KEMPTVILLE – The Board of Directors of East-Gen has announced on March 30 the appointment of Brian O’Connor as the first general manager of the newly formed company.

Effective immediately, O’Connor will lead the amalgamation of the new organization representing 8,583 members across a service area of Ontario, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador. Working alongside the board of directors, and the delegate body, O’Connor’s immediate goals will be to establish the strategic focus and corporate objectives of the integrated company.

As general manager, O’Connor will play a lead role integrating the two organizations, creating vision, core values, and a company culture as well as, establishing new policies and processes. His immediate attention will be to choose a senior management team.

According to East-Gen President Charles Bennett of Kemptville, "Brian was selected after an open recruitment process of A.I., agriculture and non-agriculture applicants. His impressive track record in this industry, coupled with his complete skill set, was exactly what the hiring committee was looking for. I have full confidence that Brian will work through the merger process to execute the most efficient plan to move this new organization forward. Brian will hit the ground running, and we have every confidence in his vision for the future of this new company."

O’Connor brings over 27 years of experience in the A.I. Industry to the organization with over 22 of these in senior management. He has spent the last 12 years as general manager of Gencor, with previous experience in managing the marketing departments at Gencor and EBI, and a role as Sire Analyst with EBI. He received his BSc in Agriculture in 1984 from the University of Guelph. O’Connor resides in Fergus with his wife, Sheli, and their four children.

On Feb. 8, with the backing of the delegate bodies of EBI and Gencor, the merger of the two companies was announced. The new company has adopted the interim name East-Gen until its new structure is formed and fully operational by July 1, 2011. It will have a 45 per cent ownership stake of the Semex Alliance. East-Gen will inseminate an estimated 270,000 females with 476,000 units of semen sold annually. An interim board was formed with representation from each company.

Bennett was elected president of the new board in early March.