Graduate--University of Georgia, Athens, GA 1989--BBA in Finance

Worked for 5 years after college in the public and private sector, including stints in Washington, DC and Atlanta

Moved back to Douglas in 1994 to work in the family business. Built Coffee County Gin in Douglas in 1994 and Four Corners Gin in Meigs, GA in 1995

Married the former Sarah Moore of Savannah, GA in 1992, we have 2 children, Catherine--14 and in the 9th grade, Bo--12 and in the 7th grade

Involved in numerous business and civic groups and boards

Member St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Douglas, GA

Troy Bippert, a third generation farmer, has been farming in the winter garden area of Texas for thirty years. On a mix of dryland and irrigated acres, we grow cotton, corn, wheat, oats, and sunflowers. Troy is an owner operator of BBN Farms Inc. and JEH Farms partnership and participates annually in Monsanto's NPE Program. He is a supporter of the local FFA and 4-H.

He married his wife Michele, a school teacher, in 1991. Their daughter Jenna is currently attending UTSA and will graduate this December with a degree in political science. She hopes to begin attending law school in the fall of 2016.

In his spare time, Troy enjoys hunting and spending time with his family.

Mark Williams is the owner operator of MW Farms, Inc. and R&M Cattle partnership. This is a family farm operation growing corn, cotton, milo, green beans, and wheat and stocker cattle. The operation also includes custom silage harvesting, selling corn silage to local dairies and feed lots

Mark has a BS degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas Tech University and has 38 years of business experience in farming and cattle operations. Over his career he has been honored to receive the Gerald Thomas Outstanding Agriculturalist Award from Texas Tech University and Cotton Grower Magazine’s Outstanding Cotton Grower for 2010.

He has served many Board positions in the industry including:

Secretary of the Palmer County Co-op Gin
Member and Past President of the Palmer County Farm Bureau
Past President of the Plains Cotton Growers
Past Chairman of the American Cotton Producers of the National Cotton Council
Board Advisor of Cotton Council International
Board Chairman of the Northwest Plains Boll Weevil Eradication Zone
Vice-President of the Southwest Council of Agribusiness


Mr. Williams is also affiliated with the Texico-Farwell Rotary Club and is it’s Past President, and is a member of the First Baptist Church of Farwell, TX.

Mark is married to Joyce Williams, has three sons, Ryan, Reagan and Russell, and three grandchildren.

Derrel Johnson was raised and has spent his entire life in Briscoe and Motley County, 90 miles Northeast of Lubbock, Texas. The Johnson family had been in the cotton ginning business for many years, and Derrel spent much time working at the gin during harvest season. He started farming and ranching on his own while still in high school in the late 1970’s and married his wife Dixie in 1983. They moved to Silverton, Texas in 1986 to work with his father Rex Johnson in the family owned cotton gin established in 1984. Derrel and Dixie have two sons; Ory 23 years old and Shawn 20.

Derrel has been in the crop consulting, cotton ginning, and farming industry for over 25 years now. He handles the cotton marketing for Johnson’s Gin Company as well as helping with the gin operations and running a personal farming business. The cotton industry has now been a way of life for the Johnson family for more than three generations.