The 2022 Harry S. Baker Distinguished Service Award was given to Andy Jordan, a longtime worker in the National Cotton Council (NCC) Technical Services Department who is currently a consultant in agricultural engineering.
Jordan was honoured during the NCC’s 2023 annual conference, which took place in Dallas, Texas, from February 10 to 12. The award, which bears the name of the late California businessman and former NCC president Harry S. Baker, is given each year to a deserving person for their exceptional leadership, devotion, and commitment to the U.S. cotton industry.
Ted Schneider, the outgoing NCC chairman, who presented the award, noted that Dr. Jordan worked for the Council’s Technical Services department for 31 years, first as manager of marketing and processing technology before being made director and then vice president of that division.
Added Schneider”Dr. Jordan offered great leadership in managing a multiplicity of technical difficulties affecting the sector” while holding these posts, it was said. His effective management of a Council team that included professionals with backgrounds in safety and health, environmental sciences, engineering, textile processing, plant physiology/agronomy, and plant breeding was largely responsible for his success.
Jordan joined the NCC in 1976 after working for Western Electric and Lockheed Georgia Aerospace and spending time as an instructor at Clemson University. Jordan received engineering degrees from the University of Georgia and Clemson University.
Jordan spent a number of years as the Cotton Foundation’s executive director throughout his tenure at the NCC, where he oversaw programme growth. This comprised obtaining funding from the private sector and managing the Foundation. programmes for research and education worth more than $1.5 million annually.
Jordan currently serves as an advisor to Cotton Council International, Cotton Inc., and the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, the sustainability programme for the cotton sector. To create sustainability indicators for agriculture, he collaborates with scientists conducting agricultural research, conservation organisations, and food and commerce associations.
In addition, Jordan currently holds the positions of executive director of the Cotton Growers Warehouse Association, co-owner and science director of Secure Food Solutions, advisor to the agricultural technology accelerator AgLaunch, and director of Agricenter International, a 1,000-acre agricultural research, conservation, and training facility in Cordova, Tennessee. In five different nations, he and his wife Susan are actively involved in the design and installation of drinking water purification systems for the underprivileged.
