer.

Percy, elected to the board in 1988, was named chairman in 1992. During his tenure, StaplCotn experienced significant growth in membership from 5,429 members in 1992 to over 12,000 members today. Annual cotton receipts, which were 1.7 million bales in 1992, reached a record 4.2 million bales in 2001.

Lamensdorf, a resident of Cary, Miss., has been farming for 44 years. He operates three plantations, consisting of 7,000 acres located in the Mississippi counties of Sharkey and Issaquena, where he produces cotton, soybeans, wheat and pecans. He owns and operates the Grundfest and Klaus Gin.

Lamensdorf graduated from Mississippi State University with a BS degree in agriculture in 1958. He has been a member of the StaplCotn board of directors since 1998.

In addition, he is currently chairman of the executive board of Delta Council and served as president in 2001-02; chairman of the board of the Bank of Anguilla; a board member of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life; a founder and board member of Delta Wildlife; a member of the Sharkey-Issaquena Soil & Water Commission; member of the board of the Anshe Chesed Temple in Vicksburg; and a former member of the Mississippi Forestry Commission from 1991 to 1998.

Lamensdorf and his wife, Betty, have a daughter, Deborah Jacobs of Atlanta, a son, Mike Lamensdorf of Cary, and five grandchildren.