National Pork Board

Vice President, International Marketing

Craig Morris, Ph.D., is the National Pork Board’s Vice President of International Marketing and leads the global promotion of U.S. pork. Morris has dedicated his entire professional career to serving as a passionate advocate for the U.S. livestock industry. His extensive knowledge of the pork industry, export markets and consumer preferences is elevating the international marketing function of NPB at a time that has never been more critical for America’s pork producers.

In this role, Morris oversees the development and execution of NPB’s international marketing strategy. Dr. Morris has placed a strong emphasis on collaboration with NPB’s strategic partners, namely the National Pork Producers Council and the U.S. Meat Export Federation—working collectively to achieve the industry’s export goals and maximize the return on America’s pork producers’ checkoff investment.

2017 set several records for U.S. pork exports. By leveraging both new and existing partnerships, Dr. Morris will continue to build on this record year, working to identify new markets and further develop relationships with the industry’s most critical customers, both here and abroad, continuing to grow demand for U.S. pork.

For the past 25 years, Morris has held high-profile strategic leadership roles with the federal government, industry associations and in the private sector. Since 2004, Morris served as the Deputy Administrator in the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service where he oversaw the Agency's marketing efforts for the meat, poultry, egg, fish, grain, and seed industries. Earlier work experience with the Agency included serving as an International Marketing Specialist, working to gain entry and build demand for U.S. meat products in foreign markets. Apart from government service, Dr. Morris served as the Assistant Vice President of Food Safety for Future Beef Operations, LLC, in Arkansas City, Kansas, and as the Manager of Scientific and Technical Affairs for the American Meat Institute in Washington, D.C.

Morris’ key achievements include building the export verification programs upon which the U.S. meat and livestock industry depends to market products in foreign markets; reaching international consensus on issues such as meat quality and animal welfare; and providing transparency for such issues as the responsible use of antibiotics in livestock production through the USDA’s Process Verified Program. Most recently, Morris played a leadership role in re-opening of the Chinese market to U.S. beef exports and was instrumental in the bioengineered food disclosure rulemaking process, working with Congress and industry leaders to implement a program that is both science-based and consumer focused.

Morris has a Doctor of Philosophy from Texas A&M University where he held the Regents Graduate Fellowship in Animal and Meat Science (1995). He graduated Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, with a Bachelor of Science (with distinction) in animal science.