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Jerome Lyman elected to lead Farm Foundation® Board
Dan Basse elected Vice Chair; two new Directors also appointed
Farm Foundation Board Chair
OAK BROOK, Ill.—Jerome Lyman of Miami, FL, a retired executive of McDonald’s Corporation who is currently Chief Compliance Officer for Nazar Systems, has been elected Chair of the Farm Foundation Board of Directors. Lyman, who will serve a two-year term, succeeds Larkin Martin, an Alabama farmer who manages her family’s row crop operation in Lawrence County, AL.
“Farm Foundation fills a unique role in our industry,” Lyman says. “We provide a forum for meaningful discussion of agricultural policy, for developing the next generation of farmers and agricultural leaders, and for advancing tangible, multi-stakeholder solutions to challenges ranging from trade equity and climate mitigation to digital agriculture adoption and farmer health. I look forward to working with our Board, staff, program participants and others to continue to scale our efforts and our impact in these in many other areas.”
Dan Basse of Chicago, IL, President of AgResource Company, was elected Vice Chair of the 27-member Board. Re-elected as Treasurer of the Board was Elizabeth Hund of Evergreen, CO, a retired executive of U.S. Bank. Martin will continue to serve on the Board as Past Chair. The election took place at the Board’s June meeting.
Farm Foundation is an accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture that leverages the power of collaboration between food and agricultural stakeholders to advance agriculture in positive ways. As a 501(c)(3) charity, the organization applies its non-partisan, objective approach to a suite of projects and programs aimed at addressing both emerging and persistent issues facing farmers and the wider industry.
Re-elected to serve additional terms on the Board were John Foltz of Ohio State University, David Gilmore of John Deere, Robert Jones of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, Nathan Rudgers of Farm Credit East and Michael Torrey of Michael Torrey Associates.
In addition, two new members have been elected to the Board: Kristin Kroepfl of Quaker North America and Sylvester Miller II of Indigo. Kroepfl fills a seat dedicated to a member from the food industry, and Miller’s seat is newly dedicated to be filled for one three-year term by a participant selected from Farm Foundation’s suite of Next Generation development programs.
The Farm Foundation Board of Directors is responsible for managing the affairs of Farm Foundation. Other members of the Board are:
Charles Ahlem, Charles Ahlem Ranch
Cheri DeJong, AgriVision Farm Management and Natural Prairie Dairy
Gregg Hillyer, Progressive Farmer
George Hoffman, Restaurant Services Inc., retired
A.G. Kawamura, Orange County Produce
Thayne Larson, Bestifor Farms
Andrew LaVigne, American Seed Trade Association
Brad Lubben, University of Nebraska
Klaas Martens, Martens Farm and Lake View Organic Grain
John H. Miller, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad
William Nelson, William J. Nelson, LLC
Ryan Schohr, Schohr Ranch
Mary Snapp, Microsoft Philanthropies
Darci Vetter, Edelman
Craig Yunker, CY Farms