Joseph Kerns, President of Partners for Production Agriculture, has thirty years’ experience working with producers, suppliers, and mills to support agricultural operations. He leads a team of professionals with the purpose of understanding the financial parameters around agricultural markets so that those that he works with can thrive and prosper.
(more…)Levi C. Maaia is the director of “Pathways to Invention” a documentary on Lemelson-MIT award-winning inventors. He was in Iowa City recently filming at SwineTech for the film. Levi began his media career in FM radio, cable television and broadband where he became fascinated by the potential for technology to educate, and open a window on the world. He earned a Ph.D. studying Maker culture and STEM education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He later started Maaia Mark Productions with his business partner Noah Mark in order to explore the intersections of culture and technology through film. Levi is a private, instrument-rated, land and seaplane pilot serving on the Santa Barbara Airport Commission, a licensed amateur radio operator and avid photographer. He also tinkers with his 1966 Mustang to keep it running.
(more…)Dr. Yanbin Shen is currently the Global Technical Services Director at APC, Inc. APC, Inc. is one of seven independent companies under The Lauridsen Group, Inc. and is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. APC was founded in 1981 and is dedicated to the research and application of blood products in animal nutrition. The company has grown into a global manufacturer and supplier of porcine, bovine plasma and hemoglobin. APC has approximately 500 employees in 9 countries and 17 manufacturing plants worldwide.
(more…)A lifelong “car guy” Brad Zimmerman began his career in event marketing which naturally gravitated towards professional motorsports. A move from California to North Carolina in the early 2000’s to be closer to the epicenter of stock car racing, Brad quickly merged his passion of cars with the growing experiential marketing industry which then dovetailed into social and digital marketing. Having worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, Brad is constantly looking ahead to contemporary trends and technologies and applying them towards present day campaigns and projects.
(more…)Ron Ketchem graduated from the University of Missouri in 1973 with a BS in Animal Science and master studies in Reproductive Physiology and Animal Breeding. He worked 12 years for a genetic company in production, sales, and marketing and developed their AI program. He then spent 15 years in Indiana with a major feed company as a Swine Consultant providing technical support and training. Ron later purchased Swine Management Services, LLC in August 2002 with Mark Rix. SMS was sold on September 30, 2019 to MetaFarms, a sow record-keeping company in Minnesota. Today, Ron consults with over 400,000 sows in the US, Canada, and Australia. Ron has been married to his wife Pam for 36 years and has 3 grown sons.
(more…)Chris Westfall is one of the most sought-after business coaches and keynote
speakers in the world. He has helped launch over five dozen businesses, and
has appeared on ABC NEWS, NBC TV and CNN. A regular contributor to
Forbes, he has worked with thousands of leaders at Fortune 500 companies,
non-profit organizations and high-tech startups. A coach to entrepreneurs and
executives around the globe, his clients have appeared on Shark Tank, Dragon’s
Den and Shark Tank-Australia. He regularly consults with top-tier universities
and is the author of four books, including Leadership Language.
Dr. Kiah Berg grew up on a small show pig farm in Oregon where she found her passion for raising and feeding pigs. She earned her BS in animal science in K-State, and continued on to pursue a MS and PhD in Applied Swine Nutrition with the K-State team. During her graduate career, she had the opportunity to conduct many large scale sow nutrition trials on commercial sow farms including Hord Livestock, New Fashion Pork, Christensen Farms and Pillen Family Farms. In May of 2020 she joined Pipestone Nutrition. Today she does the sow diet formulation for the Pipestone Managed sow farms, Sow technical service, and leads the Nutrition wean to finish research. She resides with her Husband, Andrew, in Pipestone, MN.
(more…)Casey L. Bradley was born and raised on a swine and mixed crop operation in SW Michigan. She received a B.S. in Animal Science from Michigan State University. After graduation, Casey worked for New Fashion Pork on farms in Wyoming, Minnesota, and Illinois. In 2002, Casey accepted a position at The University of Arkansas as Swine Research Manager. In addition, Casey completed her M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal Science while working for the University.
(more…)Brady grew up on a mixed livestock and row crop farm where he found his passion for the swine industry. That led him to earn his B.S. in Animal Science and M.S. in Animal Breeding and Genetics from Iowa State University focusing on sow longevity. Brady started with DNA Genetics in 2015 and currently is the Multiplication Business Lead, where he works with multiplier partners to ensure their long-term success while providing a quality product to the commercial producer. Prior to this, Brady’s roles focused on technical services and genetic support to the commercial customer and multiplier partners, through on farm troubleshooting/training, coordinating third party trials and developing the genetic infrastructure needed to oversee multiplication. Brady and his wife, Katy, reside in Columbus, Nebraska.
(more…)Brett L. Kaysen, Ph.D., is the senior vice president of sustainability for the National Pork Board. He leads the organization-wide effort to establish pork as the responsible protein of choice. He works to strengthen food chain and consumer understanding of pork production practices by developing research-based communication strategies that engage and influence key decision makers.
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