The Nature Conservancy hired Charlton “Chuck” Bonham as California executive director effective Jan. 26. Bonham steps into one of the organization’s “most strategically important leadership roles as escalating climate change and biodiversity loss reshape California and global regions,” the organization said in a press release. Bonham previously served as director of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, the nation’s oldest and largest state and wildlife agency. First appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 and reappointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, Bonham is the longest-serving director in the department’s history.
Stephanie Gross joined the Congressional Western Caucus as a policy adviser supporting Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif. She was previously a communications manager for AAPLOG Action. Earlier, Gross was press secretary for the House Small Business Committee.
California Farm Bureau re-elected officers and welcomed new board members during the group's annual meeting in Anaheim. Shannon Douglass was re-elected to a two-year term as president. She is an owner of Douglass Ranch, which raises beef cattle, walnuts, sunflowers, pumpkins, corn and forage crops in Orland. Shaun Crook, a real estate broker and vice president of his family’s timber business in Tuolumne County, was re-elected as first vice president. Ron Peterson, a Stanislaus County cattle rancher and dairy farmer who also grows silage crops and almonds, was re-elected as second vice president.
Chuck Bonham (The nature conservancy/Deeksha Prakash Phototagraphy photo)
Additional California Farm Bureau district officers were elected to serve two-year terms. Neil Nagata, a berry farmer in Oceanside, replaces Ronnie Leimgruber to serve district one representing Imperial and San Diego counties. Nagata formerly served on the California Strawberry Commission and is a past president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. John Moore, an agriculture land consultant in Bakersfield, replaces Kevin Robertson to serve district 5 representing Kern and Kings counties. Jeff Dittmer, a hay and grain farmer in Fairfield, replaces Joseph Martinez to serve district 11 representing Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties. Dittmer has been a Farm Bureau member for 50 years and currently serves as second vice president of the Solano County Farm Bureau.
California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff’s northern regional district director, Edwin Sevilla, has departed the office. Sevilla is now district director for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. He has previously worked for many California Democrats, including the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Linda Sánchez.
FGS Global hired Mary Nowak Armstrong as managing director based in Washington. Nowak was director of government affairs for the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives for the past nine years, covering issues related to ag labor, nutrition, specialty crops and food safety. As part of her role at NCFC, she led the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, bringing together organizations representing the diverse needs of agricultural employers across the country. Nowak previously worked for the House Agriculture Committee for seven years.
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The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., known as Farmer Mac, appointed Matthew Pullins as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. He has more than two decades of experience in corporate finance, accounting, strategic planning, capital markets and regulatory reporting, most recently as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Capital Markets at PNC Financial Services Group. He will begin the new role on Dec. 11.
Jessica Jacoby Lemos
Colton Lacina (Farmers National Company photo) departed Ocean Spray, where she served as head of government affairs. She was previously a director of government affairs at Walmart and worked on global government affairs at The Kraft Heinz Co.
Farmers National Co. promoted Colton Lacina to senior vice president of real estate operations. He will focus on leading the company’s real estate division as the company continues to expand its market presence nationwide. He has worked at Farmers National for five years, holding roles in farm management and real estate operations as well as a farm manager and real estate agent in Iowa.
The American Soybean Association made promotions and new hires on the industry relations team. Kate Maher was brought on as director of state and industry relations based in the group’s Washington office. She has more than two decades of national ag association experience, holding roles at the American Peanut Council, U.S. Meat Export Federation, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Tracy Snider was promoted to executive director of state and industry relations and Michelle Hummel was promoted to senior director of industry and stakeholder relations, both in the group's St. Louis office. Snider has been with ASA for seven months. Earlier, she worked for Benson Hill and Balchem Human Nutrition and Health. Hummel has been with ASA for 12 years, recently in a director role overseeing ASA’s education and collaboration projects with USB as well as the Innovation to Market Work Group and Farmer Forum.
Ella Hommel was promoted to legislative aide and special assistant on the Senate Agriculture Committee Republican staff. She previously served as a staff assistant and interned on the committee as well as with the Land O’Lakes government relations team. Hommel studied agricultural business and political science at Iowa State University.
Advanced Agrilytics hired Mathew Tapley as business development director. He will support the expansion of the company’s agronomy licensing program. Tapley previously held positions at Magoya, PCT Agcloud and Leaf Agriculture in sales and business development.
Megan Lahr was named Minnesota state director for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. She was previously a principal investigator on the Flex Monitoring Team and a senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center. Lahr is rejoining the office after serving in a variety of roles, including deputy state director, in the early and mid 2010s.
Will Hertel joined the Senate Agriculture Committee Democratic staff as a staff assistant. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in history from Syracuse University in 2024.
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Kim Chipman contributed to this report.
