Sanderson Farms Director of Development and Engineering Earns Boardroom Seats Among the Poultry Industry’s Top Decision Makers

LAUREL, Miss. – January 9, 2014 – Bob “Pic” Billingsley, Director of Development and Engineering for Sanderson Farms, has recently been named the 2014 Chairman of the Board for the Mississippi Poultry Association. Billingsley is also slated to serve on the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s Board of Directors this year. The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is the world’s largest and most active poultry organization. Membership includes producers and processors of broilers, turkeys, ducks, eggs, and breeding stock, as well as allied companies. Formed in 1947, the association has affiliations in 27 states and member companies worldwide.

Billingsley, a native of Picayune, Miss. and a current member of Sanderson Farms’ Executive Committee, has served in various capacities throughout his more than 30 year tenure with the company, beginning his career in the poultry industry shortly after his graduation from college. A 1983 and 1984 graduate of Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., Billingsley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, as well as a Master of Science degree in Business Administration.

Aside from his various responsibilities within the poultry industry, Billingsley is a former Director and Chairman of the Association for Excellence in Education and a 2012 recipient of the Robert E. Gaddis Education Award. Billingsley was also named Parent of the Year for the Jones County School District in 2011. He and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 26 years and have a 20-year-old son, Steven.

In addition to serving on the governor’s Mississippi Energy Policy Institute, Billingsley has previously served on the board for the Salvation Army and is an active member of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. In the past, Billingsley has also acted as President of the Laurel/Jones County Dixie Youth Baseball Association.

The Mississippi Poultry Association, formed in 1937, represents poultry companies, allied industries and growers. For the state of Mississippi, poultry is the largest agricultural industry employing nearly 28,000 people while indirectly supporting another 27,000 jobs. Mississippi, in fact, ranks fifth nationally in poultry production. As the nation’s third largest poultry producer, Sanderson Farms is clearly no exception to the rule with Mississippi-based processing plants located throughout the cities of Laurel, Collins, Hazlehurst, McComb and Flowood.

Sanderson Farms, Inc., founded in 1947, is engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh and frozen chicken and other prepared food items. Employing more than 11,000 employees in operations spanning five states and 13 different cities, Sanderson Farms is the third largest poultry producer in the United States. As a company, Sanderson Farms is committed to adopting a fresh approach in everything that we do. Not only where products are concerned, but companywide as well. Though the company has grown in size, it still adheres to the same hometown values of honesty, integrity and innovation that were established when the Sanderson family founded the company back in 1947.

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Ashley Cockerham, 601-426-1532 
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