I have a very diverse work background which I started in the ag industry at 16 years old. At that time, I worked for Anheuser Busch, the local barley elevator, in my hometown. I went on to get my BS in Agriculture and continued my work in the grain industry until 2002. A career change in 2002 brought me into a completely new side of agriculture with Farm Credit Service. The Farm Credit system taught me how to be a banker and it took me on a great journey to learn another side of the agriculture business. In my career as a banker, I financed farmers, grain companies and multiple types of processing companies in 16 different states across the country. In 2009, I moved from the banking world into private capital helping companies purchase assets in the US, which led me to South Dakota in 2012 where I held the position of CEO with Dakota Plains Ag Center LLC with is a joint venture between Cargill Inc and Mitsubishi Corp. The Dakota Plains Ag Center LLC was formed in 2000 and when I joined the company in 2012, I was the 10th CEO to hold the position. I restructured the company and recruited new talent to create a well-oiled machine with the management team I had put in place.
Having a well-rounded background in agriculture with financing, operating, processing and marketing has brought me to where I am today, serving as the CEO of Burnett Dairy Cooperative since July of 2022. Burnett Dairy Cooperative is a unique farmer owned cooperative that not only focuses on making award winning cheese but also has a full-service agricultural center to truly serve our cooperative members. We have a true farm to fork story at Burnett Dairy that is unmatched in today’s Cooperative landscape.
