Joy Kono, USDA FSA, Hawaii
President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Joy Kono as the Farm Service Agency state director for Hawaii and Maria Gallegos Herrera as the Rural Development state director for California.
Kono comes from a rural community on the island of Kauai and was born into a family that farmed a variety of vegetables and livestock. Kono spent 18 years with BEI Hawaii, where she held positions from analyst to branch manager. For the last 20 years, she has worked for Kamehameha Schools where she served as senior director.
Gallegos Herrera joined the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 as the Central California deputy regional director of external affairs and in July of 2021 was promoted to Central California regional director. Herrera previously served as a community development manager at Self-Help Enterprises, a community development organization dedicated to working with low-income families to build and sustain healthy communities.
President Biden also announced the appointment of Casey Sixkiller to the position of EPA's Region 10 administrator. That region serves Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Sixkiller previously served as deputy mayor of the city of Seattle and before that was the chief operating officer of King County, Washington.
Maria Gallegos Herrera, USDA RD California
Kim Corbin has left Capitol Hill to become a partner at Pioneer Public Affairs. Corbin was previously on the House Rules Committee for Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., as a senior adviser for health policy. She assisted McGovern and others in urging the White House to convene the second-ever conference on hunger, nutrition and health. Before working for the Rules Committee, she was staff director of the Joint Economic Committee under Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and also spent time working for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on the Senate Finance Committee.
Maria Pica Karp has been named vice president of global government relations for ADM. Karp spent 17 years at Chevron, where she was a leader of the company’s global affairs function. Before that, she worked at the National Security Council as director for human rights and democracy and at the Department of State as senior adviser to the assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor. She also has been a senior foreign policy adviser in the Senate.
ADM has appointed Ron Bandler as vice president and treasurer, succeeding John Stott, who recently took on a new role as president of ADM Investor Services. Bandler previously served as assistant treasurer where he was responsible for foreign exchange risk management, debt capital markets, equity capital markets, cash management, accounts payable, bank relationships, and much more. He has been at ADM for more than 32 years and has held a variety of roles within the finance organization throughout his career.
The American Dairy Association North East has tapped John Chrisman to be the new chief executive officer of the organization, effective June 2. Chrisman has held senior leadership positions in retail marketing, producer relations, school marketing, processor relations, and hunger relief. Chrisman succeeds Rick Naczi, who is retiring after 32 years of leading the regional dairy checkoff promotion group.
Ben Craker is joining AgGateway as the organization’s new portfolio manager, effective June 12. He succeeds Dan Berne, who retired from the organization on April 30. Craker most recently worked at Kuhn North America as a senior product manager, where he focused on hay tools and specialty crop products.
Zach Jacobs has accepted a new job with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation as a senior legislative specialist. Jacobs previously worked in the office of Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., as a senior legislative assistant. Jacobs has also worked for Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and the Department of Agriculture.
Will Bensur is now the press secretary for Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. Bensur previously worked on the House side for Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., as his communications director. Bensur has also worked in the office of Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y.
Chelsea Glynn has moved over to Rep. Chellie Pingree’s, D-Maine, office as her new policy adviser. Glynn will cover the portfolio for agriculture, animals, forestry, housing, nutrition, telecommunications and broadband, and trade. Glynn previously worked in the office of Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., as a senior legislative assistant covering the agriculture and food, commerce, foreign trade, immigration, and science and technology portfolio.
The Senate has confirmed former Iowa Gov. Chester Culver to serve on the board of directors of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. Culver replaced Myles Watts of Bozeman, Montana. Culver rejoins the Farmer Mac board after serving as an appointee of President Barack Obama from 2012 until 2019.
The American Feed Industry Association has elected new leadership to its board of directors. Outgoing board Chairman Mike Schuster of Laidig Systems, passed the gavel to Mike Gauss of Kent Nutrition Group, as the new chair of the board. He will serve a one-year term as board chair and will also transition into a one-year role as chairman of the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s (IFEEDER) Board of Trustees. The AFIA Board also voted to accept the nomination of Carlos Gonzalez of Hill’s Pet Nutrition, to be the next chair-elect of the organization. The board also approved seven nominated individuals as additions to AFIA’s Executive Committee: Scott Anderson, California Pet Mill; Frank Goode, ILC Resources; Kevin Schluender, Nutra Blend; Leigh Ann Sayen, The Peterson Company; Kristin Bonham, DSM Nutritional Products; Lisa Norton, Biozyme; and Rob Sheffer, Zinpro Corp.
The first female deputy administrator and chief veterinary officer for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Joan Arnoldi passed away on May 10. She was 87. Arnoldi joined APHIS in 1988 to lead the Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care program, which is now known as the Investigative and Enforcement Services and Animal Care programs. She led the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, for three years and then became associate veterinary services deputy administrator for a short time before becoming the Veterinary Services deputy administrator and chief veterinary officer. She then went on to join the APHIS administrator’s office as an associate administrator. At her request, there will be no services. Donations can be made to the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Foundation, P.O. Box 6396, Visalia, CA. 93290.
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