Kirk Gilkey is a newly-elected National Cotton Council vice president, representing the ginner segment. He previously was a NCC director and has chaired both the NCC's Joint Industry Bale Packaging Committee and Packaging and Distribution Program Committee. He was president (2010) and chairman (2011) of the National Cotton Ginners Association (NCGA) and has chaired or served on most of NCGA's committees and subcommittees. He was the NCGA’s 2018 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year. He also has chaired the California Cotton Ginners Association and was its Ginner of the Year in 2000.

Manager of the Cross-Creek II Gin in Corcoran, Calif., where he was born and raised, Kirk also is general manager of Gilkey Farming Enterprises as well as Gilkey Five, a freight shipping/trucking firm, of which he is a partner. He earned a B.S. in Agricultural Business Management from California Polytechnic State University.