Presenters
Travis Antonsen, Producer Marketing Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Travis Antonsen is the producer marketing manager at Agtegra Cooperative in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he leads a team of grain marketing specialists, and coordinates all grain buying programs and activities in the cooperative. He has been with Agtegra since 2009 and started merchandising corn then wheat before moving into his current role in 2012. Prior to Agtegra, Travis worked as a merchandiser in the soybean processing industry for six year. He has a bachelor's degree in agricultural business from South Dakota State University. Travis currently serves as the president of the South Dakota Grain and Feed Association and is on the country elevator committee of the National Grain and Feed Association.
Ned Bergman, Chief of the Examination Branch
Kansas City, Missouri
Ned Bergman has worked for USDA for 39 years. Prior to becoming chief of the examination branch, Ned was chief of the United States Warehouse Act license branch from 1990 to 1997 and a warehouse examiner and supervisor in the Kansas City area from 1979 to 1990. He has worked extensively with the examination and inspection of commodity warehouses at both domestic and export locations. Ned is a Missouri native and has a degree in business administration and economics from Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. Ned is involved with the management of the family farm located in Missouri’s Harrison County and currently resides in Independence.
Corey Birch, Compliance Officer
Canadian Grain Commission (CGC)
Winnipeg, Maintoba, Canada
Corey Birch received training with the Winnipeg Police Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police before becoming a peace officer with the Manitoba Lotteries Corp. where, between 1998 and 2006, he investigated contraventions of provincial legislation related to gaming and Criminal Code of Canada offenses. Corey began his career as a compliance officer with the Canadian Grain Commission in 2007. Corey’s main responsibilities include investigating contraventions of federal law, namely the Canada Grain Act and Canada Grain Regulations, and arbitrating disputes between Canadian farmers and grain companies licensed by the CGC.
Cody Bonn, Maintenance Manager/Emergency Coordinator
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Cody Bonn has been in the Agtegra maintenance department for nine years and is currently the cooperative's maintenance manager. He is also in charge of Agtegra's Technical Rescue Team, overseeing training, personnel and equipment. Cody is a fire chief with Groton Fire and a Groton Rescue Squad member. Cody is a nationally-certified EMT, certified firefighter, SATRA Trainer certified, and a certified dive rescue specialist on the Brown County Sheriff's Dive Team.
Brian Brost, Underwriting Consultant
Bloomington, Minnesota
Brian Brost graduated from the University of Kansas with bachelor degrees in accounting and information systems. He joined CNA Surety in March 2012 via their surety underwriter trainee program. Brian transferred to Minneapolis in 2013 and currently handles surety underwriting in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Andy Clemen, Central Region Safety Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Andy Clemen is the central region safety manager for Agtegra Cooperative. Andy has worked in agriculture safety and environmental compliance for 12 years. Andy has been involved with both new and existing facility registrations, implementation of required safety and environmental standards and handling regulatory inspections for the grain, feed, agronomy, fuel and aerial operations. He has prior safety experience in manufacturing. He is actively involved with local emergency planning organizations throughout South Dakota, assisting in outreach safety trainings. Andy has a bachelor of science degree from Black Hills State University in business management.
Weston Dinger, System Engineer
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Weston Dinger has been in the Agtegra information technology department for 10 years, currently as a system engineer. He is also a member of the Agtegra Technical Rescue Team, as well as the Groton Fire Department and Groton Rescue Squad. Weston has a network administration degree from Southeast Technical Institute, is a nationally-certified EMT, certified firefighter, and is SATRA Rope Rescue level 1 certified.
Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations
National Grain & Feed Association
Arlington, Virginia
Max Fisher has been the National Grain & Feed Association’s director of economics and government relations for five years. Prior to his time at the NGFA, he was the chief economist for the Republican Senate Agriculture Committee. His interest outside of NGFA is farming with his family in Kansas. He is married with four children.
Mark Gallegos, Technical Services Section Chief
Colorado Department of Agriculture
Denver, Colorado
Mark Gallegos has a bachelor's degree in agriculture business from Colorado State University. Mark, a seventh generation Coloradoan, grew up in Northern Colorado working on his family's farming and ranching operations. Prior to joining the Colorado Department Agriculture staff, Mark worked for Ranch Way Feed Mills in Fort Collins, Colorado. While at CDA Mark completed grain warehouse exams, investigations, and managed the grain warehouse inspection program. Mark was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in July of 2012. Mark began serving as section chief in September of 2017.
Eric Hanson, Chief, Agricultural Producer Security Section
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Madison, Wisconsin
Eric Hanson is a certified public accountant with a bachelor's of business administration degree in accounting and finance from University of Wisconsin - Madison. Eric began his career at WDATCP as a grain auditor in 1991. In 2003, Eric became section chief of the agricultural producer security section. Eric’s responsibilities include overseeing licensing programs for grain dealers, grain warehouse keepers, milk contractors, and vegetable contractors and administering these programs with the objective of helping to assure that farmers’ grain is being stored safely and securely and that farmers get paid for their grain, milk, and vegetables.
Springfield, Illinois
John's journey in commodity markets began in 2001 after graduating from Bradley University with his bachelor's degree in finance. He was hired by the Chicago Board of Trade to write agricultural market commentaries that were published daily by the Exchange. From there, he moved into the Registrar's Office where he gained extensive knowledge of cash grain movement through the CBOT delivery system. He used this knowledge to transition into commodity derivatives trading, where he managed a cash portfolio, trading futures and options on grains and oilseeds at the Chicago Board of Trade, Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. His primary focus was fundamental supply and demand trends, inter-commodity spread fundamentals and cost of carry spread trading. In order to further his mastery in the field, he left trading to become an economist for the CME Group's Commodity Research and Product Development Department while attending graduate school at Loyola University in Chicago. John then created JDH Analytics to provide professional market analysis, education and consulting services. While running JDH Analytics, he was appointed vice president of eGrain, Inc., which provides electronic documentation for the agricultural industry.
Beth Locken, West Region Safety Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Beth Locken has been with Agtegra Cooperative for eight years and is currently the west region safety manager. Prior to Agtegra, Beth was a safety and health consultant for South Dakota State University Engineering Extension, assisting manufacturing, healthcare, construction, forestry, and agricultural companies in South Dakota achieve and maintain compliance with OSHA regulations. Beth has a bachelor of science degree in agricultural systems technology and minor in chemistry from South Dakota State University and is Level II trained member of Agtegra’s Technical Rescue Team.
Nathan Locken, DOT/Fleet Safety Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Nathan Locken is the DOT/fleet safety manager for Agtegra. He joined Agtegra in 2009 and worked as a custom applicator before moving into a grain manager role and then becoming location manager. Nathan also has been an active supporter of the B.A.S.E. (Behaviors Achieving Safety Excellence) program and has completed both OSHA 10- and 30-hour trainings. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, having served as a sergeant performing avionics on helicopters. Nathan earned a bachelor of science degree in biology with a minor in business from Northern State University.
Fargo, North Dakota
Kia Mikesh is the vice president of North Dakota Grain Inspection. She is a graduate from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. After graduation, Kia was hired by North Dakota Grain Inspection as the company’s project manager and soon worked her way to the vice president role. She now manages the agency across eight states. Along with her commitment to NDGI she is the project manager for AdamsNet, a company that develops software programs for grain inspection agencies similar to NDGI. Kia currently serves as a member of several boards of directors including TrueIT and the American Association of Grain Inspection and Weighing Agency and was appointed to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Grain Inspection Advisory Committee, where she provides recommendations and solutions to improve programs and services under the U.S. Grain Standards Act.
Metamora, Illinois
Greg Miller is principal of Miller & Associates, an agricultural software and consulting firm based just outside Peoria, Illinois. Miller is a 1983 graduate of Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's in economics degree who then earned a Master of Extension Education/Ag Finance from the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture in 1984. He began his career as a software programmer and designer for a grain accounting software firm in Peoria, Illinois. In 1990, Miller & Associates was formed and began offering software systems for grain warehouse regulators. A radical idea at the time, ExamHand software systems applied the examination criteria required by statute, rule, and regulation but did so by demonstrating compliance using the same accounting-based tools and methods used by the grain industry itself. An associate member of AGRO for 29 years, Mr. Miller is a past board member, past technology committee chair and played a role in establishing AGRO’s EDI standards for the transfer of warehouse examination data between industry and regulators.
Dominic Perrone, AGRO President
Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development
Lansing, Michigan
Dominic Perrone graduated from Michigan State University in 1995 and has been working for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for the past 22 years. At MDARD, he has served the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council, the office of racing commissioner and the executive office. He has been with the Farm Produce Insurance Authority, which is directly involved with the regulation of the states licensed grain dealers, for the past 10 years and is the current president of the Association of Grain Regulatory Officials.
Carie Pintado, Chief, License & Storage Contract Branch
Kansas City, Missouri
Carie Pintado is the chief of the License & Storage Contract Branch in the Warehouse & Commodity Management Division within the Agricultural Marketing Service’s Fair Trade Practices Program. With recent organizational changes, her responsibilities are not only focused on administering the United States Warehouse Act, but also the Commodity Credit Corporation Contract Storage Agreements. Carie started her career with the USDA in 2002. Over the course of the last 16 years, she has primarily worked in various capacities within the examination branch, starting as a warehouse examiner in the Indiana and Illinois area. Prior to making the transition into the Kansas City office, She worked for a full service commodity brokerage firm in Chicago, Illinois, primarily centered on risk management. Carie graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with an agribusiness management degree. She and her three children reside in Kansas City, Missouri.
Bruce Roerick, South Region Safety Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Bruce Roerick is the south region safety manager for Agtegra Cooperative. He has been a regional safety and environmental specialist/food-feed security manager for the past two years and is a member of the B.A.S.E team. He also serves on the South Dakota Ag Co-op Safety Directors Association as the co-chair. For 25 years prior to joining Agtegra, Bruce held several grain elevator manager positions with Busch Ag that included part-time responsibility for safety. He started with Agtegra Cooperative as a location manager in 2009 for St. Lawrence, Miller, and Miranda. In 2011, he transferred to Redfield Elevator. In 2015, he transferred to Mellette as the safety manager for Mellette, Cresbard and Mansfield locations. Bruce graduated from the University of Mary with a degree in business management.
Robin Rutlin, Underwriting Specialist
Bloomington, Minnesota
Robin graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor degree in business. Robin joined CNA Surety in November 2016 and handles surety underwriting in Minnesota and North Dakota. Prior to joining CNA Surety, she was a surety bond account manager at both Hays Companies and Willis Towers Watson.
Bill Spreeman, Vice President of Safety, Environmental and Regulatory Affairs
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Bill Spreeman is the vice president of safety, environmenal and regulatory affairs for Agtegra Cooperative. Bill has been responsible for safety and environmental affairs for agricultural-related operations for over 20 years. Prior to that, he was responsible for safety, environmental and regulatory affairs for manufacturing operations, food processing operations and oil and gas operations. Bill has been responsible for environmental, safety and regulatory compliance for over 35 years. Bille earned his master's degree in science of management from Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his bachelor's of science degree in biology from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Alpharetta, Georgia
Mike Terning earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Northwestern, St. Paul. He was an auditor for four years with RSM in Davenport, Iowa. He was with CHS for eight years, where he helped manage the accounting systems for affiliated cooperatives and country grain elevators and the related cooperative financial statement compilation service. Mike now serves as the head of product for Greenstone Systems, a Cultura Company. He is responsible for satisfying customers in the ag-retail, cooperative, grain origination and grain processor market segments with investments into and related to the AGRIS and CINCH agribusiness information management systems.
Tom Waletich, East Region Safety Manager
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Tom Waletich is the east region safety manager for Agtegra Cooperative. Tom has been in the safety and environmental division for eight years. His responsibilities include developing and supporting safety policies and procedures that encourage a positive safety culture, coordinating safety and environmental regulatory reporting and permitting, completing incident investigations, developing and maintaining company data in the RCI system. Tom is a member of the Northern Technical Rescue Team. Prior to Agtegra, Tom was a relief operator for Valley Queen Cheese. He has an associate's degree in environmental technology from Lake Area Technical Institute.
Jason Wamba, Assistant Director/ Program Manager
Macon, Georgia
Jason Wamba is currently the assistant director/program manager for the Warehouse and Bonding Division and has been with of the Georgia Department of Agriculture for 10 years. He began as a compliance specialist and moved into his current position in 2015.
Jason received degrees in agribusiness and agribusiness policy from the Ogeechee Technical College.
Prior to joining the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Jason served five years as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and completed two tours in Iraq.