Forum Speakers

We face unprecedented challenges as a sector. These #LeadersInAction have demonstrated their commitment to creating sustainable food systems and collectively raise the ambition of the sector. We are honored for them to join us at the Honor the Harvest Forum to share their perspective of the top-line challenges facing our sector and supporting farmers, ranchers, and value chain leaders as they co-design solutions.

Mary Shelman

Mary Shelman is an internationally recognized thought leader, strategist, author, and speaker on global agribusiness, AgTech, and food system trends. The former Director of Harvard Business School’s Agribusiness Program, she now works with companies, governments, and investors around the world through her consulting and advisory firm, Shelman Group, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Shelman provides unique insights into technology and consumer trends and champions collaboration, industry alignment, and forward-looking strategic planning to achieve system- wide improvements and create pathways for sustainable growth. A native of Kentucky where she still owns a farm, Mary holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ambassador Kip Tom

Kip E. Tom served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, and chief of the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, from 2019 to 2021.

Before his appointment, Tom was chief executive officer of Indiana-based Tom Farms. In addition to being active in Agri-Business operations in Indiana for over 40 years, Kip has also served as a crop production consultant to various companies in Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

Kip’s early role in Tom Farms was to serve as a production technician. In 1980, he assumed the role of Assistant Director of Production and Supply Management, leading the company’s growth and expansion of production.

Ambassador Terry Branstad

Former U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad assumed leadership of the World Food Prize Foundation in January 2023, bringing to the organization a legacy of public service, executive leadership and coalition-building on an international scale.

He has had an important connection to food and agriculture throughout his career, including leading the state of Iowa through much of the 1980s Farm Crisis and rebuilding a state economy where agriculture drives many employment sectors.

Ambassador Branstad has been a champion of the World Food Prize Foundation from its earliest days. He was serving as Governor of Iowa in 1990 when John Ruan, Sr., worked with Dr. Noman Borlaug to move the esteemed World Food Prize to Iowa and establish the foundation.

Carter Ingram, PhD

Dr. Carter Ingram has over 15 years of experience focusing on natural resource management and economic development in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the United States. She is an Executive Director at Pollination Group, a nature and climate investment/advisory firm, where she leads client engagements and strategies on nature and within the food and fiber sectors. Prior to joining Pollination, Dr. Carter was a Senior Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice where she advised food and agriculture businesses in designing and implementing sustainability strategies, programs, and impact measurement frameworks, with a focus on natural capital. Dr. Carter’s previous experiences include leading the Ecosystem Services program and the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Dr. Carter completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and an M.Sc. and D.Phil. from the School of Geography and the Environment of Oxford University.

Chuck Rice, PhD

Chuck grew up in Yorkville, Illinois which had a population of about 1,500 people at the time. Throughout the years he became involved in many aspects of 4-H. Dr. Rice received his B.S. in Geography from Northern Illinois University and completed his Masters and Doctorate from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Rice began his undergraduate work in biology, but it was an honors geography water resource class that would lead him to switching his major.

Dr. Rice is a distinguished professor of agronomy and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for my work with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His research has been supported by more than $15 million in grants from the USDA, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and others.

Debbie Reed

Debbie Reed is the Executive Director of the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) and the Ecosystem Services Market Research Consortium (ESMRC), a non-profit member-based public private partnership. ESMC’s Eco-Harvest market program is the only national scale fully accredited scope 3 market program for agriculture. EMRC is the market innovation and R&D side of the program (ESMRC), investing to continuously improve the scope, scale and operations of ESMC’s non-profit market program. ESMC members include 70+ agricultural sector supply chain and value chain partners collaborating in science-based, standards-based scope 3 market program that generates verified impacts for soil carbon removals and reduced GHG; as well as quantified water quality and water use conservation and biodiversity outcomes. Reed’s role in leading ESMC/ESMRC builds on decades of experience in carbon markets, agriculture climate change mitigation and sustainability efforts in the US and internationally.

Elizabeth Sheppard

Elizabeth Sheppard is an accomplished finance professional with experience in regenerative agriculture financing, internal audit, financial planning and analysis, and treasury. She has led the development of a first-of-its-kind financing partnership between McCain Foods and Farm Credit Canada and drove the execution of the McCain: McDonald’s Future of Potato Farming Fund. Serving as a direct connection between agriculture and finance professionals, Elizabeth & McCain are actively pursuing partnerships dedicated to reducing the barriers to regenerative agriculture across North America. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Honours, from Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Jonathan Sherrill

Jonathan brings unique perspective on transformational change and climate-smart agriculture stemming from practical industry experience across technology, agriculture, food and beverage, supply chain, and manufacturing. From developing the first paperless crop insurance acreage reporting solution on mobile devices for farmers—in partnership with AgriSompo—to digital transformation of farmer offtake agreements and sustainability reporting for Del Monte, PepsiCo, and Olam International, Jonathan has facilitated change management initiatives across entire value chains.

Most recently as a business development consultant for a UK based consulting firm, he developed risk management and strategic sourcing initiatives for McDonald’s, Fulton Market Group, and Inter IKEA to deliver positive sustainability outcomes across their commercial supply networks. Jonathan now serves as Vice President of Business Development for AON.

Julie Fussner

Julie Fussner is Chief Marketing Officer for Culver Franchising System, LLC (CFS), the franchisor for over 900 Culver’s restaurants in 26 states. In this role, Julie oversees the brand strategy, media investment, creative execution, menu strategy and company events. Julie joined CFS in February 2017 and served as Vice President of Marketing until her recent promotion. She spent most of the past 20 years working in food consumer packaged goods. She most notably spent 10 years driving growth for the iconic Oscar Mayer category of products while at Kraft Foods. Julie grew up in a suburb just outside of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her MBA from the University of Chicago. Julie and her husband currently live in a suburb of Madison. Outside of the office, Julie enjoys spending time with her boys, doing every type of class Peloton offers, as well as hiking with her husband and dog and reading.

Justin Ranson, PhD

Justin Ransom is the Senior Director of Sustainable Food Policy at Tyson Foods. He works with subject matter experts, business leaders and external partners to develop and implement sustainability strategies that will have a positive impact on the company, the supply chain and the communities in which Tyson operates. Justin’s academic background in Animal Science and Communications, coupled with his broad experience in government, food production and foodservice has proved valuable in helping food companies make strategic decisions that align with customer expectations while growing value chain profitability. Justin has a B.S. in Agriculture Communications and Marketing from Texas Tech University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal Science from Michigan State University and Colorado State University. In his free time, Justin enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter and working on the farm.

Kendra Levine

Kendra Levine is McDonald’s US Sustainability lead where she and her team cover supply chain and restaurant sustainability. Prior to this role, she led McDonald’s relationship with their Latin American franchisees on all things supply chain related as their Field Service Director, and prior to that, led McDonald’s US supply chain climate strategy and their coffee sustainability globally. Before McDonald’s, she worked in international agricultural development with smallholder subsistence farmers in Kenya with One Acre Fund and Guatemala with Fundación AGIL. Kendra has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and University of Florida, respectively. In 2019 she was named one of University of Florida’s “40 under 40.”
Kendra Levine

Lachlan Campbell

Lachlan grew up on the family sheep farm in Australia and has decades of experience in livestock production and farm management.

He has decades of experience as a specialist consultant – advising hundreds of family farming businesses on planning and adapting to change to ensure they are sustainable over the long-term. He is an active contributor and guide to the Sheep and Cattle Industry and advisor to corporate and government. In addition to being ProAgni CEO, Lachlan has been the main resource to drive business development and industry engagement; generating sales from individual customers; and building the reseller and manufacturing network.

Over the past 6 years, Lachlan has had the opportunity to work with producers, resellers, researchers, and industry bodies and has a well-rounded understanding of the industry and the current and future issues that may impact our producers. With the changes on imports into the EU, Lachlan feels it is vitally important to keep our producers informed and supported.

Laurie Isley

Fifth generation farmer Laurie Isley is the owner of Sunrise Farms, Inc. in Palmyra, Michigan. Laurie and her husband James farm 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans. She received her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in Agriculture and Natural Resources and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University. Laurie was active in 4-H, FFA, and Michigan Farm Bureau’s Promotion and Education Committee for six years. She currently serves as the MSPC and Lenawee County Farm Bureau president and is also a program area representative for outreach, resources and administration.

Mac Marshall

Mac Marshall serves as the vice president, market intelligence for the United Soybean Board and USSEC where he works with USB leadership to evaluate and establish long-term strategic initiatives in support of advancing domestic and international market opportunities for the U.S. soybean industry. He also serves as an industry source of market information and analysis.

Prior to joining USB, Mac worked at Bayer Crop Science and Monsanto where he focused on international and commodity market analysis. Before joining Monsanto in 2014, Mac served as a staff economist at the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics with a focus on agricultural commodities, in addition to serving as the supervisory economist leading a team of economists covering service industries. He holds a B.A. in economics from Vassar College and an M.A. in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Marilyn Hershey

Marilyn Hershey is the chair of Dairy Management, Inc., and a director on the United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA) board. UDIA and the National Dairy Board Fund Dairy Management, Inc.™ (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff program. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors at U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action.

Marilyn and her husband Duane own and operate Ar-Joy Farms, LLC, a Pennsylvania family farm nestled about an hour west of Philadelphia and forty minutes north of the Chesapeake Bay. Their long family history of dairy farming is evident as they care for the land (550 acres), the animals (800 milking cows) and their employees.

Michael Crinion

Michael Crinion is a dairy farmer from Lake Benton, Minnesota. He has 18 years of international dairy experience and is a member of the South Dakota Ag and Rural Leadership Class IV, South Dakota Development Board, and Vice President of Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative board. He is the USFRA Board Secretary.

Originally from Ireland, Crinion is a partner with Ash Grove Dairy. Michael studied Agriculture and Farm Management at Warrenstown Agricultural College. In 2002, I was the first runner-up in the Farmers’ Business Development’s All Ireland Young Farmer of the Year competition.

Recently, he was featured in the groundbreaking ceremony of VF Renewable Energy, one of the newest anaerobic digester facility projects to be designed and operated by Dynamic in Revillo, South Dakota.

Olga Bolden-Tiller, PhD

Dr. Olga U. Bolden-Tiller serves as the Dean for the College of Agriculture, Environment, and Nutrition Sciences (CAENS) at Tuskegee University (TU) as well as the 1890 Research Director. She holds a BS degree in Agricultural Sciences (Animal Sciences) from Fort Valley State University and a Ph.D. degree in Animal Sciences (Reproductive Biology) from the University of Missouri- Columbia where she matriculated as an USDA-National Needs Fellow.

Prior to obtaining her current position, Dr. Bolden-Tiller served as the Coordinator for the Animal, Poultry and Veterinary Sciences Program, Assistant Dean of Development for CAENS as well as the Assistant Head for DAES. In these roles, Dr. Bolden-Tiller established numerous partnerships with a variety of domestic and international organizations supporting Tuskegee University’s efforts.

Olga Bolden Tiller

Ramsay Huntley

Ramsay Huntley is a leader in the field of climate change strategy and finance, with deep expertise in sustainability and ESG. Currently, he is the Climate Strategy and Innovation Lead for Wells Fargo. Sitting in both the Corporate Strategy leadership team and the Sustainability team, he partners with climate experts across the bank to ensure that net zero transition-related strategic priorities are consistent; embed climate more deeply into company and LOB-articulated strategies; and provide a view on how climate impact is reflected in innovation work. In 2022, he was named to the Aspen Institute’s First Mover Fellowship.

Previously, he was a founding member of the bank’s Institute for Sustainable Finance, with responsibility for efforts to work across the enterprise to identify and execute business opportunities that support the bank’s net zero by 2050 ambition.

Rodney Snyder

Rod Snyder is the Senior Advisor for Agriculture to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He was appointed to this position in October 2021. Snyder has nearly two decades of leadership experience at the intersection of agricultural and environmental policy. Prior to his current role, he served as president of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture from 2014-2021, which is the largest multi-stakeholder initiative working to advance the sustainability of commodity crop farming in the United States. Snyder has also held positions as Public Policy Director for the National Corn Growers Association and Government Affairs Leader for CropLife America. He is a longtime champion of agricultural solutions to climate change and has on two occasions organized farmer delegations to participate in UN Climate Summits in Paris and Copenhagen. Snyder holds a B.A. in Political Science from Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.

Sara Faivre, PhD

Dr. Sara Faivre is a board director, investor, and consultant with expertise in agriculture, sustainability, ag finance and biotechnology. She currently serves on the boards of Farmer Mac, a public ag mortgage company, One More Cloud a private tech company and the National Association of Corporate Directors Texas TriCities, as well as the advisory board of Harvest Returns, an ag business and agtech investment platform. Dr. Faivre started her career as a scientist with the human and livestock genome projects, then founded two ag biotechs, before retreating from the corporate world to manage a grass-fed beef operation. In 2010, she was appointed by President Obama to the board of Farmer Mac, which sparked a passion for great governance. On that board she chairs the Strategy and Business Development committee and also sits on Compensation/Human Capital and Public Policy/Corporate Social Responsibility committees. Faivre leverages her Midwest ag upbringing, business experience and degrees in Ag Business, Animal Science and Molecular Genetics as a consultant to, and investor in, ag and agtech startups, with a focus on sustainability.

Secretary Tom Vilsack

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was nominated by President Biden to return to a role where he served for eight years under President Obama.

During that time, Vilsack worked hard to strengthen the American agricultural economy, build vibrant rural communities and create new markets for innovation in rural America.

Under his leadership, USDA supported America’s farmers, ranchers and growers who drove the rural economy forward, set records for U.S. agricultural exports, provided food assistance to millions of Americans, and helped provide a safe, sufficient and nutritious food supply for the American people.

Prior to his appointment, he served two terms as the Governor of Iowa, served in the Iowa State Senate and as the mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

Steve Cook

Steve Cook is a first generation rancher and Chief Bovine Officer (CBO) of Cook Cattle, LLC in Lampasas County, Texas. After graduating from Texas A&M in 1988, he was commissioned in the US Army and served in numerous leadership and staff positions throughout the world over his 25 year Army career.

As part of his planning for retirement, he purchased a 700 acre ranch in 1996, leasing it for cattle grazing while he continued to serve on active duty. After retiring in 2014, he started at cow calf operation with a single cow calf pair. The operation has evolved to Ranch to Table business, selling beef directly to consumers. The cattle are processed at a local USDA facility, and marketed as locally raised, low stress handling, hormone and antibiotic/steroid free, pasture raised; not a feed lot operation.

He graduated from Battle Ground to Breaking Ground (BGBG), a USDA program run by Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, that helps Veterans learn about different agricultural enterprises and develop a business plan.

Tim Faveri

Tim Faveri is a seasoned business and sustainability executive with over 25 years’ of experience. Prior to joining Nutrien, he embedded sustainability and shared value at Maple Leaf Foods, enabling the company to become the first major carbon-neutral food company in 2019. He is an accomplished leader of small and large cross-functional and/or industry-wide teams.

Specialties include sustainability and carbon/environmental strategy development and implementation; corporate ESG reporting, disclosure, and transparency; stakeholder engagement; supply chain risk assessment and verification; industry collaboration and partnership development; team leadership, coaching, mentoring, and public speaking.

Travis Park, PhD

Dr.Park’s love for and engagement with agricultural education has been a lifelong endeavor. As an Indiana FFA member, Travis served as the 1992-93 National FFA President. He was a 9-year 4-H member and active in various campus organizations at Purdue University. He taught high school agriculture at Tri-County High School for 5½ years where the chapter was the Top FFA Chapter in Indiana, and the agriculture program was one of six NAAE Outstanding Agriculture Programs.

Dr. Travis Park is a Professor of Agricultural Education in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. He has been recognized with the CALS Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Park led the development of NC State’s first fully online degree program to provide remote access to the Agricultural Science major.

Veronica Bradley

Veronica Bradley serves as Director of Environmental Science for Clean Fuels Alliance America where she leads the advancement of education and research on the climate benefits of bio-based diesel and sustainable aviation fuels. In this role, Veronica educates relevant stakeholders on the environmental benefits of clean fuels and works with industry to identify and execute on relevant research needs. This work ensures feedstock and producer members’ products are accurately assessed for their climate benefits and are appropriately accounted for in reporting by end users and policymakers.

Prior to joining Clean Fuels, Veronica was Director of Environmental Affairs at Airlines for America where she assisted in environmental advocacy activities relating to aircraft and airline operations. She was previously a Research Associate at ICF, supporting the Climate Change and Stratospheric Ozone Protection Divisions for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and an attorney-advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A Michigan native, Veronica received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.

Now is the time to join sustainability focused food and agriculture leaders and organizations to accelerate bold, collaborative action around common goals.