The legendary Charles “Charlie” Stenholm has been announced as the keynote speaker for the Meat Industry Hall of Fame.

Mr. Stenholm served 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979-2005.  He graduated from Texas Tech with a B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agriculture Education.  He belonged to the Blue Dog Coalition and was leader of the Boll Weevils in the 80s.

For six years, he was ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. He worked closely with committee chairman, Republican Larry Combest of the neighboring 19th District to shepherd the 2002 Farm Bill through Congress. He was a longtime supporter of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He earned a reputation for building bipartisan alliances in areas as diverse as agriculture, resource conservation, food safety, Social Security, energy, health care, and budgeting.

Since 2005, Stenholm has been a senior policy advisor with Olsson Frank Weeda, a Washington law firm that specializes in representing food, drug, and agriculture interests before material federal agencies. He has served as Co-Chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and on the Boards of Directors for the Concord Coalition, Business and Industry Political Action Committee, and the American Council for Capital Formation. He is also a member of the Farm Foundation Round Table and a member of the 25×25 Steering Committee.

The Hall of Fame will induct seven member of the Class of 2015 during an Induction and Dinner on November 2 at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington D.C.  Tickets for the Ceremony and Dinner are available from the Meat Industry Hall of Fame by contacting Chuck Jolley at 913.205.3791 or Chuck@MeatIndustryHallofFame.com.