Paula Stigler Granados of San Diego was appointed to the California Air Resources Board. She has been an associate professor and division head of Environmental Health at San Diego State University's School of Public Health since 2021. Stigler Granados was an associate professor at Texas State University’s School of Health Administration from 2018 to 2021. Earlier, she was an air quality specialist for the Pala Band of Mission Indians from 2005 to 2007. She is a board member of the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District and the High Tech High Foundation.
A California couple who pioneered California’s coffee-growing movement from their Santa Barbara County farm were found dead. Jay and Kristen Ruskey, co-founders of FRINJ Coffee and owners of Good Land Organics, died at a home in Cambria, according to reports from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. Jay founded Good Land Organics in 1992 as an exotic fruit and coffee farm overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the foothills of Santa Barbara utilizing a layered agriculture system. A coffee program started at Good Land Organics in 2012 became FRINJ Coffee in 2018. Authorities have not released how the couple died. 
Doug Grott (Marion Ag Service photo)
Tim Riley, current president of the the Giumarra Cos., has taken on the additional role of CEO. Riley joined tthe Giumarra Cos. in 1991 following a career in the U.S. Navy. In his recent role as president, he has focused on streamlining the company’s operations while developing new, technology-driven services designed to meet the evolving needs of the fresh produce industry. Riley currently serves on the board of directors of both the Center for Produce Safety and Agriwise. The company also named Anthony Stallings as chief financial officer. He has been with the company since 2001, recently as vice president of finance.
Doug Grott is returning to Marion Ag Service as the organization’s first chief operating officer. He was previously director of sales at the company. Grott was previously an area business manager at Atticus LLC, and held roles at Wilbur Ellis.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., was named chairman of the House Ag Committee’s Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture. He is set to retire at the end of the year. The late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., who died in January, was the previous chairman.
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Alliance announced new board members. Skip Hulett, chief legal officer at NatureSweet, was named chairman. He has led NatureSweet’s growth to become the largest controlled environment agriculture company in the world to achieve B Corp certification. He is a former state district court judge. Hulett succeeds Steve Campione, chief finance office and executive vice president of strategy at Bright Farms, who is concluding his board service. Matthew Meisel, chief development officer at Little Leaf Farms, was named treasurer. Additional 
Elise Fennig (Pet Food Institute)newly elected directors include Abby Prior, chief commercial officer at Cox Farms; Aaron Fields, CEO at Campo Caribe; Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO at Gotham Greens; and Dave Stienes, chairman and CEO at Adept Ag.
Julie Lee of Auburn and Ann Patterson of Sacramento were reappointed to California’s Delta Stewardship Council. Lee has served on the council since 2022. She was a consultant at CPS Human Resources Consulting from 2022 to 2024. Earlier, she was undersecretary of the California Government Operations Agency. Patterson has served on the council since 2025, and has been a policy scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School for Sustainability at Stanford University since 2025. She held multiple positions in the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom from 2019 to 2025, including senior counselor to the governor, cabinet secretary, and legal affairs secretary.
Elise Fennig was named president and CEO of the Pet Food Institute. She will succeed Dana Brooks, who held the position since 2018. Most recently, Fennig served as chief of staff and as senior vice president of industry engagement at the National Confectioners Association. Earlier, she held leadership roles at the Consumer Brands Association, American Frozen Food Institute, and The Kraft Heinz Co. Fennig assumes her new role March 16.
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board elected new 2026 officers. Cattle producer Cheryl DeVuyst of Oklahoma was named chair. She is a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University and head of the ag economics department. She also owns DeVuyst Ranch, a cow-calf and stocker operation, with her husband Eric. Terry Quam of Wisconsin was named vice chairman. He operates an Angus seedstock operation, Marda Angus Farms, in Lodi, Wisconsin, that’s been in operation since 1940. He has been active in the Wisconsin Beef Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and Farm Bureau. A fifth-generation farmer from Stockton, Missouri, Kalena Bruce is now secretary-treasurer. She is a licensed certified public accountant and managing partner of Integrity Squared, a CPA firm she started more than a decade ago. Bruce is a member of the Missouri Farm Bureau, NCBA, the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the Missouri Young Farmer & Rancher Committee and the American Foundation for Agriculture. 
Mary Galey (The Russell Group photo)
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ scheduler Mary Galey will depart USDA to join The Russell Group as executive affairs director. Galey will be responsible for leading the firm’s client service and scheduling efforts. Galey has served as director of scheduling for Rollins for the past year. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she began her career in Washington as a scheduler for Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., before becoming director of operations for Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., where she worked for five years.
Rollins appointed three new members to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation board of directors, which oversees the federal crop insurance program: Tim Weber is the retired president of Great American Crop Insurance. Based in Ohio, he has 38 years of experience in the crop insurance industry, beginning his career as a field-level loss adjuster and working his way up to leadership roles at the national level. Cara Riekhof is a partner in her family’s diversified row crop farm in Missouri. She is a crop insurance agent serving farmers in Kansas and Missouri for the last 16 years and is a former farm radio broadcaster who has worked with the Missouri Young Farmers and Ranchers. Virginia farmer Brett Wightman has over 15 years of experience as an agricultural producer and crop insurance professional. He raises both dryland and irrigated row crops as well as cattle and has extensive knowledge of crop insurance as a producer, crop insurance agent and as an agricultural risk consultant. He previously served as the president of the Virginia Soybean Association and the Virginia Crop Production Association.
Are you changing jobs, getting promoted or receiving an award? Know someone who is? Email Lydia@Agri-Pulse.com to be featured in next week’s edition of Farm Hands on the Potomac.
