The Ohio Pork Council (OPC) recently announced Mike King as its new senior director of communications and public relations. The veteran communications professional has worked in multiple roles in ag publishing and marketing communications agencies where he focused on communicating about agriculture products and services with an emphasis on swine. Most notably, King recently completed more than 13 years as science communications director at the National Pork Board in Des Moines, Iowa.

During his tenure at the National Pork Board, King focused on delivering Checkoff-funded research information to producers as well as keeping them informed on key issues such as biosecurity, antibiotic stewardship, environmental footprint and foreign animal disease. He alsooversaw the Environmental Stewards Awards and the subsequent America’s Pig Farmer of the Year programs, and he served as editor of the Pork Checkoff’s Research Review and Foreign Animal Disease Bulletin newsletters.

King, who grew up on a diversified grain and livestock farm near Jeffersonville, Indiana, holds a degree in agricultural communications from Purdue University.