Winnipeg (Resource News International) — Southwestern Saskatchewan farmer Larry Hill has been elected the new chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board, after Ken Ritter stepped down from the position this week, the CWB confirmed Friday.
The election took place at a board of directors’ meeting on Thursday, said Maureen Fitzhenry, the CWB’s media relations manager.
Ritter, who farms in the Kindersley, Sask. area, had been chairman of the CWB since 1999. His tenure as a farmer-elected director had been set to expire in the fall of 2008 after his fourth term, with the onset of new farmer-representative elections, Fitzhenry said.
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Hill, who farms 4,300 acres near Swift Current, is a strong supporter of the CWB and its single marketing desk and has been on the CWB’s board of directors since 1999.
Hill has served as chair of the audit, risk and finance committee as well as chair of the ad-hoc committee on trade for the CWB. He is also the farmer-elected director for district 3, which covers southwestern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta.
Ritter became the CWB’s first elected farmer chairman when the governance of the 72-year-old CWB was overhauled to give farmers more control over the agency.
Western Canadian farmers elect 10 directors to the CWB board. The government of Canada appoints five, including the CWB’s CEO.
Fitzhenry said Ritter decided to step down before his term officially ends so a new chairman could begin at the same time as the agency’s new CEO, Ian White, who starts on March 31.
