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Consolidated Beef Producers CEO Resigns by David Bowser Consolidated Beef Producers is looking for a new CEO. Oklahoma cattleman and chairman of the CBP board of directors, Paul Hitch, said he has received a letter from Gary Kaplan serving notice that Kaplan would not seek renewal of his contract which expires Sept. 30. "I appreciate the job Gary has done in putting together a team and marketing over 250,000 cattle during CBP's short existence," Hitch said. "I wish Gary Kaplan the best in whatever new venture he undertakes, and Gary, in his letter, wishes the best for CBP." Hitch said the change shouldn't hurt CBP. "This is not in any way the end of CBP," Hitch said. "It's just the end of Gary Kaplan's tenure." Hitch said there is a staff in place, including two cattle buyers, and he expects operations to continue to grow. He said several hundred thousand head of cattle had been sold since CBP started marketing cattle the first of April. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association, who provides offices for CBP is expected to expand their administrative duties concerning CBP. Although the result of more than a decade of discussion, CBP became a reality last year when a group of cattle feeders from TCFA incorporated and began gathering commitments for the sale of cattle through a single source. Their initial target was 750,000, but they soon surpassed that. Following the physical organization of the group earlier this year, they began selling members' cattle in April. "It's not what I envisioned," Hitch said, "but it's moving that way." He said that everybody involved with CBP knows that it will take time. "It's a young organization," Hitch said. Hitch grinned as he said that most packers didn't immediately embrace the new organization, but that CBP's working relation with the packers has improved since the cattle marketing group started selling cattle. Hitch said CBP was not conceived as a big stick with which to beat the packers over the head. It was founded to work with packers, with feeders and with others in the beef industry to improve the entire production chain. "Everybody has to benefit," he says, "or we all suffer." |
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