North American Meat Institute, the result of a trade group merger, said it hired Fred Thompson, as its senior vice president of legislative affairs. Thompson is the senior livestock staff worker on the House Agriculture Committee and has three decades of congressional experience. NAMI was formed by the merger of North American Meat Association and American Meat Institute. Thompson will begin work at NAMI on Jan 1, the first official day of operation for the trade group. While on the Agriculture Committee, Thompson worked on issues that include country-of-origin meat labels, livestock regulation and access to export markets.