Connect with Leaders in Farming and Beyond

This diverse gathering of experts can enlighten you on a range of subject matters. Learn the complexities of geopolitics and trade, emerging media trends and the latest in crop science and more.

Dr. Jacqueline Applegate

President of Bayer Crop Science North America

Dr. Jacqueline Applegate serves as President of Bayer Crop Science North America and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and Head of the Roundup Consumer Business. She is responsible for the commercial performance of Crop Science in the United States and Canada. Previously, Applegate served as Head of Global Vegetable Seeds & Environmental Science, where she led operations, strategic planning and product development for the two key business units. Prior to that, Applegate served in a variety of leadership positions at Bayer, including as the Senior Bayer Representative for Australia and New Zealand; President of Environmental Science North America; Vice President of Environmental Science Consumer Products; and Head of Global Project Management. In addition, Applegate served as the Culture and Change Management Lead for the Bayer/Monsanto integration. She began her career at Bayer in 1992 as a chemist. 

Applegate graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wright State University and a Master’s degree in business from Rockhurst College. She also holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Iowa State University. She grew up in Union, Ohio, and is based in St. Louis, where she has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic, community and business organizations. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her son, Matthew. 

Gwyn Schramm

U.S. Strategic Accounts and Licensing Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Gwyn Schramm leads the U.S. Strategic Accounts and Licensing business in Bayer Crop Science North America.  

 Throughout her career, Gwyn has cultivated a breadth of global professional experiences in row crops, digital agriculture, vegetables, and animal agriculture in the functional areas of sales, account management, operations, business development, and agronomy services.  

 Prior to joining Monsanto – now Bayer – in 2000, Gwyn was a crop protection sales representative for DuPont and American Cyanamid in the U.S.  

Gwyn earned a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Economics from the University of Illinois, an Executive MBA from Northern Illinois University, and is completing her Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University. 

 Originally from Illinois, Gwyn and her husband, David, own and operate a grain and livestock farm in northwest Iowa. 

  

 

Duane Simpson

VP and head of the North America Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability team | Bayer Crop Science

Duane Simpson serves as a member of the North American Leadership Team and the Global Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability Team. He is VP and head of the North America Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability team within the Crop Science Division of Bayer.  

 Based in Washington, DC, he and his team shape agricultural policy in the United States and Canada at the federal, provincial, state and local levels and influence policy around the globe. 

 His team is responsible for the political relationships within the region as well as maintaining and building partnerships with key customer and stakeholder organizations.  

 He represents Bayer on the Biotechnology Industry Organization Board of Directors and the BIO Agriculture & Environment Section Board. 

 Duane has held various leadership roles across state and local government affairs since joining the company in 2008 and he has more than twenty-five years of experience in political campaigns, developing policy frameworks and maintaining strategic relationships to shape agricultural policy. 

 A Kansas native, he graduated with a degree in Political Science from Fort Hays State University. He resides in Falls Church with his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Hailey. 
  

Todd Dohrmann

Bayer Head of Breeding North America | Bayer Crop Science

Todd Dohrmann is the Head of Breeding North America and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. In his 20+ years with Monsanto and Bayer, Todd has held leadership roles across R&D and Supply Chain organizations with a focus on product and systems development for our row crops products.  Away from work, Todd resides in St. Louis with his wife Tiffany and three kids, Adam, Audrey and Alexander and has a passion for golf, travel and the outdoors.

 

Jeremy Williams

Head of The Climate Corporation and Digital Farming | Bayer Crop Science

Jeremy Williams is the Head of The Climate Corporation and Digital Farming for Bayer Crop Science, where he leads a diverse team that develops digital tools to help unlock the next wave of ag innovations. Jeremy is also a member of the Crop Science Executive Leadership and Commercial Leadership Teams. 

 

Prior to his current role, Jeremy served as SVP, Head of Plant Biotechnology for Bayer Crop Science, where he led a global team to enable a robust plant biotechnology pipeline. Jeremy has over 20 years of diverse biotech and agrochemical R&D experience, and served in several R&D leadership roles at Monsanto including as Head of Chemistry R&D. He began his career as one of the founding scientists at Divergence Inc., a St. Louis-based startup acquired by Monsanto in 2011.  

 

Jeremy is passionate about Inclusion & Diversity and a proud member of several I&D organizations. He graduated from Washington University with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Biochemistry and French. 

Jeremy Gutsche

New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning innovation expert, and the CEO of Trend Hunter

Jeremy Gutsche, MBA, CFA, is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning innovation expert, “one of the most sought-after keynote speakers on the planet” (The Sun Newspaper) and the CEO of Trend Hunter — the world’s #1 innovation website with 200,000 idea hunters and 3 billion views from 150,000,000 visitors. Prior to Trend Hunter, Jeremy grew a $1 billion portfolio for a bank, and today, over 600 brands, billionaires and CEOs rely on his innovation keynote speeches and workshops to ACCELERATE INNOVATION and MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN, including Google, Disney, Starbucks, Red Bull, Netflix, LEGO, Victoria Secret, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Wells Fargo. He’s even helped NASA prototype the Journey to Mars! 

Routinely sourced by the media, Jeremy’s broad appeal ranges from The Economist and CNN to Entertainment Tonight and The New York Times. He has been described as “a new breed of trend spotter” by The Guardian, “an eagle eye” by Global TV, an “Oracle” by the Globe and Mail, an “intellectual can of Red Bull” by Association Week, “the rockstar of keynote speakers” by Meetings Professional International and “on the forefront of cool” by MTV. 

https://www.jeremygutsche.com/

 

Ryan Gilbert

Knowledge Transfer Agronomy Project Manager | Bayer Crop Science

Ryan has been working for Bayer Crop Sciences for 7 years, with 10 years of previous experience as an agronomist working part time and a full-time agriculture teacher. He started with Bayer as a technical agronomist before moving to Knowledge Transfer. His focus is on the team centers on the customer experience and content management strategy.

Bree Champagne

Organizational Development and Effectiveness Expert U.S. | Bayer Crop Science

Bree is the Organizational Development and Effectiveness Expert supporting all Bayer Divisions in the U.S. She has held a variety of HR specialist and HR Business Partner roles throughout her career in the Financial, Pharmaceutical and Agriculture industries. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Organizational Development from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  

 

Tia Schoth

Talent Management Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Tia is the Talent Management Lead for the Bayer Crop Science division in the U.S. She has held a variety of HR specialist and HR Business Partner roles throughout her career in the Aerospace, Agriculture and Life Sciences industries. She has a master’s degree in Organization Development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  

 

Megan McQuoid

Soybean Traits Marketing Manager | Bayer Crop Science

Megan is currently the Soybean Traits Marketing Manager. In her current role, Megan is responsible for development and execution of marketing plans, marketing programs, promotional activities, and product launch activities for the Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System. She has worked at Monsanto for 13 years in a variety of sales, operation and marketing roles. Most recently she was a marketing manager for Corn States. A proud graduate of the University of Missouri, she holds a BS in Agribusiness Management and a MBA from Webster University. Megan, her husband John, son, Braxton (6) and daughter, Sloan (1), reside in the rural St. Louis Area.

Martha Smith

Global Industry Affairs Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Martha Smith is the Global Industry Affairs Lead for Bayer Crop Science where she leads a team that engages with industry organizations on policy and advocacy efforts impacting customers, the agriculture industry and society. During her 17-year career with Bayer (previously Monsanto), she has worked in a variety of roles within public affairs, government affairs, sales leadership and supply chain management. Martha was raised on her family’s sixth generation cattle, hay and row crop farm near Lexington, Virginia, that her parents and siblings continue to farm today. Martha is a graduate of Iowa State University and currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Devin Hammer

North America Roundup and Dicamba Herbicides Technical Manager | Bayer Crop Science

Devin Hammer is the North America Roundup and Dicamba herbicides Technical Manager. In this role he supports national marketing and sales by summarizing and analyzing data from trials managed by the local Crop Protection Technical Development Representatives.  Devin has been with Bayer for 4 years and resides in the Minnesota/Wisconsin region.  

Brian Nemmers

U.S. Soybean Germplasm and Deployment Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Brian is the U.S. Soybean Germplasm and Deployment Lead.  In this role, he leads a team of Product Development Managers responsible for deploying soybean germplasm into the market.  Brian grew up in Bristol, Illinois surrounded by Corn and Soybean fields in an agricultural community.  He earned his Bachelor Degree in Microbiology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and then received his Master’s Degree in Biology from Washington University in Saint Louis.  Brian is passionate about data and insights and enabling teams to develop, select and position the best products.  Brian has experience in scientific research, IT, data science, plant breeding and genetics. 

Dean Heffta

Speaker, Trainer, and Founder | Clarus Results

Dean Heffta is a speaker, trainer, and founder of Peoria, IL based consulting firm Clarus Results. Dean works with organizations developing their team’s leadership, strategic clarity, customer experience, and overall effectiveness. 

Raised on his family’s farm in Northeast North Dakota, he is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and Drake University’s MBA program and is one of only a handful of Midwest based trainers of Process Communication Model – a unique insight tool used by NASA, Pixar and many global organizations to improve awareness, influence, and communication.

 

Dan Kendrick

Head of Regulatory Affairs Corn Traits | Bayer Crop Science

Dan is currently the Head of Regulatory Affairs Corn Traits at Bayer CropScience and has global accountability for the development and execution of regulatory plans to secure and defend global regulatory authorizations and license to operate for Bayer’s biotechnology-derived corn portfolio to enable the commercial business.  Prior to joining Bayer in 2019, Dan was the Global Biotechnology Regulatory Affairs Lead for Monsanto Company’s biotech corn traits and previously served in a similar role leading cotton and specialty crops traits.  He joined Monsanto in 2002 and held various leadership roles in the company’s Regulatory organization.  Dan has over 19 years of experience with safety assessments, navigating complex and dynamic global regulatory systems, advocating globally for science-based regulations, and enabling the commercialization of biotech crops.  He currently serves as Chair of the Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee, an industry organization that supports and promotes the stewardship and acceptance of plant-incorporated protectants (e.g., Bt crops) and crops of modern biotechnology in the U.S.  Dan is based on Chesterfield, MO and has a B.S. in Plant Science from the University of Missouri – Columbia and a M.S. in Horticulture and Crop Science from The Ohio State University.    

Shannon Craig

Director of Strategy | Paradowski Creative

Shannon Craig has almost two decades of experience in the agriculture industry, including a stint as a State Officer for the Florida Future Farmers of America. She has traveled more than 48,000 miles during the growing season, meeting hundreds of farmers to talk about their unique challenges and experiences in American agriculture. She has parlayed that into a career in which she builds communication and business strategies for brands working in the space. Shannon is the Director of Strategy at Paradowski Creative, a full-service advertising agency in St. Louis, Missouri. 

 

Ross Dobson

Marketing Strategist and Founder/President of Sir Isaac

Ross Dobson is a marketing strategist with over 30 years experience. He has held executive roles with Mullen and Digitas and has worked on widely recognized brands such as Dunkin Donuts, FedEx and General Motors. Ross founded Sir Isaac in 2008 with the goal of bringing small and mid-size companies big brand experience in an actionable, accessible and affordable way. He’s worked closely with Corn States for the last 10 years and has provided insight and expertise to over a dozen licensees spanning brand architecture, sales support, cross-channel marketing execution and offer strategies. Broader AG experience includes Benson Hill, AirScout, Hagie and, most recently, Taranis – the leading digital agronomy platform. Despite residing in Salem, Massachusetts, Ross has developed a true passion for Ag. In addition to his experience providing marketing support to Ag, his wife’s family farms in Southern Illinois. He’s grateful to all of you for the education you’ve given him over the years so he no longer says ridiculous things at their Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. 

Stephanie Gable

Vice President, Client Relationship Development – Data-Driven Performance Marketing | Farm Journal

Stephanie Gable is Vice President, Client Relationship Development – Data-Driven Performance Marketing. She is responsible for overseeing a team that manages custom solutions, market research, marketing and events. She works across all Farm Journal platforms to develop and distribute content and marketing services in the agricultural and produce industries. Before joining the media side nearly five years ago, she worked in global marketing, marketing communications, corporate marketing and sales training for major agricultural companies as well as not for profits and advertising agencies. She has a master’s degree in Strategic Communications and an undergraduate degree in Animal Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been active in agriculture her entire life and still farms with her family in Southeast Missouri. 

Rhett Hawkins

Enterprise Account Director | Farm Journal

Rhett Hawkins has been an Enterprise Account Director with Farm Journal for almost five years. Hawkins grew up on a cash crop and feedlot operation in Southwestern Ontario. He has parlayed that early farm experience into a career of more than 20 years working with some of Ag’s biggest and most innovative companies. Prior to Farm Journal, Hawkins had been a partner at Osborn Barr, was in Marketing at Bayer and at one time was a partner of an ad agency in Canada named Red Rhino. Hawkins has led teams that have launched and grown some of the most prominent brands across most sectors of agriculture – Bayer, Monsanto, Elanco, Pfizer, DuPont, Syngenta, Nationwide, among others.  

 Rhett has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and MBA from the University of Guelph. Rhett currently resides in Glen Carbon, IL with his wife, two kids, and dog.  

Megan Dickens

Production Operations Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Megan Dickens leads the Production Operations Team at Bayer Crop Science’s new Marana Product Development Center.  This innovative greenhouse facility supports Precision Breeding initiatives and production of new corn varieties for Bayer’s Breeding division.  In this role, she is focused on delivery of quality product to our Breeding partners around the world, production process innovation and development of our future talent pipeline.  Megan previously led teams in Bayer’s Biotech division focused on production of first-generation products in corn, soybean, cotton and canola. 

April Agee Carroll

Nursery Design and Data Strategy Lead | Bayer Crop Science

April Agee Carroll is the Nursery Design and Data Strategy Lead for Bayer Crop Science’s new Corn Product Design Center in Marana, Arizona. Her team enables data-driven pipeline decisions based on genomic analysis and greenhouse performance. Carroll formerly served Purdue University as Director of Phenomics, leading design and launch of field and controlled environment phenotyping facilities. As well as academia, she has led industry teams ranging from big ag in the corn belt on phenotyping in greenhouses with Corteva, to a startup just outside New York City (AeroFarms) on product development in indoor urban farming. Her PhD and post-doctoral research were in automated imaging applications for plant genetics and chemical genomics at UC Riverside under Distinguished Professor Natasha Raikhel. April is active in various scientific innovation, outreach and education efforts both inside Bayer and externally with the NAPPN, Phenome conferences, Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation, and with Purdue as an adjunct faculty member. 

Ryan Tichich

Corn Agronomic Systems Team Lead, North America Market Development | Bayer Crop Science

Ryan Tichich is the North America Corn Agronomic Systems Team Lead within Market Development. He joined the MD team in November 2019, initially focused on SeedGrowth. In April 2021 he transitioned into leading the Corn Agronomic Systems team, taking with him corn SeedGrowth and combined this with the areas core to the role: disease modeling, product characterization, and trait assessment. A key aspect is to gain a better understanding how these fit together into a systems approach that delivers value to the customer. Ryan started his career at Bayer (via Monsanto) in 2006. Prior to joining Market Development, he held several roles in Breeding and Biotech, including early pipeline yield trait assessment in corn and soybean, leading the Corn Trait Integration Product Assessment team, leading field testing teams, and developing centralized planning, logistics and cassette filling.  Ryan and his four children live in O’Fallon, MO, and are busy with activities, sports and academic endeavors of the family. In his free time, Ryan enjoys running, playing ice hockey, and visiting scenic and inspiring areas, often involving hiking.     

 

Connie Davis

North America Corn Disease, Yield & Stress Market Development Manager | Bayer Crop Science

Connie Davis is the North America Corn Disease, Yield & Stress Market Development Manager on the Ag Systems team.  She is the technical expert for Bayer Crop Science Commercial Market Development on topics related to corn disease management, water management, drought-stress and short stature corn systems.  She has been in this role since late 2014.  Connie’s work history includes a variety of roles in the last 21 years with increasing responsibility and influence across multiple functions within the organization including Commercial Operations, Product Assessment, Breeding and Trait Integration. Connie serves on her local School District School Board and is a passionate advocate for advancement of women in agriculture through Bayer networks like GROW and WiSE.  Connie lives on a small family farm in central Missouri with her husband Colby and 4 children Addison, Emily, Corin and Will.  In her spare time, she enjoys coaching volleyball, walking, gardening and helping her kids with their 4H animal projects. 

Jody Gander

Market Development Manager for Corn Traits | Bayer Crop Science

Jody Gander is a Market Development Manager for Corn Traits within the Corn Agronomic Systems Group at Bayer Crop Science. In this role, Jody works cross-functionally with several organizations across Bayer to develop and support the next generation of corn insect control technologies as well as to support their current commercial corn insect trait platforms. Jody joined Monsanto in 2007 as a Technology Development Representative (TDR) conducting research trials and providing sales support to the various Monsanto seed brands. He spent several years as a TDR in both Illinois and Missouri before transitioning into his current role in the fall of 2014.

Jeani Ringkob

Certified Fix This Next Advisor and a StoryBrand Certified Guide | StoryBuilt Marketing and Consulting

At StoryBuilt Marketing and Consulting, Jeani’s clients experience what diagnosing their businesses based on data and evidence, before putting valuable resources into it, can do for their success. 

As a Certified Fix This Next Advisor and a StoryBrand Certified Guide, she brings not just 20 years of real ownership experience but also proven frameworks to help business owners and leaders grow stronger, healthier businesses. Organizations that will not just survive, but actually thrive in competitive environments. 

While running successful businesses in construction and agriculture for over 20 years, Jeani Ringkob experienced a lot of the ups and downs that go with building a business.   

When she was in her early 20s family tragedy struck and it was all hands-on deck to keep her family’s asphalt business afloat. Overnight she went from marketing and sales rep in college to marketing and sales + traffic control + screen operator + estimator + supply negotiator and a few more. All while navigating family grief.  

This wasn’t the only setback she would experience, but it was the hard-fought comebacks that really put her where she is today. She has spent the last 5+ years supporting other owners building stronger businesses. Helping them do more than just survive the roller coaster ride that comes with ownership.  

Jeani is passionate about enabling business owners to operate their businesses to their fullest potential. She understands the owners and leaders work incredibly hard and they need to get the most of those efforts, freeing them up to make an even bigger impact.  

 

Website

https://www.storybuilt.marketing/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeani-ringkob/

Facebook Business Page:

https://www.facebook.com/storybuilt.marketing

Rob Myers

PhD- Adjunct Associate Professor | University of Missouri

Rob Myers has been an adjunct faculty member with the Plant Sciences Division since 2001 and began serving as the part-time director of the MU Center for Regenerative Agriculture in early 2021. Since 2010, the majority of his appointment has been as Regional Director of Extension Programs for the USDA-NIFA North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. He also serves as the national liaison for the SARE program on cover crop and soil health. His professional expertise encompasses sustainable and regenerative agriculture, soil health, conservation and cropping system diversification. He has conducted research, education and extension programs with many cover crops and alternative crops. He has also led or served with several national councils and task forces addressing federal conservation programs and agriculture research and education programs. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and was named Missouri Conservationist of the Year in 2018.

Lisa Streck

Carbon Business Model Grower Lead | Bayer Crop Science

Lisa Streck is the Carbon Business Model Grower Lead. In this role, Lisa is responsible for grower acquisition and ensuring a positive grower experience in Bayer’s Carbon Program. Lisa has been with Bayer for over 20 years and has held roles of increasing responsibility in Supply Chain and Product Management.

Lisa has been recognized for her leadership on innovative projects including leading the first ever digitally managed stewarded commercial introduction and being awarded the Bayer Digital Innovation Award for her role in the Blockchain pilot initiative.  Lisa is passionate about women’s leadership and has served on the Women’s Grow Network Leadership Team (2016-2019).  Most recently she was recognized as a YWCA 2020 Leader in the Workplace.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Agriculture Economics and holds an MBA from William Woods University.  Lisa grew up on a family farm in central Missouri.  

Outside of work Lisa enjoys traveling, spending time with family, reading and hiking.

Dr. Jeffrey Seale

Director of Climate Policy and Strategy & Science Fellow | Bayer Crop Science

Dr. Jeffrey Seale is the Director of Climate Policy & Strategy and a Science Fellow at Bayer Crop Science. Having worked in the fields of biochemistry and biophysics for more than 25 years, Dr. Seale has used his expertise to help develop innovations that improve the sustainability of agricultural systems. Currently, Jeff is working to develop market solutions and policy frameworks to accelerate the removal of greenhouse gas emissions in ag. Through achievements in science, policy, and advocacy, Dr. Seale is working to bring the goal of a more sustainable world to reality. He has been awarded 4 U.S. patents and is the author of 10peer–reviewed publications and 2 book chapters. Jeff has been an invited speaker at the annual United Nations Climate Conference and serves as an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Arlene Cotie

Sustainable Ag, Global Innovation Lead | Bayer Crop Science

As the global Innovation Lead, Arlene is charged with identifying emerging technologies and practices to enable a carbon zero future for the ag industry.

Michael Kovach

Head of Soybean Product Design | Bayer Crop Science

A career plant breeding strategist, Michael has driven Bayer’s Breeding organization to rapidly develop and launch new technologies that accelerate the delivery of step-change performance to growers across the globe. His technical expertise is grounded in genetics and breeding theory, upon which he applies his experience from over a decade of leadership in diverse crop species. Understanding that any successful product requires a deep understanding of our growers’ needs, Michael challenges teams to deploy products and data packages that will maximize success on every acre. From the Corn Belt of the United States to the Cerrado of Brazil (and all points in-between), Michael is passionate about unlocking the team’s creativity to design the next generation of agricultural solutions. 

Loren Trimble

Head of Product Development Hybrids in North America | Bayer Crop Science

Loren Trimble is currently the Head of Product Development Hybrids in North America, responsible for corn and canola pipelines.  

 Loren received degrees in Agronomy and Plant Breeding from Iowa State University and then his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics.  He joined Bayer in 2012 as a corn Breeder based in Nebraska, and since then has held several different roles in the Breeding Organization.  This includes working in APAC, Africa, EMEA and most recently as the Head of Precision Breeding center of excellence developing future organizational strategy.  Loren is excited to be back in the US, working to develop new products and delivering data that enables our customer’s success. 

Alec Sheridan

Head of NA PR Precision Systems | Bayer Crop Science

Alec Sheridan has spent his entire career focused on innovation within agriculture. Beginning within academia at the University of Missouri and continuing at his current role at Bayer, his developments can be seen not only internally to Bayer but externally through publications and patents.