The Food and Drug Administration is promoting Namandjé Bumpus to principal deputy commissioner upon the retirement of Janet Woodcock early next year. Bumpus joined the FDA in August 2022 to serve as the agency’s chief scientist. Before that, she was director of the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Michael Rogers has been named associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. He was previously serving in that role in an acting capacity, overseeing inspections, compliance, enforcement, field laboratory operations, import operations, and strategic planning. Rogers previously was deputy director of ORA’s Office of Regional Operations.
Joe Gilson, AFBFJoe Gilson is leaving Capitol Hill to be a new director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau Federation. Gilson has served the last four years as a legislative assistant for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, covering the agriculture, energy, and environment portfolio. Before that, he worked at the Department of Agriculture as a policy adviser for rural development. Eli Harberts has been promoted to legislative assistant, taking over Gilson’s portfolio in Grassley’s office. He previously was a legislative correspondent.
National Wildlife Foundation CEO Collin O’Mara has established a campaign committee for a potential run for the Democratic nomination to be governor of Delaware. O’Mara is the former secretary of natural resources and environmental control for Delaware.
The American Seed Trade Association has brought on Katrina Bishop as its new senior director of strategic communications. She previously worked at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers where she had been in the public affairs division since 2019. She previously worked on Capitol Hill for Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., as his press secretary and communications director.
Chris Tutino has taken a new job with Reach Global Strategies as the director of operations. He previously worked for Cibus as the senior director of communications. Before that, he was with Syngenta as the senior communications manager.
Jake Lowenstein has joined the Association of Equipment Manufacturers as the new policy communications manager. He previously was a communications manager at the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance at the Plastics Industry Association.
Katrina Bishop, ASTAAEM has also named new officers. Todd Stucke with the Kubota Tractors Corp. has been chosen as the new chairman of the association, succeeding Rod Schrader, chairman and CEO of Komatsu North America. Linda Hasenfratz, executive chair and CEO of Linamar, has been selected as the new vice chair. Melvin Porter, president and CEO of Link-Belt Cranes, is the group's treasurer. Bill Hurley, vice president of global government affairs at AGCO, was also tapped as the new ag chair.
Michael Stern and Anthony Osborne have been added to Sentera’s board of directors. Stern is the former chief executive officer of The Climate Corp. and head of digital farming for Bayer Crop Science. Osborne previously served in an advisory role for Sentera. Before that, he spent more than 30 years at Bayer and Monsanto in various senior leadership roles across product management, strategy and commercial, including vice president of marketing at The Climate Corp. and senior vice president of North American marketing.
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Brian Duncan has been tapped as the new president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. In addition to his new responsibilities, he will also serve as president of COUNTRY Financial, Illinois Agricultural Service Company and chair of the IAA Foundation. Duncan is a grain and livestock farmer from Polo, Illinois, and has previously served as IFB vice president, president of the Ogle County Farm Bureau, and was on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Swine Advisory Committee. Evan Hultine, a grain farmer from Princeton, Illinois, was elected as the new vice president.
The California Farm Bureau elected Shannon Douglass, who currently serves as the organization's first vice president, to replace president Jamie Johansson during the Farm Bureau’s 105th Annual Meeting in Reno. She is a beef cattle rancher from Orland who also grows walnuts, corn, and forage crops. She also serves as the director of outreach for CalAgJobs and is a former chair of the CFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers State Committee.
Kathy Goodyke, a member of Minnesota Agri-Women and Sharron Zoller, a member of California Women for Agriculture, were recognized with the LEAVEN Award at the recent American Agri-Women Convention. The LEAVEN Award is the highest achievement American Agri-Woman can receive, honoring woman for their extraordinary impact on their agricultural community.
The American Sheep Industry Association will give its 2024 Wool Excellence Award to Greg Groenewold of his family’s Groenewold Fur and Wool Company, Forreston, Ill. The award will be presented Jan. 11 during the ASI Annual Convention in Denver. Grant Groenewold, Greg’s father, received the award in 2016. ASI said the family helped open doors for U.S. wool exports to several countries, including China and Germany.
Harold Stones, longtime staff member to former Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., died Nov. 30. Stones grew up on a farm in Smith County, Kansas. Early in his career, he worked for the Kansas Bankers Association and helped his organization go through many changes of the 1980s farm crisis. He retired as executive vice president of the KBA in 1997 and that same year joined Roberts' team. He stayed with the senator until his retirement in 2021.
Longtime House Agriculture Committee staffer David Ebersole died Oct. 24 from leukemia. He was 74. A reporter for newspapers in New York, Colorado and Missouri, he joined the staff of former Rep. Thomas Coleman, R-Mo., in 1978, handling farm-related policy before joining the committee staff. During the 1980s, Ebersole worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before returning to House Ag as a professional staff member, retiring in 2006. A memorial will be held Feb. 22, from 5-7 p.m. in the House Agriculture Committee room.
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