The National Cotton Council has a new president and a new chairman following elections held over the weekend at the organization’s annual meeting.

Dr. Gary Adams, who has served as the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) vice president of Economics and Policy Analysis since 2002, was elected by the NCC’s board of directors to be president and chief executive officer, replacing retiring NCC President/CEO Dr. Mark Lange who served in that role since 2003.

In his new role, Adams will play a pivotal role in guiding the industry’s seven segments to reach consensus on critical policies affecting U.S. cotton – with the overall mission of helping each of the U.S. cotton industry’s seven segments compete effectively and profitably in global markets.

Sledge Taylor, a ginner from Como, Mississippi was elected National Cotton Council chairman for 2015, succeeding Wallace L. Darneille, a Lubbock, Texas, cooperative marketer.

Taylor is president of the Como Consolidated Gin Co., Inc. in north Mississippi. He also is owner of Buckeye Farms, where he raises cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, peanuts and cattle, and was named the Sunbelt Southeastern Farmer of the Year for Mississippi in 2004.

The NCC’s vice chairman for 2015 is Shane Stephens, a Greenwood, Miss., warehouseman. Arizona producers Clyde Sharp was re-elected secretary-treasurer.