2012 CEO Dennis Thompson Retires

Looking back, Dennis shared that “my tenure as CEO (1996-2012) occurred during unsettled times. The broad US agriculture food complex functioned in a high state of flux. On the global front, consumers, policymakers, regulatory bodies, consumers, traders, processors, and retailers grappled with whether to accept products developed by various means of biotechnology, repeatedly asking themselves if they should or could use these products for human food, animal feed, fiber, and industrial purposes. And if so, under what degree of oversight? Developing, understanding, and accepting science would have been difficult enough without an ongoing need to sort fact from fiction and sort out stakeholder’s feelings.”

Directly facing the rapid changes and challenges to the seed industry, with new ideas and unique efforts, allowed the association to navigate the new reality more orderly.