Speakers

Chris Galen

Sr. Vice President of Membership Services and Strategic Initiatives, NMPF

Chris is responsible for ensuring that NMPF’s members derive value from their membership and that NMPF is effective in engaging other dairy, ag and food organizations. This includes overseeing the delivery of outstanding member services while also creating and strengthening relationships with stakeholders.

Mary Knigge

Vice President of Government Relations, DFA

Mary advocates on behalf of DFA’s farmer owners on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. In her role, she aids DFA’s legislative affairs team in efforts to support dairy policy. Previously, Mary spent eight years working for House Agriculture Committee Chair and Ranking Member Collin Peterson where she was the lead staffer for the livestock subcommittee.

Paul Bleiberg

Sr. Vice President of Government Relations, NMPF Paul leads NMPF’s policy and advocacy efforts before Congress and works closely with various federal agencies. During his tenure at NMPF, Bleiberg has worked with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to enact major dairy policy reforms, including in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, 2018 Farm Bill, and multiple COVID response packages.

CLAUDIA LARSON, PHD

Sr. Director of Government Relations, NMPF

Claudia leads advocacy work on a wide range of issues, including agricultural labor reform and workforce issues, nutrition policy and programs, and rural broadband development. Larson played an active role in crafting and advancing the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act and building support for NMPF’s child nutrition priorities.

Shawna Morris

Sr. Vice President of Trade Policy, NMPF

Shawna leads NMPF’s efforts to advance dairy trade policies through work with the U.S. and foreign governments as well as with domestic and international allied organizations to maximize U.S. dairy export opportunities, promote a more balanced playing global field for the U.S. dairy sector, and address policy-related barriers around the world.

TONY RICE Manager of Trade Policy, NMPF

Tony Rice works with NMPF’s Trade Policy team to develop, implement and communicate NMPF’s work to support policies that promote U.S. dairy exports, seek removal of policies that impede those exports and address foreign barriers to U.S. dairy sales. Tony also manages supply chain policy for NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

Alan Bjerga

Sr. Vice President of Communications, NMPF

Alan leads NMPF’s communications efforts with a focus on digital storytelling, media relations and marketing. He is both the author of NMPF’s Dairy Defined thought leadership series and the host of its “Dairy Defined” podcast, exploring issues of interest to agriculture and the domestic and global food systems. Bjerga previously worked at Bloomberg News.

Steve Etka

Policy Director, Midwest Dairy Coalition

Steve represents the Midwest Dairy Coalition on federal dairy policy issues. On a regional basis, the coalition’s membership represents a majority of the dairy farms in the Upper Midwest and provides an effective forum for dairy organizations to discuss, debate and propose common policy action dealing with the ever-changing federal dairy issues.

Lindsay Reames

Executive Vice President of Sustainability and External Relations, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative

Lindsay leads the development and execution of MD-VA’s sustainability, marketing and communications initiatives. In this role she adds value to customer relationships through a sustainability model, which allows the supply chain to reach its sustainability goals together.

Dan Coyne

Lobbyist, Darigold

Dan Coyne is responsible for federal government affairs for Northwest Dairy Association/ Darigold, Inc. He has lobbied in some capacity for the co-op for more than 25 years. Coyne began his dairy career in 1968 milking cows for a Darigold producer. In 1981, he was appointed executive director of the Washington State Dairy Federation, a position he held for 10 years.

Gary Matteson

Vice President of Beginning Farmer Programs and Outreach, Farm Credit Council

Gary is an advocate for young, beginning, small, and minority farmer outreach programs. This includes work on emerging opportunities in local foods, direct-to-consumer agriculture, and generational transition of farm businesses. For thirty years Gary was a farmer raising greenhouse wholesale cut flowers.

REP. DAVID VALADAO

U.S. Congressman, California’s 22nd District Rep. David Valadao , R-CA, was born and raised in the center of the agriculturally rich 22nd Congressional District. As a lifelong resident of the Central Valley, he has been active in agriculture and dairy industry groups. Valadao’s father started a small dairy farm in the Central Valley in 1973. The family business now consists of two dairies and 1,000 acres of farmland.

Jim Mulhern

President and CEO, NMPF

Jim Mulhern, an agriculture and food policy strategist with more than 35 years of experience working with policymakers and media, became NMPF’s President and Chief Executive Officer in 2014. He directs NMPF’s work on wide-ranging, critical issues including trade policy, immigration reform, the farm bill, environmental policy and much more.

Paul Hansen

Manager of Leader Development, Land O’Lakes

Paul leads Land O’Lakes’ Leader Development Program, which provides opportunities for cooperative members to gain new skills and experiences to prepare them for leadership roles. Prior to joining Land O’Lakes in 2015, Paul spent 16 years working for Cargill managing the development, engagement, budget, resource planning and project scoping for a global team.

Chad Metzler

Director of Federal Government and Industry Relations, Land O’Lakes

Chad leads Land O’Lakes’ D.C. office, lobbying Capitol Hill and the agencies on Land O’Lakes federal priorities. He joined Land O’Lakes in November after a 27 year career in public service. Most of that was as a Senate Legislative Director, but he spent the last two years at the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

Randy Mooney

Chairman, NMPF

Randy and his wife, Jan, operate Mooney Dairy in Rogersville, Missouri. He was elected chairman of NMPF in 2008, and later elected chair of Dairy Farmers of America’s Board of Directors in 2010. Randy also serves on the boards of Missouri State Milk Board, Dairy Management Inc., Hiland Dairy and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.