The National Beef Association has ratified a new constitution and the establishment of a new board. The new board will replace the review committee created in October 2011 to oversee a comprehensive re-organisation of the association.
Hamish McBean was elected as chairman of the NBA, having led the Review Committee for the last nine months.
“I am delighted that the NBA has moved through this period of transition and formed a new Board. It is a great honour that I have been elected as Chairman of that Board, and I look forward to taking the many recommendations received by the Review Committee and putting them into action over the year of my term" said McBean who is also a beef farmer from the Highlands.
Two other members of the former Review Committee will also sit on the new Board – Stephen Heenan, from Downpatrick, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, who will also serve as Vice Chairman, and Paul Westaway of Dymock, Gloucestershire.
Nick Davis of Llandrindod Wells, Powys will be the Welsh representative on the new Board, while the South West and Northern regional seats of England have been filled by John Hoskin of Dorchester, Dorset, and Bob Schofield of York respectively. Other regional seats will be filled in time, as well as the co-option of a representative for the beef breed societies. With Mr McBean as national chairman, Scotland has been offered an additional seat on the board, which will be filled by Jim Stewart of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, until the Board of the new Scottish Beef Association is formed.
At the next NBA Board meeting, which will be held in mid-September, the priority will be the creation of Rules to complement the new Articles of Association.
McBean says: “We’ve come a long way since October and this is a very exciting new era for the NBA, with plenty of new faces to take the organisation forward in the future.”
