Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) hired Jeff Rowe to be executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective Aug 17. He is the former CEO of Syngenta Group, and was with Syngenta for 10 years in total. Read more on Agri-Pulse.com.
The United Soybean Board named Courtney Knupp chief executive officer, effective Oct. 1. She is currently the director of global supply chain at the National Security Council. Earlier, Knupp held chief of staff roles at USDA, worked on international trade policy for the National Pork Producers Council and held commercial roles at BASF and Elanco Animal Health.
Jeff Rowe (Syngenta Group Photo)Mac Marshall has rejoined Bayer as vice president of global policy and trade. He previously worked for the company from 2018-2020, and has since held roles at United Soybean Board, Balcony View Consulting and Apeel.CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts Jeremy Peters is resigning, effective Sept. 30. He has been with the association for 15 years, 11 of those as CEO. Peters will continue to consult for NACD until the end of the year. A search committee for the new CEO will be formed later this year.
The National Corn Growers Association held its elections for the Corn Board checkoff at its biannual Corn Congress last week. Delegates elected Stu Swanson, Dana Allen-Tully and Andy Jobman for the first time to the board. Troy Schneider from Colorado was reelected to the board.
Chad Willis is the new 2026-2027 president of the International Maize Alliance board of directors. He is a member of the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council and is a former chairman of the U.S. Grains Council. He has been the MAIZALL director since 2023.
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced new members of the Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities advisory committee. There were 21 new members, including National Association of Wheat Growers treasurer Chris Tanner. The committee is designed to provide independent policy advice to the EPA on issues that are important to agriculture and rural communities.
Michelle Sutton has been promoted to be counsel for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for Republicans. She was previously a legislative aide and law clerk for the committee, and has worked for it for over a year. She was also a legal intern at USDA in 2023.
Maddie Jenks is the new regulatory affairs director at the Renewable Fuels Association. She spent three years previously working for Pilot Flying J, most recently as their senior specialist of government affairs.
Dana Dufresne has joined Grassroots Carbon as chief value chain officer. She was previously the chief growth and marketing officer at Fair Trade USA for almost three years.
Bryn Jensson is the new vice president of environmental, health and safety at Landus Cooperative. She was with Smithfield Foods for over 11 years, most recently as the corporate director of environmental, health and safety operations. Prior to that, she worked for the National Pork Board for eight years.
The vice president at VENTURE Government Strategies, Jacob Hochberg, has left the company. He was at VENTURE for over a year and a half, and previously worked at the U.S. House of Representatives for over eight years. He has not publicly announced his next role.
The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association has appointed Jenny Webb to be president, effective July 20. She was with the Illinois Farm Bureau for almost 10 years, where she was most recently the associate director of industry affairs.
Mahon Brennan joined Vylor (a subsidiary of Corteva) as the seeds business lead for north and central Europe. He previously spent almost eight years at Bayer Crop Science, most recently as the head of division for central and eastern Europe.
Paul Murphy-Spooner is no longer the senior director of external communications at the United Soybean Board. He was with the organization for over seven years. Murphy-Spooner has not announced his next role yet.
Dairy Farmers of America promoted Ira Kullot to senior manager of the western region for risk management. He has been with the organization for over six years, and was most recently the manager of risk management.
Liz Demorest (LinkedIn Photo)The International Dairy Foods Association added Liz Demorest as the director of PAC and political affairs. She most recently was the associate director of political engagement at the American Academy of Dermatology for two years.
Katie Darnell has been promoted to be director of business operations and animal welfare at Cattle Care. She has been with the company for over two years, and was previously a customer success specialist.
Ryan Ferguson was hired by FGS Global as the managing director for the energy, climate tech and natural resources team. He was the director of external communications at RWE for over two years prior to this role.
Holland & Knight has hired Jeff Salinger as a New York environmental attorney for the regulatory practice group. He was previously with DLA Piper for over nine years, most recently as the U.S. co-chair of the industrials sector.
The International Dairy Foods Association has announced its NextGen Leadership Program cohort. Thirty professionals were selected for the program’s Cohort 8. The program recruits mid-level to senior-level professionals in the dairy industry to participate in a year long curriculum focused on advocacy, leadership development, and networking.
ADM has hired Sabine Schaefer as a senior technical service scientist. She spent almost three years at Cargill working on plant-based meats, most recently as a technical account manager for new protein solutions. The company promoted Moritz Bootsma from sales manager to sales manager of foodservice. He has been with the company for over five years. ADM added Jasmine Arnold as a creation, design and development health and wellness probiotics lab manager. She previously worked for Coca-Cola.
Corteva Agriscience has hired Megan Boettcher as the integrated communications lead. She previously was a senior worldwide digital communication specialist at Kemin Industries. Corteva has also promoted Victoria Smith to be strategic planning leader. Smith has been with Corteva for over four years, most recently as the U.S. social media leader.
Cargill hired Lexi Schmidt as a shopper marketing specialist on the Consumer Brands team. She was previously on the Post Consumer Brands team, most recently as a social media grocery community manager. The company also hired Márcia Damas as a senior packaging regulatory specialist. Damas worked most recently as the general manager of packaging and single use plastics at Electrão.
Jillian Nelson was hired as a marketing assistant with Dairy Farmers of America. She was previously a game presentation assistant for the Minnesota Lynx, and a brand ambassador for Minnesota United FC.
