Tim Harris

Timothy A. Harris
President

Timothy A. Harris, 48, Princeton, Illinois, has extensive grain and livestock experience having spent 20 years in the dairy business. He became involved with farm management in 1995 and received his Accredited Farm Manager Designation from the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in 2001. He is also an Illinois Real Estate Broker and a partner with his family’s 1000 acre grain farming operation. Tim also owns Harris Farm Management.

Tim received his AAS from Illinois Valley Community College in Agribusiness. He is an Illinois Real Estate Broker, and Accredited Farm Manager with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

In his position as Senior Manager with CAPS, Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Harris will be managing farmland and handling real estate transactions for clients in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois from his office in Princeton. Harris is very involved with local activities including serving as a Trustee for Greenfield Retirement Home, on the board of directors for the Bureau County Health and Wellness Clinic, Princeton Community Band and as an active member of the Evangelical Covenant Church where he served as a church chair.
More recently he was chair of the 2008 Bureau County United Way campaign and is now co-chair of the Princeton Theater Conservatory School fund raising campaign.

He was a member of the class of 2000 in the IALF program and currently serves as President of the Alumni Board. Tim is also a graduate of the Farm Bureau ALOT leadership training program. Tim is married to his wife Judy and has a daughter, Jennifer, and a son, Aaron.

Chester S. (Chet) Boruff

Chester S. Boruff
Vice President

Chester S. (Chet) Boruff serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA), starting in this position on November 1, 2004.

As the Association’s CEO, he is responsible for managing its seed certification programs, developing new services and business relationships for certification agencies, and serving as spokesperson for the organization. AOSCA represents seed certification agencies in 45 states in the U.S., Canada, and several other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile. These Agencies are responsible for administering seed certification programs that protect the varietal purity and quality of a wide range of agricultural and horticultural seeds and plant propagating materials. Through these programs, farmers are protected and can be assured that they receive the value they expect from their investment in seed. AOSCA and its member agencies also provide services related to ISO, organic, and quality assurance certification to support seed and commodity markets that require these activities.

Chet was raised on a diversified family farm in Rock Island, County, Illinois, and received an agricultural degree from Iowa State University. He met and married his wife, Joy, while they were students at ISU. They have two children, Scott and Amy. During his career, Chet has worked in agricultural finance, sales, marketing, and for seven years served as the Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Throughout his career, he has operated a farming operation in his home area. He is a 1984 graduate of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program.

Kim Morton

Kim Morton
Northeast Director

Kim Morton has been serving as the Chicago based Director of Development for the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences since 2003. Prior to that she was the first Northeastern Illinois Legislative Coordinator for the Illinois Farm Bureau, a role created to lobby members of the Illinois General Assembly from Cook and the collar counties who may have little, if any, familiarity with production agriculture. She was a farm manager with The Northern Trust Company from 1984-2001, working with trusts & estates which owned farmland or timber. This position provided the opportunity to work in 22 states. During this time, she became the second woman in the nation to receive the Accredited Farm Manager designation and she was a member of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation Class of 1998.

A native of Taylorville, Ill, where she still owns the small family farm, she graduated from the University of Illinois College of Agriculture in 1982 with her bachelors in agricultural economics and received her MBA from DePaul University in 1990. She has long been involved with The Chicago Farmers as a director and sits on the Cook County Farm Bureau Public Policy Committee. She retains a membership in the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers. She and her husband, Ron, live in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago.

Randy Grove

Randy Grove
Southwest Director

Randy has been an employee with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land and Water Resources, as a Regional Representative, since 1980. In this capacity, he is responsible for providing programs information, advice, direction, assistance and training to 20 Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Board Directors and SWCD staff, to the extent that all function in their capacity, as the interpreted intent of the laws of Illinois, including the “Soil and Water Conservation Districts Act”.

Randy grew up on a grain and livestock farming operation in McDonough County Illinois, near Sciota. He is a 1976 graduate of Western Illinois University with emphasis in Agricultural Sciences. He is a past recipient of the Director’s Distinguished Service Award from the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, a 1990 graduate of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program, and served from 1991-1998 as a Village Trustee on the Village of Good Hope governing board (Chairman of Legal and Finance Committee). Randy is currently serving (2006-present) and representing the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program Alumni Association as the Southwest Regional Director.

Randy is married and has three children. He currently resides in Good Hope, Illinois where he remains active in church and community activities.

Bruce Strikkers

Bruce Strikkers

Southeast Director

Bruce currently serves as Resource Conservationist with Champaign County.

Matt Wiebers

Matt Wiebers
Out-of-State Director

Matt Wiebers, IALP ’06, is a project manager for Mosaic Crop Nutrition. Mosaic is one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate and potash crop nutrients. It was formed in October of 2004 by the merger of Cargill Crop Nutrition and IMC Global. Matt’s work focuses on the research, development, and implementation of new technologies and services to improve fertilizer use efficiency. His projects are based primarily in the US and Canada, but also works with teams in Argentina, Brazil, China, and India. Prior to his current position Matt worked for Cargill in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Matt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Systems Management from Iowa State University, and is a life member of the Alumni Association. He is an alumnus of FarmHouse Fraternity and was active on campus in various student organizations. During his sophomore year at Iowa State, Matt battled cancer and with the strong support of his family and friends has been in remission since 1996. Matt stays active with his involvement in community organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life, the Illinois Farm Bureau, and the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association. In his spare time he enjoys cycling, racquetball, golf, and travel.

Mary Christine Ludwig

Mary Christine Ludwig
Southeast Director

Mary Christine Ludwig is an Attorney in the firm of Robert Dodd & Associates,LLC where she specializes her practice in business organizations, agricultural and securities law. She is responsible for a wide business practice, including services to start-up companies, joint ventures and new business development, with a strong emphasis on agricultural and cooperative law, including agricultural value-added businesses opportunities, most recently assisting in the development of ethanol plants and investment groups in bio-fuel projects.

Mary Christine has extensive experience with numerous agricultural entities and their directors in the area of business structures and operations, mergers and joint ventures, especially in the cooperative area. She received her joint M.B.A. and J.D. from Drake University and Drake Law School in Des Moines, Iowa where she also received the unique Certificate in Food and Agricultural Law (2005).

She received a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois, with Areas of Concentration in Finance, Agribusiness and Marketing (1995). Prior to law school she provided financial consulting, tax planning and preparation and bookkeeping services to approximately 100 farmer clients in east central Illinois and western Indiana.

During that same time she also managed and operated her family s 1,400 acre corn and soybean farm, along with the help of her brother Steve. Since that time she has remained involved with the farm as her brother has taken over management and operation of what has now evolved into a 2,500 acre grain farm in Vermilion County. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Mary Christine also gained experience as an agricultural and commercial lender in Chrisman, Illinois.

Most recently along with her law practice she has become an instructor for Annie’s Project, a University of Illinois Extension program that provides classes which teach farm women a variety of the business aspects of a farming operation, including marketing, crop insurance, farm program payments, estate and succession planning and many other subjects.

She is a 2002 graduate of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program and remains continuously involved with local organizations which promote the business and the agricultural industry, including Illinois Agri Women and American Agri Women, Champaign County and Vermilion County Farm Bureaus, the Illini Chapter of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, Agribusiness Councils of the Champaign Chamber of Commerce and Vermilion Advantage and East Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association.

Randy Sims
Southeast Director

Randy Sims, IALP ’84 is self-employed in the production agriculture sector and owns Sims Farms in Liberty, IL.

Jackie Kraft

Jackie Kraft
Northeast Director

Jackie Kraft, IALP ’06 is self-employed in the production agriculture sector and owns Kraft Farms in Towanda, IL where she is actively involved in the family farming operation.

Jackie holds a Bachelor degree in Agri-Business from Illinois State University. She has served as President of the ISU Ag Alumni Board and is a graduate of the McLean County Leadership Program. She is currently involved in the community as a 4-H Leader, Girl Scout Leader, Peace Meal Volunteer and Towanda Elementary PTO.

Jackie and her husband Mark reside in Towanda where they raise their 5 children.