Hall County school board vice chairman named president of U.S. Poultry & Egg Association
May 29—Nath Morris, vice chairman of the Hall County school board, has been named the next president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, according to a news release from the trade group.
Morris will succeed John Starkey, who will retire in August but remain as advisor through the end of the year.
He has been with USPOULTRY since 2014 and has served as its executive vice president since 2017, according to Morris's LinkedIn profile.
Morris has managed the association's trade show, the 22nd largest trade show in the country, according to Trade Show Executive magazine.
"I've been working with them directly for 10 years, but then kind of part of the group one way or the other in the trade show or serving on committees for, gosh, 30 years," Morris told The Times on Friday.
His ties to the association go back even farther than that.
"My dad's actual first job out of college in 1963 was working for the same organization," he said.
Morris said he's been involved in the poultry industry his entire life.
"I mean, every job I've ever had has been related to poultry, from selling eggs when I was 8 years old to working at a (egg) company loading trailers at 15," he said. "So it's been in my family, and it's been my whole career."
Morris's father Dale and grandfather Dank had distinguished careers in the industry. His father was the former president of Mar-Jac Poultry, a poultry processing plant headquartered in Gainesville.
Morris earned a bachelor's degree in poultry science from the University of Georgia in the 1980s. Since then, he has worked as a U.S. sales manager at Perdue Farms, territory manager at Aviagen's Arbor Acres, territory manager at Meyn Food Processing Technology in the U.S. and quality assurance manager at Seaboard Farms of Athens.
"Nath's experience in the industry, along with his leadership and management of the massive (International Production & Processing Expo) and familiarity with our other programs, will be a tremendous asset as U.S. Poultry & Egg Association continues to help shape the future of the poultry and egg industry," Jarod Morrison, chairman of USPOULTRY, said in the news release.
Morris has been a member of the Hall County school board for nearly 23 years, and he said his new role won't distract him from his elected duties.
"I'm continuing to focus on the school board," he said. "Of course, I've got this new position, too, but nothing's changing with my role (on the school board) at this point."
