Stan Gruszynski UW-Stevens Point, Global Environmental Management Education Center, Director, Rural Leadership & Community Development; Future of Farming Co-Chair
Stan Gruszynski directs the Rural Leadership and Community Development Program within the Global Environmental Management (GEM) Education Center in the College of Natural Resources at UW-Stevens Point. He has extensive experience in assisting local communities in building leadership capacity and developing opportunities for economic advancement within the framework of Wisconsin's conservation ethic. From 1996 until August 2003 he was the Wisconsin Public Affairs Director for USDA Rural Development programs.
Gruszynski was 71st Assembly District Representative to the Wisconsin Assembly from 1984 to 1994. Among his legislative accomplishments were authoring the Wisconsin Environmental Education Law, Non-Point Source Pollution Law, Farms for the Future Act, the Wisconsin Housing Initiative, and the Wisconsin Child Care Act. His prowess as a public speaker is widely admired and he is frequently invited to inspire and motivate audiences on a range of policy or civic engagement issues.
Tom Lyon Agribusiness Executive, Retired; Future of Farming Co-Chair
Thomas L. Lyon is the retired Chief Executive Officer of Cooperative Resources International, Shawano, Wisconsin. Beginning in 1967, he held positions at 21st Century Genetics in general management, marketing, and public relations. Previously, he was Executive Secretary, Iowa State Dairy Association for five years.
Lyon currently manages a sizeable portfolio in the Office of the Secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. In addition to co-chairing the Future of Farming and Rural Life project and serving as its chief fundraiser, Lyon continues to serve on numerous boards and in leadership positions, among them the DNR Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences Opportunities in Agriculture Committee. Also to his credit is an extensive list of membership and leadership positions in state and national business and dairy groups, and government, university, public service, youth and community organizations. Examples include Board Member and Chairman, National Cooperative Business Association; President and board member of National Association of Animal Breeders; Member, Wisconsin Strategic Development Commission; member and President, Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin System. Over his long career, his leadership and civic service have been recognized with numerous awards.
Elton Aberle UW-Madison, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Dean Emeritus
Elton Aberle served as dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the UW-Madison from 1998-2005. Previously, he headed the department of animal sciences in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In 1996-97, Aberle was interim associate dean and associate director of the Agricultural Research Division and prior to that, was on the animal sciences faculty of Purdue University from 1967 to 1983.
Co-author of the textbook, Principles of Meat Science, Aberle is also author or co-author of 62 refereed journal articles and 44 abstracts and numerous invited papers. He has served as president of the American Society of Animal Science and the American Meat Science Association and on boards and in leadership positions such as the National Research Council-National Academy of Science, and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
Aberle's research background is in muscle and adipose tissue growth, meat quality and meat processing. He has been honored for exceptional teaching and research by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and others.
Linda Bochert Michael, Best & Friedrich, Attorney
Linda Bochert is a partner in the Michael Best & Friedrich LLP's Land and Resources Practice Group. She joined the firm in 1991, after 17 years with the Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and Justice. Her practice is focused on environmental law and includes wastewater permitting, storm water management, air permitting, wetlands regulation, navigable waters and Public Trust Doctrine issues, conservation easements, Green Tier certifications, and large facility, landfill, pipeline and power plant siting.
Ms. Bochert has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1997. Since 2001, her peers have voted her among the best in environmental law in Madison Magazine's survey of Madison's best lawyers. She was named by In Business magazine (2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006) as a VIP of Madison area civic-minded executives in its Annual Executive Register. In 2005, Ms. Bochert was selected as one of the 25 Top Female Wisconsin Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers Magazine. In 2006, she was profiled in Madison Magazine as a "Leading Lawyer."
Ben Brancel USDA Farm Services Agency, Director
Ben Brancel, state director of the USDA Farm Service Agency, is a fifth-generation farmer on his family's land in Marquette County, where he raises Angus beef cattle on the 290-acre farm with help from his wife, Gail. He received the 2002 Service to Agriculture Award from the Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the annual Short Course alumni reunion in Madison.
Brancel served in the Wisconsin Assembly from 1986 to 1997, when he was appointed by Gov. Thompson to head the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. In 2001, the Bush administration named Brancel director of the Farm Service Agency in Wisconsin.
Bill Bruins Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, President
Bill Bruins was elected president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors in 2003 and represents District 5, consisting of seven counties in east central Wisconsin. He has served on the Board since 1988. Bruins is a member of the Farm Bureau Life Board of Directors and serves on the Farm Bureau Life audit and budget committee. He is a graduate of the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short Course.
Bruins is a board member of the coordinating committee for the Wisconsin Agricultural Stewardship Initiative, and of Governor Doyle's Biobased Industry Consortium. He has previously served as vice president of the Equity Cooperative Livestock Association, and on the Wisconsin Beef Council Board, and on the UW-Platteville Environmental Farm Steering Committee. Over the years, he has served on the National Rural Health and Safety Committee, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau dairy, resolutions, and rural health and safety committees and the American Farm Bureau Federation dairy advisory committee. Bruins is the general manager of his family's dairy partnership, milking 500 cows on a 1,100-acre farm.
Dan Carter Dairy Business Innovation Center, Manager
Daniel J. Carter is the founder and chairman of the Dairy Business Innovation Center. A native of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Mr. Carter earned degrees from UW-Madison and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In 1965, following ten years of sales and marketing experience in Washington and New York, he became National Sales Director for Purity Cheese Company, Mayville, Wisconsin, and created national distribution of specialty cheese under the "International Cheese Center" marketing logo.
In 1975, with his wife, Jane, he co-founded Dan Carter, Inc., a consulting and sales company positioned to promote the small to medium sized cheese factory and served as corporate CEO until retiring in 2003. He is the recipient of several dairy industry awards, including "Life Member" of the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association and the International Dairy Deli Bakery's "President's Award."
Dick Cates Owner, Cates Family Farm
Richard Cates and his wife Kim are the owners and operators of Cates Family Farm Rocking C Cattle near Spring Green, a grass-based farming operation that includes 700 acres of grazing land and up to 800-head beef steers, dairy replacement heifers, and a direct-market natural beef business. The Cates have been recognized for their stewardship efforts to protect Lowery Creek, a trout stream on their grasslands, and for the management of their 200 acres of farm woodlands.
Cates is also the coordinator of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers, a program of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A certified professional agronomist and soil scientist, he served from 1987-1995 as the agriculturist and interim director of the Sustainable Agriculture Program at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection (DATCP). Prior to that, he worked from 1983-1986 as the director of crop production and crop/soils research on the world's largest dairy farm, the Saudi Arabian Agriculture and Dairy Co., in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cates earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1974, his M.S. from Montana State University in 1979, and his Ph.D. from UW-Madison in 1983.
Paul DeLong Administrator, Department of Forestry, Department of Natural Resources
Paul DeLong is Administrator of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Division of Forestry and Wisconsin's Chief State Forester. He works with the 450 permanent forestry employees and countless internal and external partners to protect and manage Wisconsin's forest ecosystems to provide a wide array of ecological, economic and social benefits for present and future generations. Since 2003, DeLong has been part of collaborative efforts to complete a Statewide Forest Plan, green certify public and private forests, maintain large blocks of working forestland and minimize development in the wild land-urban interface, explore expanding the use of forest biomass for energy, and address the increasing threat of invasive species.
Previous experience includes other positions within the state's forestry division and also mediator for Environmental Dispute Resolution, and senior program officer for World Wildlife Fund.
DeLong holds a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point and a master's degree in natural resource policy from the University of Michigan. A Certified Forester, Paul serves as Vice President of the Northeast Area Association of State Foresters and Legislative Chair of the National Association of State Foresters.
Mike Strigel Gathering Waters Conservancy, Executive Director
Michael Strigel recently began a new position as Executive Director of Gathering Waters Conservancy, after eight years at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, where he served as Executive Director since 2003.
Michael began his work at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters by organizing a conference on Aldo Leopold's land ethic. As Executive Director, he built on the Academy's statewide conservation programs. Examples include developing and leading Waters of Wisconsin, an initiative in sustainable use of the state's water resources, and the Intelligent Consumption Project, which examined how to best use and conserve Wisconsin's forest resources.
Michael has called several regions of Wisconsin "home." After growing up in Milwaukee, the Fox River valley, and Madison, Michael graduated with a master's degree in Land Resources from UW-Madison. He became familiar with the work of land trusts when he served as the Blufflands Project Director for The Prairie Enthusiasts.
Dale Gallenberg UW-River Falls, Dean, College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences
Dale Gallenberg, a native of Antigo, Wisconsin, is the dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at UW-River Falls (CAFES). He holds a bachelor's degree in plant pathology and horticulture from UW-Madison and master's and doctorate degrees in plant pathology from Cornell University.
For 11 years he was an extension plant pathologist and faculty member at South Dakota State University, developing and implementing statewide educational programs in plant disease management. Annually, Gallenberg was in direct contact with some 2,500 producers and others in South Dakota's agriculture industry.
In 1996 he was selected to head the Plant Science Department where he also was a professor. Gallenberg directed over 100 faculty and staff members in crop science, soil and water sciences, entomology, plant pathology and weed science. He remained in that position until 2006 when he returned to Wisconsin to begin his position as CAFES dean at UW-River Falls.
Gary Green UW-Madison, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Rural Sociology Professor
Gary Green is Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Co-Director of the Center for Community & Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. He has been on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin since 1993. Green's research, teaching and outreach interests focus on community and economic development, especially in rural areas. His recent books include Asset Building and Community Development (Sage Publications, 2002; revised and expanded 2nd edition, 2007); Amenities and Rural Development: Theory, Methods and Public Policy (Edward Elgar Publications, 2005); and Workforce Development Networks in Rural Areas: Building the High Road (Edward Elgar Publications, 2007). From 2002 to 2004, he served as editor of Rural Sociology. In addition to his work in the U.S., he has consulted on rural development issues in New Zealand, South Korea, Uganda and Ukraine.
Carol Knox Of Counsel, Morgan & Myers; Council Member, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters
Carol Ward Knox was with Morgan & Myers from the time it was founded in 1982 until her retirement as Executive Vice President and Principal in June 2005. She works on occasional assignments with the firm, but devotes much of her time to serving on various boards and community service activities: board member for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, University of Wisconsin-Extension Board of Visitors, and Fort Memorial Hospital Foundation; and as a Council member for the Wisconsin Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences. Previously, she served 12 years on the policy-setting board for Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, including two years as chair and as campaign consultant for several successful Wisconsin legislative candidates.
Knox is a journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is the co-author of The Growing of America, a book about the history of American agriculture.
Pat Leavenworth USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, State Conservationist
Pat Leavenworth has served as State Conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service in Wisconsin since September 1994. During that time, she has overseen implementation of the federal farm bill, agency restructuring, and the metamorphosis of the Soil Conservation Service into the new Natural Resources Conservation Service. Leavenworth has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in biological sciences and a master's in forest science from Yale University. She joined NRCS in 1979 and was named Deputy State Conservationist in Connecticut in 1991.
Leavenworth has chaired or served on many national teams, including the National Appeals Process, Partnership Agreements, Chief's Advisory Committee, Future Directions Task Force, and NRCS Customer Service Team. Since 1998, she has developed successful government-to-government relationships with the eleven federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin. She serves as NRCS liaison to the NACD Great Lakes Committee and the Great Lakes Commission. Leavenworth places a high priority on development of partnerships with organizations and individuals to achieve voluntary, incentive-based conservation on private lands.
Brent McCown UW-Madison-Center for Integrated Agriculture System, Academic Program Director
Brent H. McCown is director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Gottschalk Endowed Professor of Cranberry Research in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's department of horticulture. He received his bachelors degree (horticulture), masters degree (plant physiology and horticulture), and Ph.D. (plant physiology and horticulture) at the University of Wisconsin.
McCown has been at UW-Madison for more than three decades and continues to maintain an ever-changing program that is a mix of undergraduate instruction, plant research, administration and outreach. In his teaching of two major beginning undergraduate horticulture courses, he covers the whole spectrum of crop sciences, from molecular biology to crop production to aesthetics to environmental issues. His research interests parallel this spectrum and include genetic improvement of woody ornamentals (birch, viburnums), genetic improvement of fruits (cranberry), production strategies for pharmaceutically-important herbaceous perennial herbs (goldenseal) used as alternative crops, and blending native community restoration with landscape and urban horticulture.
Rod Nilsestuen Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Secretary
Rod Nilsestuen was appointed by Governor Jim Doyle as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in January 2003 and began a second term in January 2007.
Recognized as a visionary, Rod Nilsestuen was the founding chair of the National Rural Cooperative Development Task Force, resulting in a major federal investment in cooperative development and creation of hundreds of co-op development projects across the nation. He also chaired the National Cooperative Business Association, and held leadership posts on many national and regional cooperative, government and university bodies.
Nilsestuen served as president and chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives for 24 years, building it into one of the most respected cooperative trade associations in the nation. Under Nilsestuen's leadership the WFC grew to represent about 860 co-ops with 1.8 million members in endeavors ranging from finance and insurance to rural development and agriculture. Nilsestuen's efforts brought Wisconsin co-op sectors together to produce a strong, unified voice, and created a two-state alliance with the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives. He also strengthened the Midwest co-op community by spearheading the unification of WFC and the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, and by helping to create the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Cooperative Development Services, and the Midwest Dairy Marketing Initiative.
Rep. Al Ott Legislator, State Capitol
Representative Al Ott was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1986. A Green Bay native, he completed the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short Course and the WI Rural Leadership Program. He is a former agri-business salesman, owner/operator of an independent agri-business, tenant dairy farmer, and cash crop farmer. He has been a 4-H Club adult leader, and Republican Party of Wisconsin and Calumet County Agricultural Association member.
Ott served as chairman of the Calumet County Farm Progress 1993 Executive Committee, vice chairperson (1973-92) of the Calumet County Board as well as chairperson of the Calumet County Board's Agriculture/Extension Education Committee, and vice chairperson of the Calumet County Board's Land Conservation and Planning/Zoning Commission. Representative Ott also served as secretary of the Wisconsin Land Conservation Board from 1984-88.
Gary Rohde UW-RF, Dean Emeritus, School of Agriculture
Gary Rohde is the Dean Emeritus for the College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences at UW-River Falls.
A native of Greenwood, Wis., Rohde taught vocational agriculture at Colby high school for three years, then earned his master's and doctorate in agricultural economics at UW-Madison and joined the faculty at UW-RF in 1966.
For the next decade he taught classes, served as an extension marketing specialist and as assistant dean before he was tapped by the State Board of Agriculture and former Gov. Patrick Lucey to serve as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. For nearly six years Rohde held the position as head of the 800-member department responsible for the state's agricultural programs and policies.
He returned to the University as dean in 1981.
John Rosenow Rosenholm-Wolfe Dairy, Co-Owner
John Rosenow has been the CEO of the 550-cow Rosenholm-Wolfe Dairy since 1975. He is Vice-Chair of Puentes/Bridges, an organization which provides Spanish/English language and cultural education to employers and their Mexican employees in an effort to create cross-cultural understanding between Wisconsin farmers and immigrant laborers.
Rosenow is a 1972 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Across his career, he has held numerous public service and leadership roles, including with the UW-Madison Dairy Research Center, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, the Value-Added in Wisconsin Committee, the UW-Madison Livestock Facility Committee, the UW-River Falls Agriculture Committee, the Wisconsin Livestock Siting Committee, and as an agricultural advisor for Herb Kohl.
Rosenow currently serves as the president of the Wisconsin Statewide Telephone Cooperative Association, director of his local telephone cooperative, and as member of Congressman Ron Kind's Agricultural Advisory Committee.
A leader and innovator throughout his career, Rosenow is learning Spanish, has worked to build relationships with employee families and communities in rural Mexico, and to create development opportunities for the struggling Mexican communities that are the source of his workers.
Rick Stadelman Wisconsin Towns Association, Executive Director
Richard Stadelman is Executive Director of Wisconsin Towns Association, a voluntary association of nearly all the towns and villages in Wisconsin. Stadelman has worked with the Association since 1979, first as General Legal Counsel and in 1984 also becoming Legislative Representative for the Association. In 1987, he became the full-time Executive Director.
Rick graduated from the UW-Madison Law School in December of 1972. He served as Assistant District Attorney from 1973-1974 in Shawano and Menominee Counties. He was twice elected District Attorney of these counties in 1974 and 1976. After leaving the District Attorney's office, Rick practiced law in Shawano while working on a part-time basis with the Association.
In his capacity as Executive Director of Wisconsin Towns Association, Rick has served on several Legislative Council Special Study Committees and several Advisory Committees for state agencies including the DATCP Livestock Siting Advisory Committee in recent years.
Harvey Stower City of Amery, Mayor
Harvey Stower is in his sixth term as mayor of Amery, Wisconsin. In addition, he serves on the Wisconsin Land & Water Conservation Board, and the Boards of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives, the Western Wisconsin Intergovernmental Collaborative, Wisconsin Church and Society-the United Methodist Church, and Inter-County Cooperative Publishing Association.
Stower spent eight years in the Wisconsin State Legislature representing the 28th Assembly District. During that time he served as co-chair of the Forest Productivity and Rural Development Committee, the bipartisan Rural Caucus, and as Chair of the Assembly Tourism and Recreation Committee.
Stower is the recipient of the 2001 Award for Excellence from the Robert Gard Wisconsin Idea Foundation, and numerous awards for his work on issues regarding human services, environmental protections, the arts, and veterans programs. Stower is an ordained United Methodist pastor, a former English teacher and coach, and is active in community organizations.
Christine Thomas UW-Stevens Point, Dean, Natural Resources
Christine L. Thomas is Dean and professor of resource management at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources. Thomas is the first female tenured full professor in the college and has developed the "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman" program. She has been active in regional issues related to women in natural resources and to work force diversity. Her research interests center on resource agency administration, outdoor involvement for women and Wisconsin conservation history.
In 1992, Thomas was cited as Outstanding Faculty Member in the College of Natural Resources and for Excellence in Teaching, and was variously named "Outstanding Educator," "Woman of the Year," and "Conservationist of the Year" by several conservation, wildlife, and sporting organizations and for her leadership in wildlife and sport fishing organizations.
In 1999, Thomas was named one of the twenty most influential conservationists in Wisconsin in the 20th century by the Wisconsin Outdoor Journal and in 2002 she was inducted into the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Sports Show Hall of Fame for Conservation Achievement. She serves by gubernatorial appointment on the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board and is currently Vice Chair. Recently, the US Secretary of the Interior, appointed Thomas to the Sporting Conservation Advisory Council.
