The board of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) selected NCGA Executive Vice President Jon Doggett as its interim CEO. He’ll assume the new role on Aug. 1 upon the departure of Chris Novak, who’s moving to the executive post at CropLife America. Doggett has been EVP with the Corn Growers since 2014. Prior to that, he served as vice president for public policy. Before joining NCGA, Doggett spent 11 years at the American Farm Bureau Federation, where he was AFBF’s lead lobbyist on a number of public policy issues, including ethanol, climate change, land use, conservation, and endangered species…. The Corn Board also elected Kevin Ross of Iowa to become the organization's first vice president for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. He’ll assume the board’s presidency on Oct. 1, 2019. Ross currently serves as Corn Board liaison to the Feed, Food and Industrial Action Team and acts as the liaison to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
This year’s World Food Prize will be shared by British economist Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro, a former UN special representative for Food Security and Nutrition. World Food Prize officials credit the two men with persuading governments and donors to set up programs and policies that reduced the number of stunted children globally by 10 million since 2012. The winners were announced Monday at USDA headquarters in Washington. They will receive the prize, which includes $250,000 in cash, in a ceremony in Des Moines in October.
Everett Eissenstat, a senior White House official who served as one of President Trump’s top international economic policy advisors on both the national economic and security councils, plans to leave the administration next month. Previously, he served as the top trade staff member on the Senate Finance Committee.
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization selected Krysta Harden, VP of external affairs and chief sustainability officer at Corteva Agriscience, as the winner of its fifth annual Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology and Agriculture. The award will be presented on July 18 at the 2018 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Philadelphia. The honor is sponsored by the Rosalind Franklin Society, whose goal is to support and showcase the careers of eminent women in science. Prior to joining Corteva Agriscience, Harden served as deputy secretary at USDA, where she helped to shape food and agriculture policy and expand opportunities for women, young people, immigrants, socially disadvantaged producers, returning veterans and retirees. She also founded USDA's Women in Agriculture Mentoring Network … At the Congress, BIO will also be honoring Sang Yup Lee, with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, with its George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology. Lee is a professor in KAIST’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
President Trump plans to nominate USDA Chief Information Officer Gary Washington to be a member of the Commodity Credit Corporation board of directors. Washington became CIO in February. He previously served as chief information officer for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and as CIO and director of the Information Technology Division for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance selected Erin Fitzgerald as its next chief executive officer, starting on July 16. Fitzgerald has been serving as senior vice president for global sustainability for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, which is part of Dairy Management Inc. At USFRA, Fitzgerald succeeds Randy Krotz.
Doug Schoenrock was elected first vice president of Ducks Unlimited recently at the organization’s annual convention in Indianapolis. A member of the Ducks Unlimited board of directors since 2002, the Alabama native spent 22 years with the Sara Lee Corporation. For the past 12 years he has worked with former Sara Lee colleagues operating Savannah Food Co., a manufacturer and marketer of home-style hush puppies and Southern side dishes.
OFW Law welcomes Samantha Beard as its newest legislative assistant working with the government relations team. The Tennessee native just completed an internship with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and is a former communications intern with the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Robert Cooper is the new executive director for the Institute for Feed Education and Research, the American Feed Industry Association’s public charity, which focuses on research and education to support the feed industry. Cooper joined IFEEDER from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, where he served as assistant to the dean for external relations.
Michael T. Anderson joined U.S. Wheat Associates as assistant director of USW’s West Coast office in Portland, Ore. He had been working as International Marketing Program coordinator for the Food Export Association of the Northeast, which, like USW, is a member of the public-private partnership with USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service export market development programs. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia, Anderson also worked in Central Africa with the Carter Center and has served as an intern with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Westlake, Calif.-based Dole Food Co. hired Michael Solomon as president of Dole Fresh Vegetables. Solomon has previously served as president of Ready Pac Foods and as president of the Pom Wonderful division of The Wonderful Co. Solomon succeeds Howard Roeder, who served as president of Dole Fresh Vegetables from 2014 through 2016.
The Nature Conservancy announced six new members to its global board of directors, including former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. The others are: retired investment firm CEO Harry Hagey; DowDuPont director Andrew Liveris; Douglas Petno, CEO of commercial banking at JPMorgan Chase; Nancy Knowlton, with the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, who will start in October; and former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who will start in February 2019.
Dorothy Nichols, the chief operating officer at the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation since 2006, will retire at the end of July after 35 years of government service. She’ll be succeeded by Rick Pfitzinger, FCSIC’s director of risk management. Pfitzinger has been with FCSIC since 1992, serving as asset assurance manager and chief financial officer before taking his present job. Nichols served as general counsel at FCSIC for 10 years before becoming chief operating officer. She also has served as chief operating officer of the Farm Credit Administration and as an associate general counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The board of the Agriculture Council of America selected Isabella Chism, second vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau as its chair for 2018-2019 at their recent summer meeting in Johnston, Iowa. Greg Horstmeier with DTN-The Progressive Farmer, is the new vice chair, and Cyndee Smiley, with John Deere, was selected to serve as the secretary/treasurer. Click here to see a full list of board members, whose main focus will be to plan for National Ag Day for 2019, which will be celebrated in March.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture hired Molly Quirk as its office manager. Quirk is completing a master’s degree in geography at George Washington University. She has worked for Sfoglina, Fabio Trabocchi Group, Arrowine, and Wine Authorities and says her ultimate goal is to own her own vineyard.
Anuvia Plant Nutrients has hired Bryan Corkal as its chief financial officer. Corkal most recently worked for Calyxt Inc., where he was also CFO. Before that he spent 17 years with Monsanto, including serving as the company’s North American Supply Chain financial lead. Zellwood, Fla.-based Anuvia is a plant nutrient company that aims to help large-scale agriculture and turf organizations become more sustainable and productive.
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