Ocean Mist Farms hired Jeff Fulton as senior director of commodity vegetable sales. He will be responsible for driving profitability, executing sales and marketing strategies. Fulton joins Ocean Mist from Dole Vegetable Co., where he worked for three decades in sales and product management, most recently as vice president of fresh pack sales and product manager.
Richard Uchida joined Ippolito International as sales and commodity manager. He held similar positions at Markon, Sunkist, Dole Fresh Vegetables, Tanimura & Antle, and Duda Farms.
The California Independent System Operator hired Anthony Martinez as manager of marketing and communications. A Californian, Martinez worked at the Department of Energy during the Biden administration as a senior communications adviser and digital director.
Anthony Martinez (LinkedIn photo)The Senate confirmed Stephen Vaden as deputy agriculture secretary Tuesday in a party-line vote. He is returning to USDA after serving as USDA’s general counsel during the first Trump administration. Since then, he was a judge on the Court of International Trade. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Vaden said USDA would advocate for removing trade barriers to farm exports through the administration’s broader tariff negotiations.
The Senate has confirmed David Fotouhi to serve as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. An environmental attorney, Fotouhi was acting general counsel and principal deputy general counsel during President Donald Trump’s first term. He was recently a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP.
Sarah Swig left the office of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., after four years as a policy adviser. She was a policy associate for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during her time as speaker of the House.
BASF hired Claire Dailey as a regional strategic messaging and content lead. She previously worked for Bader Rutter, Curious Plot and broadhead. She is coming to BASF full time after working with them as a client in previous agency roles.
Farm Foundation hired Karl Binns Jr. as director of external affairs. He was a conservation program leader at Pheasants Forever and a senior consultant at the Center for Food Integrity.
Stratovation Group hired Ashley Tate as an account coordinator. She has completed internships with the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association, Beck’s Hybrids and the Ohio Farm Bureau.
Steve Leer joined Elanco as content creator and communications consultant. He was director of development and communications coordinator at Good News Ministries and communications consultant and senior writer at the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Communication.
CropLife America hired Jake Dumas as an executive office specialist. He completed internships with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and CropLife America.
The A
Victoria Broehm (left) and Leah Wilkinson (right) of the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA photo). merican Feed Industry Association is undergoing a realignment to create three departments for policy, member experience and operations, and to strengthen the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s ability to advance animal food industry research and education. In the restructuring, Victoria Broehm and Leah Wilkinson were promoted. Broehm is now vice president of member experience and will lead the member experience department. She has been with the organization since 2017. Wilkinson will lead the policy department as chief policy officer. She has worked since 2010 at AFIA, which represents 650 feed and pet food industry members.
Alex Bell was promoted to U.S. managing director at Nofence, the world’s first commercially available virtual fencing company. Bell will lead domestic expansion in 47 states. He has been acting vice president of sales since early 2025. Before joining Nofence, Bell worked at Westgass Hydrogen and Removr.
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hired Maggie Sklar as senior director of public policy and advocacy. She was senior complex financial institutions policy specialist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Peter Hannam, a Canadian farmer, entrepreneur and industry leader, died in hospice. He was 85. Hannam was president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture from 1977 to 1979. He established First Line Seeds with 12 other independent growers in 1982 and led it as president for 20 years. He was one of the first Canadian farmers to try Roundup herbicide in the 1970s. A service will be held for Hannam on June 23 in Guelph, Ontario.
Margaret “Maggie” Ernst, long-time editor of the National Chicken Council’s widely read weekly Washington Report newsletter, died May 31. She was 68. She retired in 2020 as senior director of meetings and member services after 34 years with NCC and lived in Stamford, Connecticut. The family suggests donations in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association.
