Entrepreneurs & Leadership in the Swine Industry
Dr. Howard Hill is president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council and a strategic council to Iowa Select Farms. Hill earned a master's degree and PhD in veterinary microbiology from Iowa State and subsequently joined Iowa State's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. During his twenty-year tenure at the university, he served as an industry leader in the eradication of pseudorabies (PRV). In 2011 Dr. Hill was one of nine veterinarians appointed to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture
A native of California, Howard Hill holds a doctorate of veterinary medicine from the University of California-Davis. He came to Iowa State University in 1970, when he received a National Institutes of Health fellowship. From 1994 to 1999 he worked for Murphy Family Farms, where he continued to work on PRV eradication. He has been with Iowa Select since 2000, when he joined the company as director ofproduction. In 2001, he was promoted to chief operating officer, continuing in that role until 2009.
Throughout his career, Hill has been actively involved in the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, serving on several committees and in leadership positions, including president in 1996. His dedication and commitment to the association and the pork industry were recognized in 1992 when he was selected as the recipient of the Howard Dunne Memorial Award.
He a member of the Story County Pork Producers, is on the board of directors of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and is past president of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. Hill also is involved with the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Hill's pork production business, H&K Enterprises, includes hogs and cattle, and Hill and his son farm 2,600 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa.