With the first presidential primaries heading our way, election season is in full swing. Dairy Forum 2016 will offer the perfect opportunity to get an inside look at the campaigns to come and the races ahead.

A dynamic duo of political strategists is set to share their views from both ends of the political spectrum during lunch on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Donna Brazile, Democratic political strategist and commentator, and Ana Navarro, Republican strategist and pundit, will discuss the hot-button issues on the campaign trail, giving insight on the upcoming elections and providing a roadmap for where the country is headed.

Donna Brazile

Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is now an adjunct professor, an author, a syndicated columnist and a television political commentator. She is the vice chair of voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and was former national chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She is also the author of the best-selling memoir “Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics” and is an on-air contributor to CNN and ABC, where she regularly appears on “This Week.”

Brazile worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign.

O, The Oprah Magazine named Brazile in its first list of 20 “remarkable visionaries,” and Washingtonian magazine named her among its “100 Most Powerful Women,” while Essence magazine called her one of the “Top 50 Women in America.” Brazile also received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement.

Ana Navarro 

Ana Navarro is a well-known Republican strategist and a political analyst for CNN and CNN en Español. Navarro frequently appears on “Meet the Press,” Bill Maher’s “Real Time,” “Anderson Cooper 360” and ABC’s “The View,” where she is a political contributor.

Navarro served as the national Hispanic co-chair for Governor Jon Huntsman’s 2012 campaign and the national co-chair of John McCain’s Hispanic Advisory Council in 2008, where she was also a national spokesperson for the McCain 2008 campaign. She served on Governor Jeb Bush’s transition team in 1998 and was his first director of immigration policy.

The Miami New Times named her a “Republican power-consultant.” The Tampa Bay Times called her “a sought-after voice in Republican politics and an adviser for any presidential hopeful,” saying, “with confidants Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio she is poised to play a big role in the GOP response to immigration reform and Hispanic outreach.”

In addition to setting the stage for the political climate for the year ahead, Dairy Forum 2016 will feature several sessions and speakers to explore industry issues such as changes in global populations and markets, water usage in food production, trade agreements, risk management, food safety, cyber security and crisis communications. Read the agenda for the full list of sessions and speakers. Be sure to register and book your hotel reservations soon.

For more information, contact Maria Velasco, meetings coordinator and registrar for IDFA, at mvelasco@idfa.org.