Peanut Corporation of America was owned by Stewart Parnell, 61,[84] who was also president and CEO of the company.[52][85][86] Parnell served on the US Department of Agriculture‘s Peanut Standards Board, which sets quality and handling standards for peanuts.[85] He was first appointed by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to the position in 2005,[87] and was reappointed for another term that would have expired in 2011,[85] however, on February 5, 2009, the USDA announced that the new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had removed Parnell from the board