Holstein Association USA’s 2025 Distinguished Leadership award recipient has worn many hats in the dairy industry over the years. Through his numerous roles, one thing has remained constant – Tom Morris has approached them all with dedication, service, and a genuine appreciation for the people in the dairy industry.

“I’m certainly honored and humbled to join the list that have gone before me with the Distinguished Leadership award,” Tom Morris says. “Certainly, a lot of them on the list were my mentors as I read down through them.”

Tom’s interest in the Registered Holstein business started on his family’s southeast Wisconsin farm, Arwyn Farms, owned and operated by his father and uncle. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study Dairy Science and took home the high individual honor in the 1971 Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest at World Dairy Expo.

After graduating college, Tom took a position at Northwoods Technical College in New Richmond, Wisconsin. He joined two other young instructors and started the nine-month dairy herdsman program from the ground up.

In 1977, Tom and his wife Sandy established Deronda Farm. Along with their children Moriah and Adam, they built a select group of Registered Holstein cattle, concentrating on showing and merchandising. In a dozen years, they developed more than 200 Excellent cows and conducted three complete herd dispersals.

Throughout this time, Tom also worked as an associate with Alvin R. Piper’s International Holstein Sales. This spurred his interest in auctioneering, and in 1982, he formed Tom Morris Ltd., a sale management business. After partnering with Jim Hoskens Ltd. for the first few years, Tom and Sandy went on to manage over 500 Holstein auctions from coast to coast including nine National Holstein Convention sales and 35 World Classic Sales at World Dairy Expo.

Always in tune to marketing and merchandising dairy cattle, Tom and Sandy took their experiences in advertising to launch the Cattle Connection in 1990.

Tom has mentored the next generation in many ways, from coaching dairy judging teams to helping college dairy clubs conduct sales and auctioneering at the Polk County Fair Junior Livestock Sale. He has served Holstein Association USA at the local, state, and National levels and been a member of the Holstein Foundation Board of Trustees.

Tom has also been highly involved in World Dairy Expo since attending the first one in 1967, serving as chair of the Dairy Cattle Exhibitors Committee, as an Executive Committee member, and Vice-President of the Board of Directors.

From adding the sizzle to high-profile sales like the World Classic to breeding his own herd of elite Registered Holsteins and creating the Cattle Connection, Tom has been a trailblazer in several aspects of the dairy industry.