Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award
George Thornton, President & CEO of Agriliance LLC, was presented with the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award, NAMA’s highest honor, at the Opening General Session of the 2006 Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show in Kansas City on April 20.

This award honors an outstanding leader in agribusiness, education, government service or other related areas.

Thornton is committed to helping dealers strengthen their buying power and improve their local business bottom line through the formation of strategic alliances such as joint ventures or other partnerships. Overall, emphasis on strategic alliances has sparked development of 15 joint ventures, strategic partnerships, crop nutrients hub plants and other innovative business relationships designed to reduce costs and improve distribution efficiencies.

Thornton is past president of Chemical Producers and Distributors Association (CPDA), a trade organization that advocates the interests of the generic crop production industry. As CEO of North America’s largest full line agronomic supply company, he fully supports involvement in industry groups by Agriliance team members. Members of the Agriliance team hold leadership positions in many organizations, including RAPID, CropLife magazine’s PACE dealer advisory panel, The Fertilizer Institute, the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and multiple state industry associations.

NAMA Marketer of the Year
Tom Davis, Group Publisher of Meredith Corporation’s Men’s Brands, was presented with the NAMA Marketer of the Year Award during the Second General Session at the 2006 Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show on April 20 in Kansas City.

This award is the most prestigious honor awarded to an active member of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing. Nominees are solicited from agribusiness and related companies with overall marketing and/or sales responsibilities.

Tom Davis had the foresight to envision the major shifts taking place in the way information is distributed and consumed by readers. Not only has he continued to reinvest in Successful Farming magazine with a major redesign underway, but he has also been alert to the power of the internet by viewing Agriculture Online (Successful Farming’s online presence) as a profit center of its own, capable of a presence both supportive and supporting of print, but also able to function at another level entirely.

In 2002, Davis also oversaw the launch of Living the Country Life, a magazine conceived and developed to target the affluent rural/suburban acreage audience.

Davis served as President of NAMA from 1997-98. He received NAMA’s R.C. Ferguson Award for Distinguished Service in 1991. He is a past president of the American Business Media-Agri Council, is one of the founders of the Agricultural Media Summit and has received its prestigious “Vision” award. He currently serves as vice president for the Agri-Business Educational Foundation (ABEF), and is the vice grand president for the Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. Davis is also a member of the FFA Foundation Sponsors.

For more information on these awards and the winners visit, http://www.nama.org/awards/awards-index.html.