2024 Board of Director Elections

Chris Redding grew up in Randolph County where he currently resides with his wife, Nicole, and their two daughters, Madelyn and Natalie. Chris began raising hogs 13 years ago when he and his wife purchased the operation from a neighbor that was retiring from the hog business. He has been raising gilts for Smithfield for the last couple of years.

Chris is a third-generation beef cattle farmer and first-generation hog farmer. He has always been passionate about farming, even as a little boy he would help on the cattle farm. He hopes to pass his passion down to his girls by raising them on the farm and involving them when possible.

Chris and his family attend a local church where he is on the Cemetery Committee and is actively involved in the yearly disabled deer hunt that his church hosts. Chris is looking forward to serving the pork community using his knowledge and experience in farming.

Hunter Thomas is running for a second term on the NC Pork Council Board of Directors. He also serves on the NC Pork Council conference and producer education committee, promotions and outreach committee, research committee and scholarship committee.

Hunter is a grower from Timberlake. He graduated from NC State University with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture science. After graduation, he returned to his family farm where he works alongside his father, uncle and cousin. Together they raise corn, wheat, soybeans, tobacco, and have an independent 350-sow farrow-to-finish hog operation.

Hunter serves on the Person County Ag Advisory Committee and is a board member of the Person County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Ted Allen is running for a second term on the NC Pork Council Board of Directors. He also serves on the NC Pork Council promotions and outreach committee and scholarship committee. Ted is a partner at his family farm, Jack Allen Farms, Inc., in Winterville. He has spent his career on the farm with his dad, uncle and cousin.

In addition to hogs, the family raises tobacco, sweet potatoes, peanuts, cotton, corn and soybeans. Ted manages the farm’s Smithfield-contracted sow, wean-to-finish, and finisher floor operation in Pitt, Greene and Beaufort counties. His participation in various Smithfield pilot projects focused on environment sustainability has allowed him to further his personal commitment to good stewardship.

Ted says participation in the NCSU CALS Leadership Program has been a highlight of his off-farm leadership experiences. He enjoys attending and coaching his children’s softball and volleyball games as well as going to livestock shows and camping adventures with his wife and three daughters.

Jimmy Pollock has spent much of his time on the family farm. He has always had a strong interest in agriculture and the meat industry. Jimmy attended Jones County schools and furthered his education at NC State University where he received his bachelor’s degree and his master’s degree in animal science. During his career, he has been employed by the NC Department of Agriculture, the Agricultural Extension Service and by private industry. While working with the NC Cooperative Extension Service as a livestock agent, he coached and mentored many young men and women across the state on various livestock judging teams.

Jimmy has worked for 34 years with JC Howard Farms as Head of Swine Production and raises pigs across North Carolina and Alabama through his farms W&P Farms and Pollock Family LLC. Upon entering the private swine industry, he became more involved with the NC Pork Council. Over the years, Jimmy has served on numerous committees and served as President of Council in 1993. On the national level, he served as a representative to the National Pork Federation Council and was appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to the National Pork Board. He has received numerous honors and accolades for his dedication to the pork industry and livestock programs including NC Pork All American, Man of the Year of the Lenoir County Livestock Association, and NC Livestock Advisory Committee. Jimmy is married to Daphne, and they have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Mark Hairr grew up on a Sampson County farm where they raised pigs, cows and row crops. His family sold out of the pig business in the late 1980s and Mark saved money from summer jobs and bought back in during the summer of 1991. He started with 10 gilts and two boars and expanded to about 80 sows before making the decision to leave the family farm and seek a career with one of the local integrators. After high school, Mark enrolled in the swine management technology program at James Sprunt Community College.

He graduated with an associate degree in March 1995 and began his career with Browns of Carolina as a technician on a sow farm in Faison. He has been with the company through several mergers over the past 28 years and has held various positions in the organization. Currently, Mark is Production Director for Smithfield Hog Production and is responsible for approximately 120,000 sows farrow to wean in northeastern North Carolina. He lives on a small farm in Sampson County with his wife and two children where they grow hay, cows, and a small amount of row crops. Mark also serves on the NC Pork Council awards committee.

Bill Jordan is currently serving a one-year appointment on the NC Pork Council Board of Directors. He also serves on the NC Pork Council conference and producer education committee. Bill is a native of Sampson County and has a family history of farming. His maternal grandfather was a crop and livestock farmer, and his father raised cattle for a number of years. Bill has a strong commitment and work ethic, stemming from working on a hog and cattle operation while attending high school, also while furthering his education at Sampson Community College where he earned a degree in animal science.

Bill has worked for Hog Slat, Inc. and TDM Farms for 11 years. Currently, he is a Sow Service Manager for TDM. He has been trained in numerous other areas of the company. In addition to working for Hog Slat and TDM, he is also a contract grower for Butterball with 12 turkey houses. Bill has been a participant in the NC Pork Council Pork Leadership Carolina program.

He and his wife Katlyn have two young sons, Henry and Harvey. Bill’s dedication to his career and farming operation is something he would like to pass along to his sons. Bill and his family are members of Grove Park Baptist Church.

Zeke McCullen, IV is running for a second term on the NC Pork Council Board of Directors. He also serves on the NC Pork Council awards committee and promotions and outreach committee. Zeke is a fourth-generation farmer from Clinton who grew up farming with his father and grandfather. He owns and operates McCullen Livestock LLC, which consists of 16 finishing floors and a 700 cow-calf operation. In addition, Zeke grows, harvests and bales hay for his cows and markets any excess hay. He also manages his family’s swine operation that includes 18 finishing floors on contract with Prestage Farms, Inc.

Zeke and his wife, Natalie, are parents to Hugh and Holt. One of Zeke’s major life goals is working extremely hard each day with the hope of instilling an appreciation and love of farming in his children.

Bill Prestage of Clinton works at Prestage Farms, currently as accounting manager for the NC operations. Growing up in his family’s business, he started working on a sow farm as a teenager, followed by summer internships in departments throughout the business:  AI Center, loading crews, swine servicing, maintenance and the feed mill. Bill graduated from NC State University in 2020, earning Bachelor of Science degrees in animal science and poultry science with minors in feed milling, nutrition, and ag business. Out of college, he moved to Iowa to work with Prestage Foods of Iowa. At the processing plant, he worked in various departments including operations, shipping, maintenance, human resources, sales and financial analysis. Since returning to Prestage Farms in North Carolina, Bill has worked as a finishing serviceman and sow farm manager before taking on his current accounting role.

Earlier this year he participated in the Pork Leadership Institute, the comprehensive training program conducted by NPPC and NPB. In his spare time, Bill enjoys quail and duck hunting, offshore fishing, and weightlifting. Bill says he’s running to serve on the NCPC board of directors because “pork production is so important to this state and especially the region where I live. I want to support the Pork Council in helping keep the industry strong for all of us.”

Samantha Raynor pursued her bachelor’s degree in large animal science with a concentration in swine from Delaware Valley University in 2007. Quickly realizing her passion for the swine industry, she completed an internship with Murphy-Brown on a sow farm. After graduation, she was employed with Country View Family Farms in various positions including sow farm manager and multiplication nursery/finisher manager. Seeking to capitalize on her experience as an intern with Murphy-Brown, she returned to the company in 2011. Samantha has held various positions with Smithfield including sow farm supervisor, Production Technical Trainer, and IT Business Analyst for hog production. She has been dedicated to engaging younger generations through comprehensive internship programs and manager-in-training programs. She has been heavily involved in speaking engagements across colleges and universities to promote the swine industry. Over the last decade her programs have employed individuals from across the United States and world. She currently resides in Beulaville, NC with her husband Kevin, a sow farm manager for Smithfield, and two children, Emily and Levi. Samantha is actively involved in her children’s activities which include raising hobby chickens, chorus, theatre, and Girls on the Run. Additionally, she holds positions on ag advisory committees with Sampson Community College and James Sprunt Community College. The family is active members of Richlands Methodist Church. Samantha also serves on the NC Pork Council scholarship committee.

Mallory Strickland is a graduate of Ohio State University and NC State University. She joined Smithfield Hog Production in 2010, as a production trainee from Cardington, Ohio, where she grew up raising her own breeding stock along with 4-H and FFA show pigs. Currently, she is the animal care program manager for Smithfield Hog Production and oversees the Animal Care Management System for the company and contract farms across the nation. Mallory is responsible for the internal and third party/external animal care audits on company and contract sites. She is the lead for the Animal Care pillar of Smithfield’s Sustainability Impact Report. She serves as Smithfield Hog Production representative on the National Pork Board Common Swine Industry Audit Task Force, PQA Task Force.

Mallory also serves on the NC Pork Council conference and producer education committee and scholarship committee. She was a participant in the first cohort of the NC Pork Council Pork Leadership Carolina program. Mallory resides in Warsaw, NC with her husband, two daughters, and dogs.

 Sara Hough, DVM is running for a second term on the NC Pork Council Board of Directors. She also serves on the NC Pork Council conference and producer education committee, promotions and outreach committee, and research committee. Sara has been a swine technical services veterinarian with dsm-firmenich since August 2019. In her role as regional technical services manager, Sara provides field technical support and assists with research opportunities in swine health and nutrition. Prior to joining dsm-firmenich, she spent eight years as a swine production veterinarian at Prestage Farms, Inc. where she became familiar with the NC pork industry. Sara earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine at NC State University. She has professional memberships with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) and the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association (NCVMA). She also served on the National Pork Board Swine Health Committee for four years. Sara is currently serving as the district director for the southeast region for AASV and is a member of the External Relations Committee for the NC Agriculture Foundation. Sara and her husband, Bryan, share their devotion to NC State with their two boys, Dillon and Davis, who love cheering on the Wolfpack at football games. She lives with her family in Fuquay-Varina, NC.

Jack Kelly grew up on a cattle farm in central Iowa and has a strong passion for protecting farmers’ rights and educating the younger generation. He was a competing member of the National Agri-Marketing Association, Livestock Judging Team, and was a co-chair for multiple AGR events. Jack graduated from Iowa State University in 2018. Currently, he is Key Account Manager with PIC USA. Jack has been a participant in the NC Pork Council Pork Leadership Carolina program. He also serves on the NC Pork Council audit and investment committee and research committee. He currently resides is Raleigh, NC and is actively involved in volunteering at the local food shelter and the American Red Cross. Jack wants to cultivate a deeper connection with those supporting agriculture, become a more active member in the NC pork community, and vocally represent the best interests of the industry.