USMEF Announces Promotions for John Hinners, Greg Hanes

USMEF is pleased to announce the promotions of John Hinners to the position of vice president, industry relations, and Greg Hanes to the position of vice president, international marketing programs.

Since joining USMEF in 2001 as director of industry relations and advancing to assistant vice president, Hinners has elevated member retention, recruitment and new business development, steadily increasing revenue to record levels. He has been instrumental in working with numerous U.S. agricultural leadership groups and makes the foreign seem familiar when communicating the value of U.S. red meat exports. His passion and excitement for sharing international information have made him welcome in the boardrooms of our USMEF affiliates.

Hinners leads many USMEF member delegations and trade groups traveling to international markets where they can witness firsthand the efforts of their investments in building demand. He also hosts teams of buyers visiting the United States and is instrumental in organizing events matching those buyers with U.S. suppliers. John spearheads the USMEF internship program and is active in mentoring agricultural youth. He brings a proven track record to his new position, where he will lead revenue development, planning and membership activities.

Hinners is devoted to agriculture and the red meat industry and maintains excellent working relationships with his USMEF colleagues, members and stakeholders. He was raised on a diversified cattle, hog, corn and soybean farm near Carroll, Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

Hanes began his career with USMEF in 1997 as marketing manager, later advancing to marketing director. After moving to Tokyo, Hanes became the USMEF-Japan director in 2006. During his tenure in the Tokyo office, he spearheaded the launch of the “We Care” campaign to rebuild demand for U.S. beef and the “Erabarete No. 1” (chosen No. 1) campaign for U.S. pork, which helped achieve record export growth. Hanes has a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona, and a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in Asian culture and history from Colorado College.

Hanes was also recently elected chairman of the U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC), which is made up of commodity trade associations, farmer cooperatives and state and regional trade groups representing producers and processors exporting a variety of U.S. agricultural products around the world.

As vice president, international marketing programs, Hanes will lead the USMEF marketing team in Denver and oversee the organization’s marketing planning processes. USMEF recently strengthened its Denver marketing department by adding a programs and social media specialist who works with international offices to coordinate social media campaigns, ensure collaboration across markets and support program evaluations.