Lesly Weber McNitt returned to the National Corn Growers Association this week as vice president of public policy, leading the Washington office and serving as the chief advocate. She worked at NCGA from 2017 to 2021 managing NCGA trade and biotech portfolios. McNitt earlier was senior professional staff member on the House Ag Committee, chief of staff at USDA Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and most recently a leader at the global malnutrition philanthropy Eleanor Crooke Foundation.
Michael Skahill is now a partner at DTB Agri-Trade and executive director of the Meat Import Council of America. He most recently worked for Lineage Logistics in global government relations. Skahill worked at Smithfield Foods for more than 20 years in global affairs and government relations positions. He completed a term as vice chair of the National Pork Board and previously served on the U.S.-China Agricultural Food Partnership and the U.S. Meat Export Federation trade committee. Skahill will replace Bill Westman after his retirement.
Walmart hired Wendy Hamilton as director of federal government affairs. She was director of operations for House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass.
Chandler Goule will step down as CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers June 30 after leading the organization for nine years. His departure was a mutual decision, according to Goule and NAWG President Pat Clements. “We’ve both agreed to go our separate ways and wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” Clements said in a press release. Confirming the news to Agri-Pulse, Goule added that “it’s been a pleasure serving the wheat farmers of the United States" and wished them a good planting season.
A group of top whiskey producers launched the American Whiskey Association to promote U.S.-made whiskey around the globe. Priorities of the group will include reducing tariffs in global markets, addressing nontariff barriers and promoting industry marketing opportunities. Founding members include Jack Daniel’s, Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, among others.
Eden Lambert (Torrey Advisory Group photo) Torrey Advisory Group hired Eden Lambert as a policy manager focused on animal agriculture, commodities, credit and crop insurance. At Texas A&M University, Lambert was a graduate research assistant at the Agricultural and Food Policy Center and studied how policy affected the affordability of various crop insurance options for producers. She previously was an intern at the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
The American Egg Board announced new board and executive committee members after the organization’s spring meeting. New officers include Andy Seger as chair, Ross Dean as vice chair, Sandra Lausecker as secretary and John Watson as treasurer. Sam Krouse and Sara Stiebrs were selected as members at large. Alex Simpson will move into the immediate past chair position. The board, composed of 36 egg farmers, including 18 members and 18 alternates, welcomed four new members: Emily Battilega of Sioux Center, Iowa; Justin Haats of Howard Lake, Minnesota; John Puglisi of Howell, New Jersey, and Libby Schwab of Monroe, New Hampshire.
The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., or Farmer MAC, added Daniel Shaw of Edgar, Nebraska, to the company’s board of directors. Shaw and his family have owned and operated Shaw Farms since 1975 and own two additional businesses. Shaw fills the seat of former board member Roy Tiarks, who died in February.
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Maggie McNeil has retired "for keeps" from the Organic Trade Association, she said in a note to media contacts. She retired from the organization a few years ago and has been supporting the group’s media relations on contract. Prior to OTA, McNeil wrote for MarketWatch.com, Sparks Companies and Reuters. Sandy Pfaff will now lead OTA media relations.
Former Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Brent Sadler was nominated to be the next administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration. He was with the Navy for 26 years and served stints with the U.S. Pacific Command and Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Anna Murray joined the office of Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., as a legislative aide. Murray was previously a legislative aide to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and later was a policy adviser to Stabenow on the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
Amanda Martin (IALF photo)The Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation appointed Amanda Martin as CEO, effective April 14. She previously led external relations at Farm Foundation and was assistant dean in the College of Agriculture at Louisiana State University.
John Tadayuki Nakamura, a farmer who served 12 years as the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s representative in Washington, died Feb. 27 at age 88 in Springfield, Virginia. Nakamura was born in Los Angeles. He and his family were relocated to Japanese-American internment camps in Arkansas during World War ll. After getting a food science degree at the University of California, Davis, and serving in the Army he took over operation of a family farm and won California’s Outstanding Young Farmer award in 1972 for his work on integrated pest management. He was an associate of the International Fellowship, a Christian ministry, and passionate about global hunger. He was a close friend of and assistant to Tony Hall, former congressman and ambassador to the UN food and agriculture programs in 2002-06.
Former Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat who advocated vigorously for rice in USDA overseas food aid programs but opposed ethanol mandates, died March 25 at a hospital in Arlington, Virginia. He was 92. A daughter said he had Covid and other ailments. Johnston chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from 1987 until he retired in 1997 after four Senate terms. He also shaped 1992 legislation on water sharing in California and a 1990 bill that preserved 1 million acres in the Tongass National Forest. Lecturing oil and gas executives on their financial support, he said that the seven largest oil companies contributed less to candidates than the Alabama Farm Bureau, according to The New York Times. In 1994 Johnston resisted without success a Clinton administration rule that added ethanol to motor fuel.
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