FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – John Marcy, extension specialist and professor at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, was named the "2019 Industry Leader of the Year" by The Poultry Federation — Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma — during the 60th Annual Poultry Festival.  The award has been presented since 1955 and recognizes the outstanding achievements of poultry and egg executives and their contribution to the industry. Presenting the award this year was TPF's current Board of Directors and Marvin Childers, TPF president.

Marcy graduated with a Bachelor of Science in food technology and science from the University of Tennessee and earned his M.S and Ph.D. in food technology from Iowa State University. He has been a director of quality control for Portion-Trol Foods, worked in production management and quality assurance for Swift & Co. and Jerome Foods, and has been an assistant professor and extension food scientist at Virginia Tech.  He was made a Fellow in the Institute of Food Technologists in 2009.

He offers HACCP and Advanced HACCP workshops for meat and poultry processing personnel, and hosts an industry/regulatory/academia HACCP Roundtable quarterly since 1997.  He also served 4 years on the National Advisory Committee for Meat and Poultry Inspection. Marcy is an integral part of the University of Arkansas online Master's program in Food Safety.

Since 2005, Marcy has conducted culinary workshops for Tyson Foods, Simmons Foods and in conjunction with the Research Chefs Association to enable product developers to earn recognition as a Certified Culinary Scientist. The Research Chefs Association awarded Marcy a President's Award in 2019 in recognition of his years of service. 

The poultry science department and the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science include a complex of teaching, research and extension facilities at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center and the John W. Tyson Poultry Science Building on campus. The department provides the curriculum for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs.