The recipients for the Agribusiness Leader and NAMA Marketer of the Year awards were honored during the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference.

Agribusiness Leader of the Year
Dale R. Ludwig, executive director/CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, was presented with the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award, NAMA’s highest honor, at the Opening General Session of the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference in Dallas on April 12.

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

Ludwig is a visionary leader with a proven record of building coalitions to improve Missouri agriculture. He helped forge producer/agribusiness partnerships that have positioned Missouri as a leader in biodiesel production. In addition, he pioneered the effort to identify new traits in soybeans through biotechnology and helped re-position the U.S. soybean commodity with competitive advantages over global competitors.

A known and trusted individual among the Missouri congressional delegation, Ludwig helped convince Congress to pass the biodiesel tax credit, a federal incentive driving biodiesel’s growth. Ludwig’s ability to work toward solutions for soybean producers distinguishes him as one of the true champions of the biodiesel effort. Ludwig’s relentless support for biotechnology led to the cooperation between USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and private institutions to create a new paradigm of synergy in the plant-based biotechnology arena.

NAMA Marketer of the Year
Phil Johnson, Chief Operating Officer at Colle+McVoy, was presented with the NAMA Marketer of the Year Award during the Second General Session at the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference on April 12 in Dallas.

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.

Phil Johnson has become an expert at taking the status quo and making it better. Whether he’s revitalizing a stagnant brand, reorganizing a business group or providing a struggling subsidiary with the resources needed to gain the confidence to succeed, Johnson is a vital part of maximizing nearly every challenge he encounters, to the benefit of his clients, his company and those who work around him. Johnson’s philosophy is simple. He uses a straight-forward equation to get the results that put his clients at the forefront of the agricultural industry: Relationships + Rigor = Results. Utilizing this equation to dig into a customer’s business and understand it from the ground up takes a huge amount of work and commitment, and is the key to successfully acquiring and keeping clients.

As a principal at Colle+McVoy for 20 years, Johnson has provided the leadership and encouragement needed to offer exceptional client service and innovative marketing solutions. Celebrating his 20th anniversary as a member and leader of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), Johnson has served as a director and president of the North Central Chapter and chaired awards program committees from the Midlands and North Central chapters. He successfully chaired the NAMA Issues Forum committee in September, 1998, and received the Outstanding Chair award in 1999 for his leadership.

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