As summer winds down, it’s time to kick off NCA’s 2018 volunteer recognition program. This year we presented the 2017 awards – Lifetime Achievement, Volunteer of the Year, and Honorary Lifetime Membership – to exceptional NCA volunteers who made major contributions to the association and the U.S. coffee industry.

It’s now time to nominate 2018’s honorees. Chances are, you’ve worked with NCA volunteers who deserve special recognition. Please don’t let their contributions go unrecognized! Submit your nominations today, before we reach the September 15 deadline.

Our 2017 honorees exemplify the awards’ underlying principle: devoting time, knowledge, skill and experience that propel NCA’s industry advocacy. As a volunteer organization, we depend on volunteers to drive policy and process to defend and promote the industry’s best interests. These volunteers also demonstrate NCA’s core values of integrity, excellence, commitment to sustainability, and collaboration.

John DeMuria, NCA 2017 Chair; William M. Murray, NCA CEO; Alan Leviton, M.D.

Recapping 2017’s volunteer honor roll, we conferred the rare (only once before awarded) Lifetime Achievement Award to Alan Leviton, M.D., Harvard Medical School professor, world-class expert in coffee-and-health research, and strong advocate of scientific evidence on coffee’s healthful properties. He has also served as a longtime senior advisor to the NCA Scientific Advisory Group.

John DeMuria, NCA 2017 Chair; William M. Murray, NCA CEO; Mark Corey, Ph.D.

The 2017 Volunteer of the Year award went to Mark Corey, Ph.D., Chair of the NCA Scientific Advisory Group, a brilliant food scientist with extensive experience in research and development, coffee chemistry and food safety. As the youngest professional ever to serve as chair of the NCA Scientific Advisory Group, Dr. Corey has taken the committee to new levels of action, relevance and value for NCA members and the industry.

An Honorary Lifetime Membership was conferred posthumously on George Vukasin, Sr., a pioneering force in the gourmet coffee segment, entrepreneurial chief executive of Peerless Coffee and Tea, longtime NCA Board member, and 1998-2000 NCA Chairman.

Don’t let your colleagues miss the opportunity to earn the recognition they deserve, and follow in the footsteps of these distinguished volunteers.

As always, award recipients will be publicly acknowledged on stage at the NCA Convention during the opening general session. Please send in your nominations today!

By Joseph DeRupo, NCA, Director of External Relations & Communications