Sheep Industry News January 2025

Savage Named Wool Excellence Winner

L ongtime ASI Wool Consultant Barry Savage has been chosen by the Wool Roundtable as the winner of the 2025 Wool Excellence Award for his two decades of ded ication to marketing American wool in international markets. “This is quite a surprise, and very much appreciated,” said Savage, who officially retired from ASI in December 2023, from his home in Boston. But, he’s found it difficult to walk away from the industry. He was appointed to a three-year term on the board of the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center in 2023 and was already planning to be at the ASI Annual Con vention in Scottsdale, Ariz., this month in that capacity. Savage will receive his award during the Wool Recognition Lunch on Jan. 16 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. If you’re in terested in joining the celebration, tickets for that lunch might still be available for those who didn’t purchase them when they registered for the convention. Check with the registration desk in Scottsdale to inquire about availability. In addition to driving international marketing for ASI and American wool, Savage also contributed to the ASI Wool Team in the areas of technical and commercial input in regard to early-stage processing and spinning as well as logistical and marketing issues after joining ASI in July of 2001. “It’s definitely hard to walk away after 21 years with a com pany,” Savage said. “With the exception of Anodyne, most of the American wool companies didn’t have a lot of experience with other countries outside of Mexico when I started working with ASI. I’m glad that I was able to bring my connections to the industry. International sales are really made on trust and personality. If people can relate to you, that makes things easier. Working with ASI allowed me to utilize my knowledge of these other countries and their technical capabilities. The thing I enjoyed the most about working with ASI was that it allowed me to keep up all of these international connections I’d made

through the years.” Many of those connections came when Savage was previ ously employed by G. H. Michell & Sons (Australia) Pty. Ltd., a major, early-stage wool processor and sheepskin/leather tanner. He began his career in Sydney in production management in the scouring/carbonizing/topmaking/fellmongery facilities of Michell before becoming the general manager of Woolscourers (Vic) Pty. Ltd. in Melbourne. He subsequently became the general manager of Penny’s Knitting Mills Pty. Ltd – a worsted spinning and knitting opera tion in Adelaide and a Michell Group subsidiary – before mov ing to the United Kingdom where he acted as Michell’s man ager for Eastern Europe, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Scandinavia Region. He then moved to Boston where he was Michell’s manager of the Americas Region. After 30 years with Michell, Savage moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as the sales director at Clicktex, a textile in ternet marketing company. He then joined ASI and worked to market American wool until his retirement. “There was a real decline in manufacturing in the United States in the mid-90s, so there was this big need to find new markets,” Savage said. “We had no choice but to develop new markets outside of the domestic industry, so that’s what we did.” During his time at ASI, Savage was a regular attendee on trade missions that introduced international buyers to Ameri can wool. “Barry was always a pleasure to work with and was well liked by not only the international buyers, but also the American wool exporters who benefitted from the expertise he brought to his position with ASI,” said ASI Director of Wool Marketing Rita Samuelson. “We’ve definitely missed his presence on our team in the year since he retired.”

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