Agenda

Michael Dykes

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., a long-time government affairs strategist, agricultural policy expert, and veterinarian, became president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association in January 2017. In this role, he represents members that make more than 90 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. Since joining IDFA, Dykes has been a strong advocate for the importance of global competitiveness to the future of the U.S. dairy industry. He has made preserving trade partnerships with Mexico and improving Canadian market access for U.S. dairy exports in all future trade agreements a priority for IDFA. Prior to assuming his role at IDFA, Dykes served as vice president of government affairs for Monsanto, where he was responsible for developing and implementing a portfolio of U.S. government relations strategies and programs that included agricultural biotechnology policy. He led Monsanto’s office in Washington, D.C., and served as the company’s primary point of contact for elected officials, regulatory authorities, U.S. farm organizations, key industry participants, trade associations, international organizations and embassies. He directed the company’s efforts in state and local government affairs, in addition to government affairs in Mexico and Canada. Dykes is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the National Academy of Practitioners. He has served on the Farmhouse Fraternity board for 3+ years. He is also a member of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC) and has served on the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21).

Dykes grew up on a small dairy and tobacco farm in Kentucky. He earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Auburn University. He also attended the University of Kentucky where he received a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science.

Scott Sexton

For over 25 years, Scott Sexton has been a well-known and well-respected entrepreneur and innovator in the ag and food technology industry. As founder and chief executive officer of Dairy.com, the leading provider of software, risk management, and market intelligence solutions for the dairy industry, he is a driving force in digitally connecting the supply chain and empowering it to feed a growing world. 

In addition to guiding Dairy.com’s growth from a simple idea to over 400 employees, he also serves on multiple boards, committees, and at educational institutions, including his alma mater, Baylor University. He was named by Dallas Business Journal as one of the top technology leaders in the city and landed Dairy.com on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™.

Sexton holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Baylor, where he played Division I basketball. He and his wife live in Dallas with their three teenage daughters.

Nick Kosturos

Nick Kosturos is a Cyber Expert with McKinsey & Company based in New York City. He advises global clients across industries on how to identify, understand, and manage cybersecurity and related technology risks. Nick specializes in cybersecurity strategy and transformation, security operations, and cybersecurity culture. Prior to joining McKinsey, Nick was a Fulbright Fellow to Belarus (teaching and research).

Charles Selom Quist

Charles is a leader in cybersecurity and data privacy risk management with a specialized focus on supporting companies across the M&A transaction lifecycle. In this capacity, he has conducted due diligence on well over 100 acquisition targets across industry sectors, served as an interim CISO for a global healthcare provider, and led large scale cyber transformation efforts.

Justin Greis

Justin Greis is a partner in the McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office. He is a leader of McKinsey Digital and the Risk & Resilience Practices, with a focus on cybersecurity, cloud, technology strategy, and digital transformation. Justin designs, builds, and activates secure and trusted digital transformations to help organizations accelerate their mission and protect their purpose. Justin brings a wealth of experience across a wide variety of industries.

Prior to joining McKinsey, he served as the global and the Americas cybersecurity transformation leader for EY, where he helped clients assess, improve, and operate world-class cybersecurity programs. Justin was also a consultant for Protiviti in France and before that led the technology organization of the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands, a not-for-profit consulting group. Justin began his career as an entrepreneur, founding BrainOrbit, a digital consulting company that designed, built, and implemented dynamic websites, collaboration portals, and interactive digital solutions.

In addition to his work with McKinsey, Justin serves as a professor at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, where he teaches IT governance, risk, and controls in the MSIS and MBA programs. He has won numerous awards for his real-world curriculum and innovative teaching methods.

Strong believers in the power of education, Justin and his wife created a scholarship focused on providing higher education opportunities to students. He is a frequent speaker at industry forums such as ISACA, Information Security Forum (ISF), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and various other executive and board councils. He is a published thought leader on the topics of technology strategy, cybersecurity, IT risk management, and digital transformation.

Justin holds a Bachelor of Science and a master of business administration in accounting and information systems from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, and holds the following professional certifications: CDPSE, CGEIT, CIPP/US, CISA, CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC/GSEC, ITIL, PMP, and TOGAF.

Justin enjoys playing drums, harmonica, ukulele, photography, snorkeling, fishing, geology, and rock collecting. An avid learner, Justin frequently writes on his blog, progressology.com, where he explores a variety of topics focused on the central theme of “progress.” Justin lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and two children.

Josh Welle

Josh Welle is a consultant with McKinsey & Company based in New Jersey. He specializes in cybersecurity strategy, digital transformation, and national security.

For over nearly two decades, he’s worked to meet public and private sector clients’ toughest challenges by bringing a strategic perspective to complex technology solutions and a deep understanding for organizational behavior.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Josh was an active-duty military officer in the Navy. He served multiple roles on Navy warships and was a NATO economic advisor in Afghanistan. He attended the Naval Academy and hold advanced degrees from Harvard and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Josh enjoys writing and publishing. He’s contributed to Proceedings, CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues, the Harvard Business Review, and Joint Forces Quarterly. Additionally, he co-authored In the Shadow of Greatness, a two-time LA Times Bestseller. Josh is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations and lives on the Jersey Shore with his wife and daughter.

David Hardiman-Evans

David was appointed in September 2017 as Senior Vice President North America for Ocado Solutions, and is responsible for leading business development in North America and globally. David joined Ocado in January 2012 as Head of IR and Corporate Finance responsible for investor relations, financing and broader corporate development activities. Prior to Ocado, David was an investment banking Managing Director at DC Advisory Partners and Daiwa Capital Markets, advising companies on M&A, financing, strategy and other corporate finance matters. He is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with Arthur Andersen as part of its Corporate Restructuring group before moving to Brunswick, the corporate communications consultancy.

Curt Jacobsen

Curt Jacobsen is a Partner with McKinsey & Company who helps propel growth by simplifying technology landscapes, unlocking the power of data, and supercharging employee productivity with digital tools. His work spans digital topics in multiple fields, such as location-based entertainment companies, film and television providers, basic materials and mining organizations, and software companies.

Throughout his work, Curt helps executives modernize technology to better support growth strategies. He also supports Chief Information Officers adapt to their rapidly evolving roles and generate higher-quality demand for their services.

Examples of Curt’s recent client work include the following:

• Leading a recovery-analytics development for an oil sands miner, giving operators a data-driven tool to recommend plant settings that optimize product quality
• helping a theme park redefine its in-park experience for ticketing, guest services, and dining
• helping a global theme park operator deploy operational structure in support of a new international building project, including back-office process and in-park operational processes such as attraction safety
• designing and deploying an operating model for a nascent basic materials data science organization, including talent acquisition, existing talent upskilling, and technical career paths
• helping a private equity-owned broadcast services provider find new areas of growth using emerging technologies as the core of the strategy, including assessing market value, recommending operating-model changes, and redefining cloud strategy and financial outcome definition
• leading digital distribution transformation for a film studio, developing a customized, cloud-based rights management and financial accounting solution to help the company adapt to changing content distribution business models.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Curt worked for more than 20 years in a range of executive and technical roles for consulting organizations and pioneering software companies in China, Europe, Japan, and the United States.

Chirag Pandya

Chirag Pandya is a dairy technologist and a Partner in McKinsey’s Silicon Valley office and part of the Global Operations Practice. He focuses on strategy and operations transformations across food and nutrition industries. Chirag co-leads McKinsey Food and Nutrition Excellence Centre focused on food and consumer health topics leveraging 20+ years of dairy and food industry experience and is a global thought leader on Future of Food. His experiences include assignments in Europe, Middle East, SE Asia and North America.

CJ Dietzman

CJ Dietzman is a senior Cyber Security, Governance, Risk, & Compliance practitioner and leader in the execution and delivery of transformational programs and services across multiple industry sectors.

He has developed, implemented, and managed programs and projects in the domains of Security Architecture, Cloud Security, Data Protection, Physical and Environmental Security, Risk Management, Compliance, Third-Party Risk, Security Operations, and Control for Global Fortune 500 organizations.

CJ has led and managed Cyber Incident Response and Digital Forensics matters for many organizations, and has also performed as an expert witness in the domain of Cyber Security, including testifying in an arbitration hearing on a matter related to security architecture and controls. He also authored and delivered associated expert reports and opinions. 

He has also designed, managed, and executed various technical security initiatives, including the implementation of multifactor authentication solutions, vulnerability management solutions, database security tools, and GRC platforms. 

CJ has significant experience with international regulatory and compliance challenges facing global organizations, including those related to Cybersecurity, fraud, and financial control.

He has been a leader of teams for many years, providing oversight and mentoring to resources across many disciplines and geographies.     

CJ’s industry expertise includes Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Consumer Products, Automotive, Travel, Manufacturing, Higher Education, and Health Care, among others.

Deron McElroy

Deron McElroy is Chief of Cybersecurity Services for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Region VI.  He leads a team of Cybersecurity Advisors focused on enhancing our Nation’s cyber resilience.  Deron’s team is available to help critical infrastructure owners and operators improve their cybersecurity posture, better manage cyber risk, and measure themselves against the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

As co-founder of the Cybersecurity Advisor Program, he served as Chief of Operations, and was the first DHS Cybersecurity Advisor for the Western United States.  Previously, he led the interagency development of the Nation’s cyber incident response policy, and contributed to cybersecurity education and workforce development efforts.  Deron played a primary role in the stand-up of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and was a key participant in information sharing policy development.

Prior to joining DHS, Deron worked as Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, and as a Senior Professional Staff Member. He focused on cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and information sharing practice and policy. Deron is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, an expert in cyber resilience, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and studied strategic intelligence and information operations at the National Defense Intelligence College.

Lindsay Datlow

Based in Washington, DC, Lindsay converges a decade-plus of experience working across the food, nutrition, and agriculture sectors with her commitment to helping the food industry make data-driven decisions. At SAS, Lindsay leads strategy and long-term business development for the AgTech and Consumer Goods team, ensuring the team is focused on finding new ways for SAS data science capabilities to solve the critical business problems affecting customers spanning the food value chain.

Before joining SAS, Lindsay served as Senior Policy Advisor at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), leading the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans process and overseeing policy development for the 15 nutrition assistance programs under the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services mission area. In this role, Lindsay was awarded the 2020 Secretary’s Award for establishing multi-million dollar, public-private partnerships that piloted novel ways to distribute food to communities in need across all US states and territories. She brings this solutions-oriented thinking to her work leading SAS AgTech and Consumer Goods market innovation projects and partnerships.

Lindsay has also spent time as an educator, a researcher, and a food policy consultant, helping over 50 CPGs, trade associations, and restaurants navigate the ever-evolving regulatory landscape. She holds a master’s degree in nutrition science and is a registered dietitian. Lindsay will complete her Ph.D. at George Washington University in early 2022. She lives and works in the DC metro area with her husband and two dogs.

Evan Kinser

Evan Kinser is Vice President of Fluid Milk Operations for Select Milk Producers in Dallas, Texas. He started with Select in June 2021, where he is responsible for farm to plant supply chain, bulk milk customers, strategic milk supply, and dairy policy. 

Select Milk is one of the nation’s largest and most progressive dairy cooperatives with like-minded producers that have earned a reputation for innovation in animal welfare, environmental sustainability, technology, and general business practices. Established in 1994, Select Milk markets and processes milk from member dairies in the Southwest and the upper Midwest. Headquartered in Dallas, the company has over 111 family-owned dairies, 20 wholly owned subsidiaries, and eight joint ventures with other major food/beverage producers. Select is a partner in 8 processing plants, producing a variety of traditional and specialty dairy products, including powder, cheese, whey protein, cream, and the newly introduced “Majestic” butter product line. Select Milk is highly successful in consumer-facing brands and consumer packaged goods and is most known for designing and developing the hugely popular “fairlife” and “Core Power” products. 

Evan is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he received a bachelor’s degree in animal science and agricultural economics. He also earned a master’s degree in agribusiness from the University of Wisconsin. 

Evan resides in Frisco, Texas, with his wife and three sons. 

Grant Cupps

Grant Cupps is the VP of Technology and Risk Management Solutions at EverAg, offering customized software as a proven Commodity Trade and Risk Management (CTRM) solution for dairy and grain producers as well as commercial professional traders. He started with Vault Technologies (now EverAg Technologies) in the summer of 2018, having already developed the first version of the platform in his previous role at OptionsCity. 

Grant graduated from the University of Virginia in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce, and then from the University of Chicago in 2018 with a master’s degree in Computer Science.   

Grant resides in Kansas City, MO, with his wife, Claire, and his young sons, Emory and Perry.  

Jordan Kraft-Lambert

Jordan is the VP of Business Development for VAS, a software and data analytics company that provides sustainability and profitability insights to dairy producers. Jordan grew up on a dairy farm in rural Colorado, where she learned to nurture both cows and crops using innovations across science and business to make a resilient farming system. In her early career as a genetic engineer, she created several varieties of elite rice germplasm, incorporating traits for salt tolerance, drought resistance, and the ability to produce human breastmilk proteins. Jordan has held roles in venture creation, strategy, and operations at Indigo Ag, Flagship Pioneering, and Innosight Consulting. Jordan earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Biotechnology from the University of California, Davis. She is a gardener, photographer, and musician. 

Maxwell Dawes

Maxwell Dawes is the Director of Network Optimization and Dairy Procurement for Danone, a food and beverage company specializing in fresh and organic dairy, plant-based, fresh foods, and coffee creamers products, as well as beverages. Danone serves customers worldwide. Maxwell started with Danone in 2015 as Farm Relationship Manager and was Senior Manager Dairy Contracting and Pricing from 2017 to 2021 before assuming his current role.  

Maxwell is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering. 

Steve Alexander

Steve Alexander serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), The Voice of Plastics Recycling®. As the international trade association representing the plastics recycling industry, membership includes independent recycling companies of all sizes, processing numerous resins, as well as consumer product companies, equipment manufacturers, testing laboratories, organizations, and others committed to the success of plastics recycling. APR serves the plastics recycling industry by providing technical and educational solutions with a goal of creating more good supply of material for recycling and enhancing the quality of the existing supply stream.

Alexander is also the president of Resource Recycling, Inc., a publishing and conference management firm. Resource Recycling produces the Plastics Recycling Conference, Resource Recycling Conference, as well as the E-Scrap Conference. It also publishes three trade journals: Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update and E-Scrap News.

Previously, Mr. Alexander spent more than 20 year representing corporate and association clients on Capitol Hill and in State Houses across the country, including 10 years with Eastman Kodak Company, where he specialized in environment, technology and appropriations issues. 

He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, and holds an MBA from the Sellenger School of Business at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brent Bell

Brent Bell has been in the waste industry for over 20 years.  Brent started at USA Waste in 1997 and worked at the corporate offices during the USA/Waste Management merger in the late 1990’s. Brent moved to the Recycling group a few years later and helped grow the recycling business to become the largest residential recycler in North America. Brent is currently the Vice President of Recycling for Waste Management responsible for operations of 100+ facilities and sales & marketing of 10M tons of recyclables, which are sold to our customers around the world by the Waste Management export team.

Brent received a BBA with a degree in Accounting in 1995 from the Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Born in Missouri, Brent was raised in Houston and currently lives in Friendswood with his wife and three kids.

Jason Pelz

Jason Pelz is Vice President of Sustainability for Tetra Pak in the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean. Jason and his team work with a range of stakeholders across various geographies to advance Tetra Pak’s global sustainability ambitions, including growing recycling and collection of post-consumer cartons and reducing climate impact across the value chain.

Jason also serves as Vice President of Recycling Projects for Carton Council of North America, where he works with food and beverage brand owners, local municipalities and communities, and other third parties such as recyclers and paper mills to increase the availability of carton recycling in the U.S. and Canada.

Jason joined Tetra Pak in 2012 from Waste Management, where he served as Director for Global Export Sales and directed the global export strategy for Waste Management’s secondary fiber and waste plastics.

Ryan Mertes

Dairy.com was founded over twenty years ago in 2000, and now tracks over sixty percent of the United States milk supply.  Chief Solutions Officer Ryan Mertes is responsible for the commercial operations of the dairy and livestock software business units within the company; these units provide customers with software solutions that impact several areas of the dairy supply chain, all the way from the farm through the plant and directly to customers (B2C).      

Mertes also leads Dairy.com’s expansion into some international markets.  In 2020, the company acquired Orbis MES from Dublin, Ireland.  During the past two years, Ryan has worked with the team members in Ireland to launch their product offerings in continental Europe and the United States.  Now, he is tasked with growing the company’s presence in the Indian dairy market.  

Mertes’ career in dairy began as President of Data Specialists, Inc. (DSI).  During his eighteen years at DSI, he visited over 100 dairy plants and worked with dozens of companies, implementing software systems to support their growth.  DSI achieved over 4X growth during Ryan’s tenure until he and his brother sold the company to Dairy.com in 2018.

Ben Sloan

Ben Sloan is the Senior Vice President of Product for Digital Ag for EverAg. Ben started with EFC Systems in 2017 as Senior Product Manager and was Vice President of Product for Digital Ag from 2018 to 2021 before taking on his current position. 

Ben is a graduate of Iowa State University where he received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. In 2013, he obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. 

Simon Drake

Austin Data Labs’ CEO Simon Drake has spent the last fifteen years designing and implementing data-driven revenue management models in the retail and manufacturing verticals. He works with the global food supply chain customers to create comprehensive analytical solutions that address their real business challenges, guiding them the customer them through the full change management process that can come with complex supply chain optimization processes. Simon graduated with B.S. in Theoretical Physics from York University, England.

Jeff Hurley

Jeff Hurley is Chief Information Officer of Dairy Farmers of America, Inc., a $22 billion milk marketing cooperative with over 100 processing plants across the United States, with a variety of dairy brands. The cooperative also offers a variety of farm services to farmers, including buying, lending, risk management and insurance. He started with DFA in July of 2015 as Vice President of IT and assumed the role of CIO in May of 2019.

Prior to DFA, Jeff was with Dean Foods starting in 1984; at one of the locally owned dairies in Franklin, MA. He served in a variety of IT positions as the company grew through acquisition. He relocated from Rhode Island to Texas in July of 2010 to serve as the Vice President of Corporate Functions for Dean Foods.

Jeff is a graduate of the Rhode Island College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He is based out of the corporate office for DFA in Kansas City, KS and spends time in the DFA Dairy Brands corporate office in Dallas, TX as well.

Jeff resides in Flower Mound, TX, with his wife, Cathy. They have two children, Patrick 13 and Sarah 8.

Jenny Drake

Jenny Drake is the Vice President of Business Technology for Grande Cheese Company.

Richard Scheitler

Richard Scheitler is Chief Information Officer for Darigold, the farmer-owned cooperative that provides fresh, high-quality, value-added dairy products to consumer and business customers around the globe. Darigold is currently the fifth largest dairy co-ops in the country and one of the largest privately held companies in Washington state.

In his capacity as CIO, Richard is leading Darigold’s strategic transformation from an outdated legacy technology platform to a modern, business-focused platform designed to support the company’s current and future business needs.

Previously, Richard served as the Chief Information Officer for The Wonderful Company, a privately held $4.5 billion company committed to offering high-quality, healthy brands. The company’s diverse holdings make it the world’s largest grower of tree nuts, America’s largest citrus grower, and the world’s largest flower delivery service. The company’s portfolio of brands includes FIJI Water, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Almonds, Justin and Landmark Wines, and Teleflora. In his time at the company, Richard helped to lead a transformation from a legacy technology infrastructure to a more standardized, business optimized, cloud-based delivery model over several years.

Prior to joining The Wonderful Company as the CIO and Vice President of Business Process for POM Wonderful, he spent 10 years at KPMG Consulting/BearingPoint, helping a variety of businesses to make significant strategic improvements.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree in Information Systems Technology, both from the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management. He currently lives in the Seattle area.