<b>By DOUG SCHMITZ<br>
Iowa Correspondent</b> </p><p>

DES MOINES, Iowa — In a surprise move that has caught some in the Des Moines, Iowa-based organization off guard, the National Pork Board’s (NPB) first-ever CEO has resigned, his 15-member board announced last Friday.</p><p>
“You don’t get many opportunities to create new businesses or organizations,” wrote Steve Murphy, 57, who was hired in 2001 as the NPB’s CEO, which was created when a court-approved settlement with the USDA ended the National Pork Producer Council’s role as general contractor for the pork checkoff programs overseen by the NPB.</p><p>
“It takes a lot of committed people to share a vision, to challenge conventional wisdom, to look beyond today’s problems, to try new things,” he wrote. “I think we, as a team and as an industry, have been very successful.”</p><p>
A trained pharmacist with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Purdue University, Murphy said “it’s time for new leadership” for the NPB, which was established in 1986 with only two employees. “But it also takes a lot of energy and it can take a lot out of people,” he wrote. “I think that is why it makes sense now for the board to take stock of where it wants to go next, and then to determine how it wants to get there.”</p><p>
As CEO, Murphy has been responsible for implementing the budget as approved by the board and the USDA, communicating with United States pork producers and overseeing staff as they conducted pork checkoff-funded programs identified by producer priority systems.</p><p>
As a business executive with broad experience in strategic planning, business and product development, and sales and marketing management, his background includes electronic information and Internet industry credentials, and extensive entrepreneurial experience, as well as 10 years of executive sales and marketing leadership for a national brand seed company.</p><p>
Prior to being hired as the NPB’s CEO, Murphy served as president and chief operating officer of AgWeb.com, Inc., where he was responsible for the consolidation strategy of existing assets as well as the business development, sales and marketing and technology oversight of the new venture.</p><p>
In addition, Murphy was a vice president for Data Broadcasting Corp. and president of its AgCast Division, where he was responsible for securing capital funding for the venture, formulating its business plan, assembling the management team and directing product development.</p><p>
Lynn Harrison, NPB president and an Elk Mound, Wis., pork producer, said the board “reluctantly” accepted Murphy’s resignation but asked him to continue until the board could find a successor – a process, Harrison added, that could take up to a year.</p><p>
“Steve is, in effect, the only CEO the National Pork Board has had,” he said.</p><p>
“Over the last six years, Steve has built an organization that is the envy of agricultural commodity and other trade organizations. We admire the work he has done and thank him for helping us become a board that is now fully prepared to take charge of its destiny.</p><p>
“He has melded pork producer leadership with a talented and dedicated staff to create an organization that is issues-driven and results oriented,” he said. “If I had to sum it up, I’d say he has pushed us to be better than we thought we could be.”</p><p>
Harrison said Murphy has been a visionary who’s “a step or two ahead of us,” which would be important as the board selects its next CEO. “I know that as volunteer board members who have our own businesses to run that we have learned to think more about strategic vision – to see beyond today’s challenges to tomorrow’s opportunities,” he said.</p><p>
“That ability will be important as we search for a successor and as we continue to make decisions to improve profit opportunities for all U.S. pork producers. We have some difficult decisions ahead, including how we structure ourselves and our producer committees to continue our success.”