Eldon J. White was named executive vice president of Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association in March 2007. Previously, he was executive vice president of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) based in Overland Park, Kansas.
White was raised on a stocker operation outside of Ogden, Utah. His father was a commission order-buyer. The family ranch business also bred registered Quarter Horses for racing and raised sheep. Eldon was active in FFA in high school and served as Utah state FFA president in 1969.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Utah State University. He has a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science with minors in agriculture business and international agriculture, and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics.
His first job after graduation was as a county agent specializing in 4-H and livestock. From there he went to the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) now known as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in Denver, as director of marketing and transportation programs.
White left NCA in 1983 to become director of producer services for the American Sheep Producers Council. In 1989, the group merged with the National Wool Growers Association to become the American Sheep Industry Association. He was named vice president for policy and government affairs and chief operating officer. He served in that position until 1991, when he joined NAMA.
He and his wife, Val, make their home in Fort Worth. They have two married daughters: Kristen Burdett and Kelly Smith, and four grandchildren, Connor and Coraline Burdett and Zoey and Kylie Smith.