American Cotton Shippers will fete Billy Dunavant

May 3rd, 2013

As published in the Commercial Appeal

The American Cotton Shippers Association will present its first lifetime achievement award to Memphis executive Billy Dunavant at its national convention next week in New Orleans.

“Billy Dunavant brought about a lot change in our industry,” said William E. May, the shipper association’s president. “He was active in all phases of the industry and was always considerate of the other members.”

Dunavant became chief executive of the trading company his father ran on Memphis’ Front Street in 1961.

For the next 50 years, Dunavant was a world player in the cotton business, selling 4.5 million to 6 million bales of U.S.- and foreign-grown cotton a year and investing heavily in infrastructure around the world, including cotton gins, cotton and seed warehouses, and logistics facilities across the U.S. Cotton Belt, Australia, Asia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, India and Africa.

Dunavant sold his cotton interests in 2010 to focus on the logistics of moving and storing commodities around the world.

View the original article at the Commercial Appeal