Brendan Lynch has been appointed to serve as the assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia. He has served as the acting AUSTR for the region since March 2023 and before that was the deputy assistant USTR.
Brendan Lynch, USTRADAMA has appointed two new members to its executive team. Florian Wagner has been brought on to serve in the new role of executive vice president of portfolio and innovation, while Ruthie Zeltzer is taking the role of executive vice president of people. Wagner joins ADAMA after 17 years with Syngenta, where he most recently was the head of marketing and business development of Syngenta’s crop protection business in Europe, Africa, and Middle East. Zeltzer has been executive director, HR, global talent development for Merck.
After serving 37 years with the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, 22 of which were at the helm of the organization as CEO, Jay Bryant has announced he is retiring. Jon Cowell, current CFO of MDVA, has been named as his replacement by MDVA’s board of directors. Before coming to MDVA in 2018, Cowell was the vice president and corporate controller at Ocean Spray Cranberries.
The U.S. Grains Council has brought on Linda Schmid, Ellie Yan and Xiaoming Wang to its staff. Schmid is the new manager of ethanol policy and sustainability, based in the D.C. office. Schmid most recently was a consultant working on international trade and industry analysis for companies around the world. She previously held positions at the World Bank and USAID. Yan is the new program manager in the council’s China office, where she will lead the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Council’s programs in the country. Before joining the council, Yan worked for various organizations including the Netherlands Agri-Food and Technology Centre and Tsinghua University. Also based in the China office, Wang has accepted the role of marketing specialist, focusing on coarse grain and co-product promotion. He previously served as a consultant at Tractus Asia, serving multiple U.S. states in promoting trade and foreign direct investment in China. His most recent assignment took him to Iowa, where he was the chief representative of the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
Matt Foley has joined Chipotle as the head of government relations. He previously was the director of government affairs at Niagara Bottling. Before that, he worked for the American Frozen Food Institute, Consumer Brands Association, and the National Grocers Association.
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Spencer Chase has started a new job with the Corn Refiners Association and Plant Based Products Council as the senior director of communications. Chase had been managing editor for Agri-Pulse.
Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies announced that Tamara Hinton signed on to lead its strategic communications practice as a senior principal. Hinton most recently served as senior vice president at Story Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs agency. Prior to that, she founded her own public relations firm to work on farm and trade policy. She worked on Capitol Hill during the 2014 farm bill as communications director for the House Committee on Agriculture.
Elizabeth Rivera, NAWGElizabeth Rivera has joined the National Association of Wheat Growers as the new director of communications and partnerships. Rivera previously worked on Capitol Hill as the deputy press secretary for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on the Senate Ag Committee and in Stabenow’s personal office.
Michael Rogenmoser now serves as the director of government relations for the Heritage Action for America. He previously was a legislative assistant for Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Melissa Willhouse is the new communications manager for the Rural Investment to Protect our Environment (RIPE) team. She previously worked for the American Clean Power Association and is an online adjunct instructor for the Unity Environmental University.
RIPE’s board of directors elected four officer to serve for the upcoming year. Bill Beam will replace Eunice “Eunie” Biel as RIPE’s president. Beam is the owner and operator of Beam Farms Inc. in Elverson, Pennsylvania. Minnesota dairy producer Eunie Biel will remain on the board but in a different capacity, according to the press release. Alana Petersen has been selected as vice president. She previously served as RIPE’s interim executive director in early 2023 and is a principal at Petersen Group-Canary Consulting. Stratton Kirton, vice president of government affairs at Liberty Tire Recycling, has been tapped as the next secretary. Tracy Travis will serve as treasurer; Travis is founder and CEO of ImpacTT Collective and the co-founder and managing member of S&T Ag.
The Soil Health Institute has added 10 new members to its board of directors: James H. Baxter IV, owner and operator of Baxter Farms, Delaware; Meredith Ellis, rancher of G Bar C Ranch, Texas; Devon Leahy, global head of sustainability at Ralph Lauren Corp.; Marquitrice Mangham, farmer and CEO of In Her Shoes, Mississippi; Rob Myers, director of the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture; LaKisha Odom, scientific program director for soil health at the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research; Megan Rock, chief sustainability officer, CHS; Karen A. Scanlon, executive vice president, environmental stewardship, Dairy Management Inc. and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy; Ryan Sirolli, global environmental markets insets lead, Cargill; and Andrew Smith, chief scientific officer, Rodale Institute.
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