Martin L. Andreas

Martin L. Andreas

Retired Assistant to the Chief Executive and
Director of Corporate Marketing
Archer Daniels Midland

Martin L. Andreas retired from Archer Daniels Midland Company headquartered in Decatur, IL, after 35 years of service to the organization in September 2005.  Mr. Andreas began his career in 1970 as Executive Vice President of Corn Sweeteners in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a business he and his father purchased and later sold to ADM in 1973.  From 1975-1986, Mr. Andreas served as the President of ADM’s Corn Division.  From 1987-2005, he held many executive positions within ADM including Director of Corporate Marketing and Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive.  Immediately following his retirement, Mr. Andreas served an additional year as a consultant to ADM in the areas of energy and government affairs.

Martin L. Andreas assisted in the development of 55% high fructose corn syrup which totally replaced sugar in the U.S. soft drinks industry and was instrumental in ADM’s pioneering of fuel ethanol starting in 1978.  ADM is a world leader in agricultural processing and is one of the world’s largest processors of corn, soybeans, wheat and cocoa.  ADM is also a leader in the production of soy meal and oil, ethanol, corn sweeteners and flour.  ADM has more than 250 processing plants worldwide and annual sales of $36 billion.

Currently, Mr. Andreas is President of the Andreas Corporation which is a stock investment family business he manages with his two sons.  He finds time for civic and business involvement by serving on the boards of Mount Mercy College, Trees Forever and the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation.

Mr. Andreas is married and has four children, eight grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.  His hobbies include gardening and flower photography.

Gary Baise

Gary Baise

Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC, Washington, D.C.

Gary Baise currently serves with the law firm of Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Bode, and Matz PC. As the nation’s premier FDA, USDA, and health care law firm, serving clients before federal agencies, courts, and Congress, Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Bode, and Matz PC uses their background in government, medicine, and industry to create innovative solutions for clients in the food, pharmaceutical, medical device, and agricultural industries.

Mr. Baise is an undergraduate alumni of Western Illinois University and earned is J.D. from Indiana University. In the Federal Government, he
served as the first Chief of Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, and later served as Executive Assistant to the Director of the
F.B.I., Associate Deputy Attorney General and Acting Deputy Attorney
General. He as earned the Arthur S. Fleming Award thus identifying him as one of the top ten outstanding young men and women in the Federal Service. Mr. Baise maintains memberships in many organizations including: U.S. Supreme Court, Indiana Supreme Court,U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, American Bar Association, Chicago Club, District of Columbia Bar Association, Fairfax County Republican Committee, Indiana State Bar Association, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Soybean Association, Metropolitan Club, Morgan-Cass Farm Bureau, National Press Club, and the Virginia Farm Bureau.
In addition to serving on the board of the IALF, he has served in various leadership capacities with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Attwoods, Inc., Chesapeake Bay – Citizens Advisory Committee, Farm Foundation (Trustee and former Chairman), former member of Ocean Spray Board of Directors, USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force, Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board (Chairman), Virginia State Water Control Board (Vice-Chairman), Virginia Waste Management Board. His publication record spans four decades.

Dan Kelley

Dan Kelley

Chairman of the Board & President
Growmark, Inc.

Chairman, IALF Board

Daniel T. Kelley became chairman of the board and president of GROWMARK, Inc. September 1, 2000.  He operates a grain farm near Normal, Illinois in partnership with his two brothers and his son.

He was elected to the GROWMARK Board in 1995 and served as one of two vice-chairmen from 1998 to 2000.  Kelley has been a director of Evergreen FS, Inc., Bloomington, Illinois, since 1977, serving as president from 1985 to 2008.  He served as a director of Farmland Mutual Insurance Company, Des Moines, Iowa, from 2003 to 2008. He was elected to the Nationwide Board of Directors, Columbus, Ohio, in April 2006, and was named to the board of Nationwide Bank in March 2009.  Dan was elected to the CoBank Board of Directors, Denver, Colorado, in January 2004 and has served as first vice chairman since 2007.  He has also served as chairman of the CoBank Budget/Finance Committee, and is currently a member of the Executive and Compensation Committees.

Dan was a board member of AgriBank FCB, St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1989 to 1996 and served as chairman from 1991-94.  He chaired the merger steering committee forming AgriBank FCB in May 1992.  He also has served on the board of 1^st Farm Credit Services, Bloomington, Illinois.

Dan was a member of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Ag Council and served as the organization’s co-chairman for ten years.  In 1990 he earned the Cooperative Leadership Award from the Illinois Cooperative Coordinating Committee.  In 1992 Kelley received the Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award from the Bloomington-Normal Ag Club.  He is a 1984 graduate of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation Program, has served as a director and vice chairman, and was elected chairman of the IALF in November 2009.  Dan was chosen Director of the Year for his outstanding leadership abilities by the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives at their annual meeting in January, 2002, and most recently has served as co-chairman of the NCFC 2007 Farm Bill Policy Task Force Committee.

Kelley is a 1970 graduate of Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture.  Dan began serving on the Illinois State University Alumni Board of Directors in 2002, serving as president for the past two years.  In 2009, he was inducted into the ISU College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) Hall of Fame and was also named the 2009 Distinguished Alumnus of Normal Community High School.

Dan is active in his church.  He and his wife, Pam, have two daughters and a son, and seven grandchildren.

Siamak (Mak) Mirhakimi

Siamak (Mak) Mirhakimi

Siamak (Mak) Mirhakimi is the General Manager of Electronics & System Integration Division with Caterpillar Inc. Mirhakimi began his career at Caterpillar in 1986 when he joined Caterpillar’s College Graduate Training (CGT) program. He held a variety of positions ranging from Development Engineer to Supervising Engineer in the Electrical and Electronics Division in Mossville, Illinois. In 1997, Mirhakimi became the industrial and marine engine electronics Product Manager in Engine Division. In 2000, Mirhakimi became industrial sales & marketing manager for the Europe-Africa-Middle East (EAME) Division, located in Geneva, Switzerland and then Peterborough UK. He moved back to US in 2005, as OEM Solutions General Manager with worldwide responsibility for sales and marketing of Caterpillar components to OEM customers.  He moved to his current position as General Manager of Electronics and System Integration in August of 2010.

Mirhakimi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 and a Master of Science degree in 1986 from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Porter J. Martin

Porter J. Martin

Porter J. Martin, ALC, CIPS, is President of Porter Martin Farmland and Cattle Company, LLC in Shabbona, Illinois.

Martin, throughout his real estate career, has specialized in the acquisition, sale, management, appraisal and financing of agricultural properties in the Midwest and in California. Primary clients have included financial service firms, government organizations, various financial institutions, individual investors and all types of agricultural-related businesses. Since the mid-1970s Martin has been involved in the acquisition and/or sale of properties for individuals from sixteen foreign countries and more than forty of the United States.

Martin attended Iowa State University and the University of Illinois from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Education and a Master’s Degree in Extension Education. He later earned an Agricultural Banking Degree from Iowa State University. Prior to going into private business, Martin was a high school agriculture teacher for several years, then he served on the staff of the University of Illinois as a County Agricultural Extension Adviser. He later headed the Illinois segment of a national rural development program administered through a Presidential task force in Washington, DC. Martin also spent several years as a farm loan officer and as a farm manager and rural appraiser with the former DeKalb Bank in DeKalb, Illinois.

Martin has been a member of the Farmers Club in London for close to thirty-five years and of the Chicago Farmers for nearly forty years, serving as president of the latter for two terms. He holds the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation from the Realtors Land Institute. In 1996 Martin was named Land Realtor of America by that organization. He was the 10th person in the world to receive the coveted Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation from the National Association of Realtors. Since 1989 Martin has served as treasurer of the Illinois Agriculture Leadership Foundation. He and his wife, Sherrie, are Illinois farmland owners. They have lived in Shabbona for 50 years and have raised their family of four in rural DeKalb County where Martin also has been active in church and community affairs.

Don McGillivray

Don McGillivray, retired President of Funk Seeds International, now part of Syngenta Seeds, has spent his lifelong career in agriculture. He has been actively involved in the seed industry since joining Funk Seeds in 1950.

Don grew up on a farm near Muscatine, Iowa and attended public schools there where he was a member and held offices in both 4-H and FFA, receiving the State Farmer Degree in 1946. He graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agronomy. Upon graduation, he joined Funk Seeds International as a production supervisor at the company’s Belle Plaine, Iowa operation. After serving two years in the United States Army, he returned to Funk Seeds as a plant breeder – a position he held for several years.  He later became assistant manager and then manager of Funk’s Iowa-Minnesota-Wisconsin operations before transferring to Bloomington, Illinois in 1970 as manager of hybrid corn operations. In 1975, Don was promoted to Vice President of Operations for Funk and in 1982 became President. In July 1989, Don retired from Funk and continued with consulting activities in the seed industry and volunteers his time in other agricultural leadership related organizations.

Outside his career at Funk Seeds, Don has been active in a number of organizations. He is a Past President of the American Seed Trade Association (1988-89) and continues on its Board of Directors. He has also served as Chairman of the association’s Hybrid Corn and Sorghum Division and has been active on several committees. In 1996, Don was recognized for his service to the seed industry by being named a Lifetime Honorary Member of the American Seed Trade Association.  Don has served as a board member of the U.S. Feed Grains Council and a board member and Past President of the American Seed Research Foundation. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation since 1984, serving as Chairman from 1990 to 2000. From 1997-2003, Don served as a director of the Illinois State 4-H Foundation.

In his home community of Bloomington, Illinois, Don is active in First United Methodist Church, Normal Illinois, is a member of the Bloomington Exchange Club and past president of the BroMenn Hospital Advisory Council. He has served on the Illinois Wesleyan University Associates Board and is active in the Illinois State University Senior Professionals Program.

Don and his wife, Betty, have two daughters, Ann Barsch of Fredericksburg, Texas and Jean Pitts of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.

Orion Samuelson

Orion Samuelson

Orion Samuelson is heard 6 days a week on WGN Radio in Chicago, where he has served as Agribusiness Director since 1960. September 26, 2010, Orion celebrated his 50^th year on the air with WGN-Radio. Orion presents 18 agricultural reports daily on the station. Orion is also heard daily on 260 radio stations with his syndicated National Farm Report and on 110 stations with his syndicated Samuelson Sez. Orion and Max Armstrong are seen weekly on RFD-TV as co-hosts of This Week in Agri-Business.

In 2003, Orion received the highest award in the radio industry when he became the first Agribusiness Broadcaster to be inducted into the National Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Hall of Famer Paul Harvey presented the award to Orion on the national radio broadcast hosted by Larry King.

Orion has traveled with his television crew to 43 countries to cover agriculture; four of his trips were official agricultural trade missions with the Secretary of Agriculture.

Orion is active outside broadcasting. He is Past-Chairman of the Board of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation, a member of the Farm Foundation Bennett Round Table, a member of the Board of the Agriculture of America, a member of the Board of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, a member of the Board of Directors of the Foods Resource Bank, a Trustee of the Cornerstone Foundation of Lutheran Social Services in Illinois and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National 4-H Council.

Enid Schlipf

Enid Schlipf

Enid Schlipf owns and operates a grain and livestock farm in McLean County with wife and son-in-law. Schlipf Farms Inc. produces corn, specialty soybeans, and beef cattle, including embryo transplant work. He also is a Real Estate Broker with Prairieland Gold Real Estate. His impact on the Illinois agriculture community extends well beyond the farm, however.

As a youth, Enid was active in the FFA, serving as state president and receiving the Illinois Star State Farmer Award. He was also involved in 4-H attending the National
4-H Club Congress and being selected to be a member of the twelve person National Report to the Nation team. He attended Illinois State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Education in 1970. While at ISU, he was a member of the Livestock Judging Team.

Enid has served as vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. He also served as vice president of the companies that constitute Country Insurance, IAA Trust Company, AgriVisor Services Inc., and the IAA Foundation. He was President of the McLean County Farm Bureau from 1981 to 1986. He presently serves as president of Ag Guild of Illinois, LLC, a 50 member “new generation cooperative” in central Illinois. They have been successful in developing a niche for value added soybeans into the food and industrial markets. He is a founding member of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation where he serves on the Executive Committee and chairs the Finance Committee.

His community service is vast and impressive. Enid was a founding board member of the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation and presently serves on the Investment Committee. He has received the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award. He served two State Directors as a member of the Board of Agricultural Advisors for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. He served as Chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Illinois State University Laboratory Schools. He is a member of the Chicago Farmers and McLean County Ag Club.

Enid and his wife, Lila, have two daughters, Mechelle and Sheila, one son Eric, and five grandchildren. They are active in the Gridley Apostolic Christian Church.

Marc S. Schulman

Marc S. Schulman

Marc S. Schulman is President of the country’s largest specialty cheesecake bakery – The Eli’s Cheesecake Company, located on the northwest side of Chicago. Eli’s home is Eli’s Cheesecake World, the 62,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art bakery, visitors’ center, retail store, dessert café, and corporate headquarters. The company has numerous awards including being named as mid-size bakery of the year by Bakery Production and Marketing Magazine , as a Quality Leadership Award from Modern Baking Magazine and was named the country’s top food tour by “Top 5” on the Food Network.

The cheesecake was invented by Schulman’s late father, Eli Schulman, as the signature dessert for his popular Chicago restaurant Eli’s the Place for Steak. The now famous dessert was merely a local delight until 1984 when the younger Schulman put his rising legal career on hold to take over the cheesecake company. Eli’s now produces over 20,000 cheesecakes per day! In fact, the Chicago Tribune named Eli’s Cheesecake as one of the City’s best known food brands in its 150 year commemorative issue and the Sun Times named Eli’s as one of the 10 Chicago Food Icons.

Schulman is committed to empowering Eli’s people through educational opportunities. Eli’s has worked in cooperation with its neighboring institution, Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago to create “Eli’s U.,” a GED classroom on-site at Eli’s, which attracted a visit from President Bill Clinton. Eli’s and Wright maintain an educational and community partnership that includes a series of classes for Eli’s associates in areas ranging from food safety to business writing. Eli’s and Wright jointly sponsor a weekly farmer’s market during the summer. Schulman currently serves as Chairman of the Wright College Business Advisory Council.

Schulman and Eli’s are also committed to supporting the Chicago Public Schools. Schulman is a long time supporter of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences and is Co-Chair of its Business Advisory Board. This past summer, Wright College and Eli’s jointly sponsored a Summer Sustainable Agriculture Summer Program for CHSAS students. In recognition of his contributions to agricultural education in Illinois, Schulman has been awarded an Honorary State FFA Degree and received the Illinois Leadership Council for Agricultural Education Excellence Award for Contribution in the Area of Agribusiness.

Eli’s also maintains partnership relationships with Jacqueline Vaughn High School, a public high school for students with mild cognitive disabilities, and the New Horizons Center for the Developmentally Disabled, which has just opened a new facility directly west of the Eli’s bakery.

Schulman has been a life-long booster of Chicago and its cultural resources. He was appointed as Board member of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency by former Governor James R. Thompson and has been a docent for the Chicago Architectural Foundation and a Vice President and Director of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. He also served on a taskforce jointly appointed by Governor George Ryan and Mayor Richard M. Daley, to provide a plan for the reuse of the Pullman factory.

Schulman is a past President of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association and was the founding chairman of the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, an event initiated by the GNMAA, which has become one of the country’s premier holiday festivals. He currently serves on the Board of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, the Illinois Council on Economic Education, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Happiness Club.

In 1999 Schulman was named as the first winner of the Chicago Visitor’s Choice Award for Visitor Marketing. He has also been named one of 10 Outstanding Young Citizens by the Chicago Junior Association of Commerce and Industry for his business and civic achievements, as well as being named as one of the first “40 under 40” by “Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine.” In recognition of his work in economic development, he received the “Norby Award” from the North Business and Industry Council. He was named as Portage Park Business Person of the year and named as a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Denver.

Schulman spearheaded the campaign to create the Eli M. Schulman Playground in memory of his father and to reconstruct Seneca Park, located on the near north side of Chicago, directly across the Museum of Contemporary Art. For his work, Schulman received a Park Stewardship Award from Friends of the Park, as well as a City Brightener Award from the Bright New City Foundation.

Schulman is a graduate of Northwestern University Law School and the University of Denver. He and his wife, Maureen, have three children and live on the near north side of Chicago.

Ron Warfield

Ron Warfield

Ronald R. Warfield, a farmer from Gibson City, was elected as the 13th President of the Illinois Farm Bureau and served as full-time executive officer from 1993 to 2003. He was president of the companies that make up COUNTRY Insurance and Financial Services, Illinois Agricultural Service Company, AgriVisor Services, Inc., and the IAA Foundation. He also served on the Coordinating Committee of GROWMARK, Inc.

He was elected in January 1996 to the Board of Directors of the American Farm Bureau Federation and was appointed to the AFBF Board Executive Committee in January 2000. He serves as Chairman of the AFBF Trade Advisory Committee, and Vice Chairman of the AFBF Agricultural Policy Study Project. He has served on the AFBF Livestock Industry Task Force, the AFBF Structure Task Force, the AFBF Food Quality Protection Act Working Group, and the AFBF Farm Policy Committee.

Warfield presently serves as Chairman of the USDA National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education & Economics Advisory Board. He was elected to the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation board of directors in 2003.

In February 1998, he was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Property Tax Reform created to focus on reducing the property tax burden for schools. Warfield previously served on the Illinois Commission on Education Funding, the Illinois River Strategy Team, the National Agricultural Cost of Production Standards Review Board, and the Board of Agricultural Advisors for the State of Illinois.

Warfield received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois and has served on the University’s Ag Alumni Board. He served as corporate economic analyst for soybean meal sales, and director of economic research, for Central Soya, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, before returning to the family farm in 1973.

Warfield was President of the Ford-Iroquois Farm Bureau. In preparation for 1996 Farm Bill deliberations, he served on IFB’s Ag Policy 2000 committee, as chairman of the environmental subcommittee, and he was the originator of Farm Bureau’s CHIEF (Changing How Illinois Education is Financed) program. Warfield was a member of the first class to graduate from the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program, and was named a Master Farmer in 1992 by Prairie Farmer magazine.

Warfield has traveled extensively internationally, discussing trade policies and promoting agriculture—including an AFBF trade mission to China and Southeast Asia, Brazil and Argentina, and Cuba.

Ron and his wife, Melanie, have three children, farm 1,850 acres of corn and soybeans, and previously marketed 1,000 head of cattle each year. They are members of the First Christian Church.

Richard O. Ryan

Richard O. Ryan

Richard Ryan is a consultant in the agricultural and seed industry having retired from Monsanto in early 2002 after 23 years of employment in senior management positions with DEKALB Genetics Corporation in DeKalb, Illinois and Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Missouri.

Raised on a farm near Mount Sterling, Illinois, Rich was educated and received degrees from Quincy College (B.S. Accounting/Finance), the University of Chicago (M.B.A.), and Stanford University (M.A. Food Research Institute). Rich served in the U.S. Army as a Finance Officer in Vietnam and following military service held financial management positions with Armour and Company (Financial Analysis) and the Chicago Board of Trade (Controller/Treasurer) in Chicago prior to joining DEKALB Genetics Corporation in 1979 in DeKalb, Illinois.

Rich’s initial duties at DEKALB Genetics involved mergers and acquisitions and later held senior management positions including Group Vice President, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and was named President and Chief Operating Officer in 1990 for this agricultural genetics enterprise having global operations. Following the acquisition of DEKALB by Monsanto in late 1998, Rich was named President and COO for this global agricultural seed enterprise in 1990.

John L. Houston

John L. Houston

Retired Executive Vice President
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

John L. Huston retired as executive vice president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association after 32 years of service.

Huston joined the beef industry team in 1967 as assistant secretary of the Beef Industry Council of the National Live Stock and Meat Board. He was named vice president of the Meat Board in 1969 and took a leave to the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) in 1978 to serve as executive director of the Beeferendum. In 1980, following the campaign, he was appointed president of the Meat Board and continued in that position until 1996 when the Meat Board and NCA consolidated.

On February 1, 1996, the Meat Board and NCA joined operations to form the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a consumer-driven, producer-directed organization representing all segments of the industry. NCBA, for the first time, brought together, under a unified plan and budget, membership trade functions and checkoff-funded consumer marketing programs.

As leader of the Consumer Marketing Center for NCBA, Huston urged his team to be proactive and think globally. He believes, to increase U.S. and international beef markets, the industry must: 1) identify consumer segments; 2) define needs and trends for each segment; 3) aggressively develop new products that meet the needs of today’s consumers; and 4) promote and differentiate beef’s advantages over the competition.

Since retiring, Huston has served as an advisor to Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, and made marketing presentations at two World Meat Congresses, plus several regional conferences.

A native of Roseville, Illinois, Huston grew up on a general livestock and grain farm. He has a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education with an Animal Science option from the University of Illinois and received the Coultas Memorial Award as the College of Agriculture’s outstanding senior. John was inducted into the International Stockmen’s Hall of Fame and named Agri-Marketer of the Year in 1995 by the Chicago Chapter of NAMA.

Huston currently serves as board member of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation, director of Extension Partners, delegate to the national Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching. He served in 1996 as chair of the Chancellor’s Commission for University of Illinois Extension and currently serves as director, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association. Huston has also served as a director of the National Farm-City Council, the Livestock Conservation Institute, chairman of the Illinois 4-H Foundation, and Director of the International Meat Secretariat.

Numerous groups have recognized Huston’s leadership and contributions to the livestock and meat industry, including the American Meat Institute’s (AMI) prestigious Meat Industry Advancement Award, the Hall of Merit Award for Public Affairs by the American Polled Hereford Association, the National 4-H Alumni Award, the Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension Award, the Special Recognition Award by the American Meat Science Association, the Award of Merit by the University of Illinois Alumni Association, and “Friend of Agriculture” award by the Illinois Extension Agriculture Association.

Kim Morton

Kim Morton

Former Head, Agricultural Services, The Northern Trust Co., Chicago, IL

Secretary, IALF Board

Kim Morton most recently served as the Chicago based Director of Development for the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences 2003-2009. 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 is a 25 year member and former president of The Chicago Farmer and sits on the Cook County Farm Bureau Public Policy and Political Action Committees. She and her husband, Ron, live in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood of Chicago.