board of director Candidates
Paul Bennett
Virginia
Paul Bennett, a current member of the Board of Directors, is also on the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Board of Directors, Chairman of the Breed Improvement committee, and serves on the Member Services committee. He has also served as chairman of the Angus Foundation board and has been an active member of the Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI®) Board.
Bennett and his wife, Tracy, have two children, Scott and Sarah. In 2024, they were richly blessed with three grandchildren born in a span of three days.
Knoll Crest Farm, Inc. is now a fourth-generation seedstock operation, with Bennett’s grandfather, Paul D. Bennett, establishing a registered cow herd in 1944. The family transitioned the farm from a typical southside-Virginia tobacco, livestock and crop farm to a beef seedstock operation in the 1980s. Today, Knoll Crest is operated by the team of brothers - Jim, Brian and Paul - along with Paul’s nephew, Dalton.
If re-elected, Bennett will be honored to continue sharing his enthusiasm, experience and understanding of the Angus breed and its industry. He pledges to remain accessible and highly engaged.
John Dickinson
California
Completing his first term on the board, John Dickinson has served on the committees of Member Services, Events and Activities, Breed Improvement; and three years on Commercial Programs. He also served on the AGI Board for two years and three years on the Angus Productions, Inc. (API) Board.
Dickinson and his brother are fifth-generation Angus breeders. His great-great-grandfather, Senator Simon E. Lantz, a former American Angus Association® president, first brought registered Angus cattle to their farm in 1896.
Upon graduation from the University of Illinois, Dickinson served as a regional manager for the Association for 10 years.
In the spring of 2007, Dickinson left the Association and formed Parnell Dickinson, Inc. (PDI) with his two partners. He works 85 auctions annually. Dickinson also serves as the bull development manager and head of sire procurement for Grimmius Cattle Company.
Dickinson is a life member of the Association. He has also served two terms as president of the California Angus Association (CAA). In 2007, Dickinson was the youngest recipient of the CAA Hall of Fame Award.
John and his girlfriend, Katie Bishop, reside in Caldwell, Idaho, and have two children, Blakely (12) and Silas (3).
Mark Johnson
Oklahoma
Mark Johnson of Orlando, Oklahoma, is a lifelong cattleman with more than 50 years of experience in beef production. Along with his wife, Brenda, and two daughters, Sydney and Charley, he operates J&J Beef Genetics, LLC.
Johnson grew up on a centennial family farm in Deerfield, Missouri. He attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M junior college and later Oklahoma State University (OSU). He then completed his doctorate at Kansas State University in 1992.
Since then, Johnson has been a professor of animal & food sciences at OSU. He has served as supervisor of the OSU Purebred Beef operation for 32 years.
At OSU, Johnson has held the Totusek Endowed Chair, been recognized with awards for teaching and advising, conducted youth and beef cattle extension programming and coached the livestock judging team. He is also the lead author of four chapters in the OSU Beef Cattle Manual.
Johnson has served as president and vice president of the Oklahoma Angus Association (OAA) and has been honored with the Mr. Angus Award. He and his wife have served as Oklahoma Junior Angus Association Advisors and were inducted into the OAA Hall of Fame in 2024.
Danny Poss
Nebraska
Danny Poss, a first-generation Angus breeder and lifelong resident of Scotia, Nebraska, grew up on a diversified, family farming operation.
The early foundation of the family’s commercial cattle operation was established by his parents, Melvin and Elizabeth. In 1985, as a sophomore in high school, Poss purchased his first registered Angus heifer.
Poss attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), with a major in animal science. After graduating from college, Poss returned home to the family operation and began growing his Angus cow herd, while working with his parents on their farming operation. That same year in 1993, he sold his first three bulls privately.
In 2005, Poss purchased his own ground and continued to help his dad farm his land. Sadly, in February 2012, Poss lost his dad to brain cancer. In 2017, he and Kristi moved the bull sale to their ranch in Scotia, Nebraska. Today, with the help of their boys, they market more than 300 bulls a year.
Loran Wilson
Indiana
Raising Angus cattle nearly all his life, Loran B. Wilson is a lifelong resident of Orleans in south-central Indiana, a prime area for beef cattle production. Wilson was 4 years old when his dad purchased a herd of Angus cattle in 1958. Following graduation from the Purdue winter course in 1973, he became a full-time partner in the business and became the sole owner and operator upon his father’s death in 1997.
Wilson married his wife, Kathy, in 1980 and they have three daughters, Kristi, Kara and Katelyn.
Wilson enjoyed a 13-year relationship with Dawson Baker Packing, a CAB packer in Louisville, Kentucky, that provided the carcass data and the premiums associated with certified cattle.
He is a past president of the Southern Indiana Angus Association and serves as the chairman of its consignment sale committee. He has received the Outstanding Cattleman award from IBCA and works in many capacities at their annual Hoosier Beef Congress.
During his first term on the Board of Directors, Loran has served on committees for Member Services, Communications and Public Relations, and Events and Education, and he has served all three years on the Angus Foundation board.
Ron Hinrichsen
Kansas
Ron Hinrichsen of Westmoreland, Kansas, has been involved in multiple sectors of the beef cattle industry throughout his professional career and as a third-generation Angus breeder. Ron and his wife, Lynne, established R&L Angus/Hinrichsen Ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas upon graduation from Kansas State University.
While raising high-quality cattle, Ron and Lynne have focused on bringing in the fourth generation—their children Cale and Eva—to continue the legacy they have established. They raise cattle to fit the environment and sell bulls to commercial cattlemen based on their needs. With another family, they host an annual bull sale in the spring. Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR®), ultrasound data, and now genomic testing are used to continually improve the predictability of their cattle.
Along with the cattle operation, Ron's professional career started in semen sales and later moved into animal health sales. Today he works for Boehringer Ingelheim as a senior territory manager. Ron has played an active role in the Kansas Angus Association, serving on the board and as president and junior advisor. Other leadership roles have included serving as the American Royal beef superintendent for 20 years, as the Kansas State Fair board president, and on the Kansas Livestock Association and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association animal health committees.