SPEAKERS—Wednesday SPEAKERS —Wednesday DINA CHACÓN-REITZEL
Director, New Mexico Beef Council | Regent, New Mexico State University
Dina Chacón-Reitzel is a native of northern New Mexico, hailing from Cebolla in Rio Arriba County, where she grew up on her family’s cow-calf ranch, Pinãvetal Ranch. She is a graduate of Española High School and now resides in Albuquerque. Dina received two degrees from New Mexico State University, a Bachelor of Science in home economics and business in 1978, then returned to NMSU to earn a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing and management from the Collegof Business in 1983. Chacón-Reitzel started her career as a home economist for NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service, serving for six years in Eddy County and Las Cruces. In 1989, she became the executive director of the New Mexico Beef Council – the marketing, research and education arm of the beef industry in New Mexico. Chacón-Reitzel has also served on other national and regional boards and committees including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Beef Safety Research Committee, New Mexico 4-H Foundation, Saint Pius High School Foundation and UNM Children’s Hospital Foundation. Throughout her esteemed career, she has maintained close ties to NMSU. For 30 years, she has worked to implement educational programs with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, the Agricultural Experiment Station, the Cooperative Extension Service and 4-H Youth Development. Since 2003, she has served as the NMSU delegate to the Council for Agricultural Research Extension and Teaching. In this role, she advocates for federal funding for NMSU and other land-grant universities across the country. Chacón-Reitzel was also a recipient of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996. Regent Chacón-Reitzel serves as chair of the Regents Real Estate Committee and Position Director for Arrowhead Center Incorporated.industry, and her family.
SPEAKERS—Thursday SPEAKERS —Thursday RUARAIDH PETRE
Executive Director, Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef
Ruaraidh (Rory) has been the executive director of GRSB since 2012. His background is in agriculture, specializing in livestock production, and he has an M.Sc. in tropical animal production and health from the University of Edinburgh veterinary faculty. His early career was in commercial livestock and farm management in New Zealand, Australia and Scotland. Petre went on to work on farming systems and veterinary development in South and Central Asia. Subsequently, he worked on financing of agricultural development projects for a wide range of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and served as regional director for Solidaridad Southern Africa until joining GRSB. Over the past decade, Ruaraidh has overseen the growth of the sustainable beef roundtable network to include 24 countries with a common commitment to making sustainable beef part of a thriving food system. The GRSB released its global goals on reducing climate impact, nature positive production and animal welfare in early July 2021, and is currently working on the MRV framework to report on progress.
JOHN CROWLEY AbacusBio
John is currently a consultant with AbacusBio Ltd., an agricultural science and business company with headquarters in New Zealand. Until recently, John was based in the Edinburgh office, but with opportunity to grow the North American side of the business, he recently moved back to Alberta where he has spent several years after earning his Ph.D. Originally from Ireland, John grew up on a mixed dairy and beef operation. He received his Ph.D. in animal breeding and genetics in 2010 from University College Dublin and Teagasc. John’s current work focuses on many aspects of genetic improvement across plants and animals, the sustainability of food and fiber production, and the application and evaluation of emerging agri-technologies.
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