Ron Meeusen
Managing Director, Cultivian Sandbox
Interim Board Chair, Illinois Agri-Food Alliance

Ron Meeusen, PhD is a Managing Director of Cultivian Sandbox and co-founder and Managing Partner of Cultivian Ventures.  Ron has over 30 years of experience in bringing new technologies and products to market. He has led research and development for major corporations in agricultural chemicals, field crop and vegetable genetics and breeding, animal health, novel foods and industrial materials. His successful projects include the world’s first field trial of a genetically engineered crop trait in 1986, development and launch of one of the first insect and herbicide resistant corn hybrids in 1996, introduction of a trans-fat free canola oil, and development of dozens of new varieties of field and vegetable crops on three continents. Ron has been a frequent speaker at conferences, a consultant to Federal policy on biotechnology regulatory issues, and active in industry trade groups. Prior to forming Cultivian Ron led the expansion of the biotechnology research and development program of Dow AgroSciences, and founded a successful biopharmaceutical company, Immuneworks, Inc.  Ron represents Cultivian on the board of directors of AbCelex Technologies, Agrivida (Board Chair), enEvolv, Proterro, Rivertop Renewables, Vestaron and Virgin Plants.  He was also a member of the board of directors of Allylix, Aratana Therapeutics and Divergence, Inc. Ron holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in plant cell biology, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in plant physiology.

Richard Guebert
President, Illinois Farm Bureau
Vice Chair, Illinois Agri-Food Alliance

Richard Guebert Jr., of Ellis Grove, is the 15th president of the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) and serves as full-time executive officer. He is also president of COUNTRY Financial, Illinois Agricultural Service Company, and the IAA Foundation. Prior to his election as president, Guebert served as vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau from 2003-2013. As vice president, Guebert also served as chairman of the COUNTRY/IFB Governance Committee. In 2007, he was appointed by the IFB president to serve as chairman of a Floodplain Study Group. Guebert, his wife Nancy and his son, Kyle, operate a farm where they grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. In 2001, he served on the IFB Co-op Task Force and completed theAgricultural Leaders of Tomorrow leadership training. Guebert was named a Master Farmer in 2006 by Prairie Farmer magazine.

Shari Rogge-Fidler
President and CEO, Farm Foundation

With over 25 years of global leadership and executive experience. Shari has a unique perspective, developed through her experience as a fifth-generation farm owner and operator, entrepreneur in the organic branded food industry, founder of an agribusiness consulting firm and leader of a soil health technology firm.

She began her career in London in financial services and continued in Europe with the Boston Consulting Group.   These experiences uniquely positioned her to take the CEO roles at Family Farms LLC, a suite of services for over 1,000 farms, and Applied GeoSolutions (AGS) LLC, where she led the commercialization of technology for soil health and carbon applications. 

Shari has served on several corporate boards, including Farm Credit Mid America and Coastal Pet.  She currently serves as a trustee for The Nature Conservancy, and advisory boards of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and Lewis & Clark Agrifood Fund.

Shari has a B.Sc. in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. 

Tim Andriesen
Managing Director, Agricultural Products, CME Group

Tim Andriesen was appointed Managing Director, Agricultural Commodities and Alternative Investments for CME Group in August 2009. He is responsible for developing and executing the global business strategy for the company’s agricultural commodities business. Mr. Andriesen has a broad and diversified background in the grain trading and risk management business ranging from managing country elevators to global trading operations for international banks. Mr. Andriesen earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business’ Advance Management Program.

Germán Bollero
Interim Dean, College of ACES, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Ertharin Cousin
Co-Founder & CEO, Food Systems for the Future Institute; Good Food Opportunity Fund

Ertharin Cousin is co-founder and CEO of the Food Systems for the Future Institute and its wholly owned Good Food Opportunity Fund, an impact invest fund. Cousin serves as a visiting scholar at the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. She is also a distinguished fellow of global agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a Robert Wiesacker Fellow with the Bosch Academy.

Cousin possesses more than 30 years of national and international nonprofit, government, and corporate leadership experience. She served as executive director of the World Food Programme from 2012 until 2017. In this role, Cousin led the world’s largest humanitarian organization with 14,000 staff serving 80 million vulnerable people across 75 countries. In 2009, Cousin served as the US ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the US domestic fight to end hunger while serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer of America’s Second Harvest (now Feeding America). Previously, she was senior vice president for Albertson’s Foods and was concurrently appointed by the US president to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development where she helped oversee US government agriculture research investments worldwide. Before Albertsons, Cousin served in government as the White House Liaison to the State Department.

Cousin serves as a non-executive director on the Supervisory of Bayer, a member of the DSM Sustainability Board, and as a trustee of the Akademiya2063 an institute helping African countries achieve food security and economic prosperity.

A Chicago native, Cousin is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago; the University of Georgia Law School, and the University of Chicago Executive Management Finance for Non-Financial Executives program. Cousin has received honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the globe.  She has been listed numerous times on the Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” list, as the Fortune “Most Powerful Woman in Food and Drink,” on TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” list, and as one of the “500 Most Powerful People on the Planet” by Foreign Policy magazine.

Michael Davidson
Senior Director of Community Impact, Chicago Community Trust

Michael Davidson is senior director of community impact for The Chicago Community Trust where he leads the neighborhood investment strategy. His portfolio builds the conditions for neighborhood-scale wealth creation, helping the region’s disinvested communities attract, retain and drive investment. Prior to this role, Davidson was the Trust’s senior program officer in sustainable development where he lead grant making for community and regional planning organizations, focusing on the confluence of environmental, economic and social sustainability as the optimal framework for policy planning and development practice. Prior to joining the Trust, Davidson was midwest director for ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability USA. He has also worked as a program officer at the Great Lakes Protection Fund and manager of the Campaign for Sensible Growth. Davidson spent the first nine years of his career in the research department of the American Planning Association (APA), where he provided planning practitioners with best practices in urban and regional planning. He is the founder of the Prairie State Local Government Sustainability Network and a founding member of the Sustainable Communities Division of the American Planning Association. He earned a graduate degree from DePaul University’s School of Public Service and has authored and produced over 30 articles and technical reports on contemporary planning issues.

Rebecca Carlisle Doyle
Co-Owner and Farmer, Hickory Grove Pork Farms & Doyle Associates, The Context Network

Becky Doyle is a lifetime Illinois farm partner with deep pork production background and experience with most Midwest cropping and marketing systems. She is a proven organizational leader and administrator, having served as the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Director of Resource Development for the UN World Food Programme. While leading those organizations, Ms. Doyle developed strategies and policies – and built teams to implement them that capitalized on opportunities and dealt effectively with challenges.  For the past decade, Ms. Doyle has been providing her networks, insights, strategies, and facilitation as a consultant for agriculture organizations/businesses and natural resource protection organizations. In addition to her livestock and crop input work, she strives to optimize understanding of and rationalize actions around climate change, carbon sequestration, regenerative ag, soil health and cover crops. In addition to agriculture commodity groups, she has worked with the Soil Health Institute, American Farmland Trust, The Nature Conservancy, National Resources Defense Council, Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Her 25-year involvement in the Farm Foundation Round Table has provided a national network of producers, agribusinesses and natural resource protection organizations as well as production- serving and consumer-facing companies. She also serves her land grant alma mater as representative to the Council on Agriculture Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and the college’s alumni board. Becky has a BS in Ag Communications and MS in Extension Education from the University of Illinois and continuing education certificates from Washington University and Harvard University. 

Lori Healey
Senior Vice President, OPC Implementation Lead, Obama Foundation

Lori Healey manages the construction and operations of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Hired by the Obama Foundation, she began in this role in December 2020. Prior to joining the Obama Foundation, Healey served as president of a new Chicago regional business unit for Clayco, a real estate development, architecture, engineering and construction firm. She was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), owner of McCormick Place, the nation’s largest convention center and Navy Pier, Illinois top-visited tourist destination and the 1,258 room Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. In her role as CEO, Ms. Healey oversaw the development of the McCormick Collection which includes a 10,000 seat event center and a 1,206 room Marriott Marquis Headquarters Hotel, scheduled for completion in 2017. Prior to joining the MPEA, Ms. Healey served as the Chief Executive Officer of Tur Partners LLC (“Tur”) and also served as Principal in Charge of the Development Group for the John Buck Company. Ms. Healey coordinated the organizational and planning activities for the NATO Summit in Chicago in 2012, acting as Director of the NATO Host Committee as an executive “on loan,” overseeing planning, fundraising and implementation of the Summit and in  2009, was appointed as President of Chicago 2016, where she was responsible for leading Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Ms. Healey held several senior leadership positions for the City of Chicago under the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, most recently acting as Mayor Daley’s Chief of Staff.  She earlier served as Commissioner of the City’s Department of Planning and Development.

Terry Hinds
Chief Asset Quality & Assurance Officer, Compeer Financial

Terry L. Hinds is Chief Asset Quality & Assurance Officer for Compeer Financial, a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural communities. Compeer Financial is a $18.5 billion organization providing loans, leases, risk management and other financial services throughout 144 counties in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Previously, Terry was Chief Risk Officer responsible for the overall risk management of the company including: risk policy, coordination of risk philosophy, risk asset and acquired property management, the association’s appraisal function, and internal audit in coordination with the board’s Audit & Finance Committee. Prior to being named Chief Risk officer he lead efforts in Capital Markets, Agribusiness, Trade Credit, Leasing, ProPartners, Investments, Commercial Bank and other Partner Purchases as well as the association’s legislative affairs activities. Terry’s family is deeply rooted in Illinois agriculture and still owns and operates the first Illinois farm the family purchased in 1848. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in Agricultural Economics and University of Wisconsin’s Graduate School of Banking. He has spent more than 39 years in various positions within the Farm Credit System including AgriBank, Farm Credit Bank of St. Louis and several Illinois Farm Credit associations.

Jan Kostner
Senior Vice President, Membership & Corporate Relations, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

Jan has a wealth of experience in both the private and public sectors. She began her career at Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, where she served many corporate clients. In government, Jan was the longest-serving Director of Tourism for the State of Illinois. She later was part of the team that created the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Most recently, Jan served as Director of Marketing at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Working in public affairs, for politicians, government, corporations, arts, tourist destinations, higher education and currently for a business association, Jan has honed her strategic planning skills. Whether it’s planning a visit for foreign officials, or helping organizations extend their visibility, she’s used her experiences to create successful and award-winning programs and events. A few of her clients included Target, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Terra Foundation, and Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau. Jan has a passion for etiquette, travel, and entertaining. She is a graduate of New England College with a BA in Communications and holds a certificate in Social Media Marketing from DePaul University

Janet Mathis
Founding Principal and CEO, The Development Consortium

Janet Mathis is a founding Principal in The Development Consortium, an economic development and real estate consulting firm created in 2006, and is currently the firm’s CEO. Until May 2017, Mathis also was the President and CEO of Renew Moline. Mathis is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Economic Development Association (IEDA), the state association of economic development professionals, and received the organization’s highest award, Distinguished Developer of the Year in 2013.  She was named an Edgar Fellow in 2014, and was the recipient of Western Illinois University – Quad Cities’ 2013 Award of Excellence for best exemplifying the four pillars of the university. Mathis is currently on the Board of Directors of the River Bend Foodbank; is President of the Board of Directors for the Center for Youth and Family Solutions; and is on the Board of Food and Agricultural Roadmap (FARM) Illinois. Mathis has a bachelors of science degree in agricultural industries from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with continuing studies in crisis communications from Illinois State University; economic development from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville; and brownfields redevelopment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Shelby Parchman
Interim Chief Operating Officer, FamilyFarmed

Shelby Parchman is a seasoned entrepreneur who has a long track record of establishing and growing new businesses. After obtaining a Dual B.S. in Biology and Chemistry and then a Masters in Analytical Chemistry, Shelby embarked upon a professional career as a research scientist with Baxter Healthcare Corporation and then with the Amoco Corporation.

Whether as an entrepreneur or as a consultant, he has made significant contributions to the development and growth of start-up ventures and established businesses through funding and strategic growth strategies. In this work, he has assisted numerous organizations in obtaining funding through loans, equity, grants, and other financing strategies. Shelby is a serial entrepreneur who has started many successful small businesses including BHK Laboratories, Inc. and the Functional Beverage Group, Inc. Shelby has taught many entrepreneurs how to start and grow small businesses and has been a featured speaker at workshops sponsored by the City of Chicago. His work was featured in the Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation Section – “Six ways to make sure you don’t tank your business plan.” In late 2017 Shelby formed InUrban Strategies where he focuses on economic development in underserved communities. His projects at InUrban Strategies included: City of Chicago/SomerCor (NOF-TA), City of Chicago DPD (Urban Agriculture Program), and Rush University Medical Center (Supply Chain Localization).

Shelby is currently the Interim Chief Executive Officer at FamilyFarmed where he has been instrumental in developing new programming focused on food access and food equity with an emphasis on the underserved communities of Chicago. The three core programs – The Good Food Accelerator, Good Food:Farmer Training, and Good Food is Good Medicine are designed to address food insecurity in the greater Chicagoland area.

Andrew Selck
Partner, Global Agribusiness, Ernst & Young

Andrew Selck is a member of EY’s Global Agribusiness Center and leads its focus on Digital Agriculture. He works with various agribusiness clients on emerging trends and technologies impacting the industry and has authored numerous whitepapers and spoken at industry conferences on the topic of Digital Agriculture and its transformative effects. Andrew has almost 15 years of experience focusing in the Agribusiness and Life Sciences sectors. He has an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and is a Licensed CPA in Illinois.

Lee Strom
Partner, Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund

Lee Strom is a Partner at Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund. Prior to his current role, he was the President and CEO of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation, Illinois’ premier agriculture leadership development program. Previously, Lee was CEO of FARM Illinois, a role he assumed in April of 2015. During his leadership over the 2 ½ years as FARM Illinois’ CEO, Lee’s efforts grew the organization into a respected convener of Illinois’ many entities that touch the food and agriculture sector. Lee also spent nearly a decade of service in Washington D.C. where he served as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Farm Credit Administration. FCA regulates the $250 billion national network of Farm Credit System institutions and Farmer Mac which provide credit and financial services to the nation’s agriculture and agribusiness sectors. He also served as chair of the $3.5 billion Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation. Lee has served as an agriculture advisor on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Advisory Board on Agriculture, Labor, and Small Business, and served in numerous other leadership capacities within the agriculture and finance sectors. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Illinois University for his efforts in protecting and managing the assets of the agriculture industry. Lee and his wife reside on a farm in Kane County, Illinois where his ancestors settled in the late 1800’s. Lee has been involved in the agriculture industry his entire life.

Robert Easter
President Emeritus, University of Illinois
Board Emeritus, Illinois Agri-Food Alliance

Robert A. Easter is President Emeritus of the University of Illinois after serving as the University’s 19th president from 2012-2015. Before becoming president, Easter spent his entire, nearly 40-year career as a senior administrator and faculty member on the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus, where he earned his doctorate in animal science in 1976. He was interim chancellor from 2009-2011, serving as chief executive officer of the 42,000-student campus, and also served as interim provost and interim vice chancellor for research. From 2002-2009, he was dean of the nationally ranked College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Before that, he served as head of the Department of Animal Sciences, where he has been a faculty member since 1976. An expert in livestock feeding, Easter has co-authored a book on livestock production and has written more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, and numerous papers for conferences and industry publications. He also has spoken to audiences in the United States and 30 foreign countries on livestock feeding. In 2006, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), and was appointed as chair of BIFAD in 2007. He also is a fellow of the American Society of Animal Science and a member of Farm Foundation Roundtable and serves on the board of 1^st Farm Credit Services, Agrible, and the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation. Easter earned an undergraduate degree in agricultural education in 1970 and a master’s degree in animal nutrition in 1972, both from Texas A&M University. He completed a doctorate in animal science at the University of Illinois in 1976 and immediately joined the Animal Science Department as an assistant professor of swine nutrition and management. He presently holds the rank of Professor Emeritus. Easter served as the inaugural Board Chair of the Illinois Agri-Food Alliance from 2015 to 2021, leading the development of the Food and Agriculture RoadMap for Illinois (FARM IL) strategic plan and the creation of the ILAFA organization. Easter was bestowed the role of inaugural Board Emeritus in March 2021.