The National Pork Board Friday formally announced its slate of newly-elected officers, installed at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa earlier this month.

Karen Richter, Montgomery, Minn., will lead the organization as President for the coming year.  She farms with her family on a 600-hog wean-to-finish operation and 3,000-gilt feeder-to-finish contract operation.

Richter succeeds Conley Nelson, Algona, Iowa, who will remain on the board's executive committee as immediate past president.

Karen Richter named National Pork Board President; will serve one-year term effective immediately

"There's never a short list of challenges in the livestock industry, but we continue to evolve our programs so that the pork products we provide and the way that we operate our farms improve to meet the needs of our customers, consumers and producers," Richter said.

Richter is in her second three-year term on the National Pork Board. She is joined by Dale Norton, Bronson, Mich., as vice president and Derrick Sleezer, Cherokee, Iowa, as treasurer. Each will serve one-year positions beginning immediately.

Norton is a partner in Kendale Farm, which is primarily a farrow-to-wean operation with 1,450 sows but also finishes about a third of the pigs, while Sleezer operates a farrow-to-finish, farrow-to-wean and farrow-to-feeder operation that has 700 sows and markets 15,000 hogs annually.

Source: National Pork Board