The Almond Board of California has picked new members of its board, which is made up of five handler and five grower representatives. Grower position nominees include Paul Ewing of Atwater and Brandon Rebiero of Modesto. Grower alternates include Tobin Barth of Esparto and Brad Klump of Escalon. Chad DeRose of McFarland and Darren Rigg of Le Grand were named to handler positions with Dinesh Bajaj of Orland being named a handler position alternate. Laura Gerhard of Sacramento was tapped to fill the co-op handler position and Mel Machado of Modesto the co-op handler alternate. The nominees have been submitted to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for selection to terms of office beginning Aug. 1, 2025.
Ken Melban was named president of the California Avocado Commission. He has worked for the organization since 2011 in issues management and industry affairs positions. He has been co-executive leader of the organization since late 2023.
Ken Melban (California Avocado Commission photo)Connor Ferguson returned to Wilbur-Ellis as a senior branded technologies adjuvant portfolio manager. He worked for Simplot Grower Solutions as a senior agronomy sales enablement adviser, and earlier as a branded technologies data manager at Wilbur-Ellis. He was a weed science professor at Mississippi State University.
Land Trust Alliance hired Kara Heckert as California senior program manager. She has worked at the American Farmland Trust for nearly seven years, recently as resilient agriculture adviser. Earlier in her career, Heckert was executive director of the Sonoma Resource Conservation District.
The Water, Energy and Technology center at Fresno State University hired Kent Pelisari as associate director. He worked for Central Valley startups in the ag tech, energy and water areas.
Casey Kinler joined the National Milk Producers Federation as senior director of board, state and member relations. She worked at the American Composites Manufacturers Association and the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
David Bernhardt, Interior Secretary during the first Trump administration, is launching his own firm, The Bernhardt Group. Former Interior Department colleagues who are joining the venture include Cole Rojewski, who was director of congressional and legislative affairs, former chief of staff Todd Willens and Luke Johnson, who was deputy director of policy and programs at the Bureau of Land. Bernhardt was previously a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he supported the Westlands Water District, among other clients.
Emily Domenech was named executive director of the Permitting Council, which oversees permitting and review for large infrastructure projects. She was an energy and environment staffer for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a lobbyist at Boundary Stone Partners.
The Kern County Water Agency promoted Nick Pavletich and Craig Wallace to co-manage the agency. Pavletich —who has been with the group for 24 years, recently as administrative operations manager — will oversee local activities. The former state water project manager, Wallace will oversee the agency’s statewide activities with a focus on the Delta Conveyance Project. Tom McCarthy, former general manager of the agency, was let go recently just one month before his contract expired. McCarthy had led the agency since 2020.
Martha Smith was promoted to vice president of North America agricultural affairs and license to operate at Bayer Crop Science. She will join Bayer’s North America crop science leadership team. Smith succeeds Duane Simpson, who was recently named the next CEO and president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
Dillon Davidson (NPPC photo)The National Pork Producers Council named Shannon McMurtrey-Belson senior director of international affairs. She was senior legislative director at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and earlier deputy assistant administrator at USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service Office of International Coordination, where she led market access negotiations for U.S. pork on behalf of FSIS. Dillon Davidson, the new director of state policy, joins NPPC from the Nevada Department of Agriculture, where he was a senior trade officer. Earlier, Davidson worked for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. He will work remotely.
Jamison Cruce left his position as vice president of government relations at USA Rice to launch his own firm, Cruce Capitol Consulting. He will represent the American Sugar Cane League and Louisiana sugarcane farmers and processors. Cruce worked at USA Rice for seven years and earlier worked for the American Farm Bureau Federation and Georgia Peanut Commission.
Jake Westlin, vice president of policy and communications at the National Association of Wheat Growers, will succeed Cruce at USA Rice as vice president of government affairs. Westlin previously worked for Forbes Tate Partners and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here
Pivot Bio named Daryl Allen vice president of sales. He was global biologicals commercial business expansion leader at Corteva Agriscience. Allen has held leadership roles at Corteva, DuPont and Monsanto during his 30-year ag sales and management career.
The Business Roundtable hired Nasim Fussell as vice president of trade and international policy. She previously led Lot Sixteen’s international trade practice as senior vice president. Fussell was a partner at Holland & Knight, where she was a member of the public policy and regulation and international trade practices.
Senate Agriculture Committee Republicans hired Carlye Winfrey as a legislative aide. She was previously a government affairs manager on the agriculture, food and conservation team at Monument Advocacy. Earlier, Winfrey was an intern with the House Agriculture Committee and the Department of State with the U.S. Agency for International Development. A former committee intern, Ella Hommel, was hired as a staff assistant. She previously worked as a government relations intern at Land O’ Lakes.
The Water Council promoted Karen Fros
Karen Frost (Water Council photo)t to executive director. She has been with the organization for 10 years, recently as vice president of economic development and innovation. Frost worked at the Racine County Economic Development Corp. in Wisconsin. She will succeed Dean Amhaus, who is retiring.
House Agriculture Committee Republicans hired Austin DeBerry as a staff assistant. He was an intern on the committee during the spring semester. Sofia Jones joined the committee as director of member services and coalitions. She spent six years at the appropriations committee, recently as deputy director of operations and member services.
Jordyn Landberg joined the Farm Foundation as director of marketing and communications. She has worked in nonprofit and philanthropic communications roles for nearly 20 years, including for Michael Reese Health Trust and Les Turner ALS Foundation.
Elanco Animal Health appointed Robert VanHimbergen chief financial officer. He was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Hillenbrand and earlier led global finance at Johnson Controls. He will succeed Todd Young beginning July 7.
Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment promoted Rachel Dunne to senior manager of communications and events. She will continue to lead communications strategy and will now lead event coordination. She has been with RISE for two and a half years. Jon Gaeta was promoted to senior director of government affairs, responsible for state and local government relations advocacy and engagement. Gaeta has been with RISE for five years, recently as director of state affairs.
Growth Energy named Jared Henderson director of government affairs. He worked on Capitol Hill for eight years, including as a senior policy adviser for Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and legislative assistant for former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. Emma Keiser was also hired as a director of government affairs. She was a legislative assistant for Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
The Animal Health Institute board elected Jamie Brannan, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Zoetis, as chair. He has been with Zoetis since 2016, recently leading commercial operations across all global markets. Richerd DeLuca, executive vice president and president of Merck Animal Health, is immediate past chair. Joseph Huff, Colorado Serum Co. president, was re-elected treasurer.
Bradley McKinney joined the Commerce Department as deputy assistant secretary. He previously worked for the Import-Export Bank of the United States, International Trade Administration and Torrey Advisory Group.
New USDA political appointees
Jennifer Mack McGillicuddy was named associate administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service. She founded and served as principal of the government and public relations services organization DevMade. Earlier, she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a senior associate.
Jeremy Witte was sworn in a
Jeremy Witte (right) at his June 2 swearing-in ceremony with USDA White House liaison Dominic Restuccia. (USDA photo)s deputy under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs at USDA. He led trade, research and extension, biotechnology, crop protection and specialty crops issues on the Senate Ag Committee staff. Earlier, he worked for the House Ag Committee and Cornerstone Government Affairs.
FAS named Edward Newburn a senior adviser. He was chief of staff at South Dakota Trade, the organization led by Luke Lindberg, who was nominated to be USDA's under secretary of trade and foreign agricultural affairs.
Gabrielle Rossi rejoined USDA as assistant to the deputy secretary. She was deputy chief of staff to the deputy administrator at USDA during President Donald Trump’s first term. An Oregon farmer, she is member of the Multnomah County Farm Bureau board.
Jeremy Ryan Claeys was named administrator of the USDA Rural Business Cooperative Service. He was in the Kansas state legislature for 12 years before joining the office of the Kansas attorney general as a senior adviser.
Patricia Patnode was sworn in as a special adviser in the USDA Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement. She was a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and outreach director for Lone Conservative.
Anthony Jones was hired as a confidential assistant in the Office of USDA's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Johnathan Wachter was named a confidential assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration.
Cade Haggard joined USDA's White House Liaison Office, Jack Reeves was added to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, and Alana Louvis was appointed to the Farm Production and Conservation mission area.
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
