03/05/08 New EPIC Director

New EPIC Director. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council or EPIC has just announced a new executive director. Toni Nuernberg has a background in association management. NUERNBERG: I have worked in association management for a number of years primarily with a trade association based out of Minneapolis. It was an international trade association. I started with them as a college intern and worked my way up through the ranks as chief operating officer where I ran their for profit division. Basically providing products and services to the membership. Nuernberg says there were a number of things that drew her to the ethanol industry. NUERNBERG: First of all the ethanol industry is an industry that's clearly a growth industry and that was something that was important to me. Everyone I spoke with from the folks that did the interviewing to individual CEO's of EPIC members, the passion and commitment that everyone has to the issue of ethanol. I just found that very exciting. They all seemed very passionate about it. She says that she has been learning a lot about the industry and feels that EPIC and the industry needs to really figure out where they are and are going. NUERNBERG: Well I think one of the very first things we need to do here at EPIC because it is a younger organization it really needs to do strategic planning. We really need to do some assessment of where we are currently, where we would like to be in the future and then put the roadmap together that actually gets us there. I really believe that that helps to drive the organization, keeps everybody focused on the same end result. The ethanol industry is still in its infancy&just beginning to take its first baby steps and Nuernberg sees big things for the organization in the future. NUERNBERG: I see EPIC recognized clearly in the industry as the voice of the ethanol industry and I think that there are a lot of groups that all participate in the ethanol issues. Some of them are more on the legislative, government affairs side and others are in the promotion and providing information and I just see that is EPIC's strong suit and I would say that if we're really continuing to be successful three to five years from now that whenever there's questions about ethanol, whenever there's anyone that needs information or wants to talk about ethanol that EPIC comes top of mind. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.