John Becherer - CEO

CEO
United Soybean Board
 

Chuck Myers

Former Farmer-Leader
United Soybean Board 

Chuck and his wife, Gloria, grow soybeans and corn on their grain farm near Lyons, Neb. He was appointed to the United Soybean Board in 2001 and served the USB executive committee as chairman, vice chair and as ex-officio, past chair. Chuck also chaired the Soybean Oil Task Force and led the Select Yield & Quality Initiative Leadership Team. Chuck served as USB representive on the National Biodiesel Board for four years and on the Soy 2020 Advisory Group. In addition, Chuck served USB on the Animal Agriculture Initiative Leadership team, as well as Competitiveness Committee, Meal Task Force and Resource Allocation Task Force. He has a bachelor’s in agricultural economics and agricultural education from the University of Nebraska.

Richard Fordyce

Director
United Soybean Board
 

Ken Dalenberg - Officer At-Large

Former Farmer-Leader
United Soybean Board
 

Ken and his wife, Barbara, raise soybeans and corn on their family farm near Mansfield, Ill. He was appointed as USB Director in 2000 and served as chair of the USB Production Committee. Ken also sat as a board member of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, serving as treasurer. Ken served Illinois Soybean Association as vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer, as well as chairman of the research committee. He also was a member of the Illinois Corn Growers Association and the Champaign County Farm Bureau.

Philip Bradshaw

Immediate Past Chairman
United Soybean Board
 

Jim Stillman

Director
United Soybean Board
 

Dale Profit - Secretary/Treasurer

Director
United Soybean Board
 

Dale raises food grade and seed soybeans, popcorn and soft red wheat in Van Wert, Ohio. He was appointed to USB in 2007. Dale first took on a leadership role in the soybean industry in 1992 when he joined the Ohio Soybean Association (OSA). By working closely with Ohio Soybean Council, he became very interested in what the soybean checkoff was doing for Ohio's soybean farmers, and in 2000 he was elected to serve on the OSC board. Dale has been a part of many OSC projects and served as chairman of the International Marketing Committee and New Uses Committee. He played a major role in the development of the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC), which brings together the agriculture and chemical industries. Dale serves on the USB New Uses Committee. He and his wife, Judith, have three children and seven grandchildren.

Don Latham

President
DTB Farms and Latham Farms
 

Until recently, Don served as the vice president/operations manager of Latham Seed Company, a family-owned and operated soybean seed business that does breeding, variety development and marketing of soybean seed in six upper Midwest states. With more than 35 years of experience, Don’s soybean industry involvement includes the United Soybean Board, the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board, Iowa Seed Association, American Seed Trade Association, Iowa State University Research Foundation, USDA/USTR Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade and the USDA Plant Variety Protection Advisory Board. For each of these organizations, Don served a term as the president or chairman. Don has been involved with QUALISOY since its inception in 2004, and prior to that he sat on the Technology Utilization Center’s board of directors. Don received a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Iowa State University.

Curt Sindergard

Director
American Soybean Association

Curt is a Partner of C & D Sindergard and Riviera Partners, both agriculture related partnerships. He has more than 25 years of experience in seed sales and distribution, and is very knowledgeable about biotech corn and soybean products.  Curt has over 30 years experience in the farming profession.  His farming operation involves various partners and covers 1700 acres of corn and soybeans. 

He is a past President of the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) and a Director for the American Soybean Association (ASA). Curt serves on the ISA Demand Committee, ISA Information and Education Committee and ISA Environmental Advisory Council and is Chairman of the ISA Scholarship Committee.  He serves on the ASA Public Affairs Committee and was past Chairman of Commodity Classic. Curt also is a director for Ag Insight and is a past member of the board of directors for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC).

Cindie Luhman

Director, Research and Development
Land O'Lakes Purina Feed LLC
 

Cindie is the director of Research and Development for Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC, a leading feed manufacturer in the U.S., providing producers, cooperatives and dealers with an extensive line of animal feeds, ingredients and services. She manages two research facilities, the LongView Animal Nutrition Center in Gray Summit, MO, where she is based and a second facility in Webster City, IA. Cindie has actively participated in the industry through her involvement as an officer of the American Association of Animal Science and American Association of Dairy Science Midwest Section and has served on the Board of Directors for the American Dairy Science Association Foundation.

Victor Bohuslavsky –
Chairman

Executive Director
Nebraska Soybean Board
 

Victor, a native of Bellwood, Neb., is the executive director of the Nebraska Soybean Board. He began working for the soybean program in 1989 and held several positions within the organization before being appointed to his current role as executive director. He is responsible for the implementation of research and promotional activities in the Nebraska soybean industry. Victor has been a member of the QUALISOY Board since 2004, and currently serves as vice chairman. Victor received a bachelor’s in agriculture education from the University of Nebraska.

Hobart Beeghly

Vice President, Product Management
Monsanto
 

Dr. Hobart Beeghly currently leads Product Management for Monsanto's U.S. Seeds & Traits organization. He is responsible for product strategy, portfolio planning, and life cycle management of the corn, oilseed, cotton and specialty crop businesses.

Since joining Monsanto in 2004 he has held a variety of roles in Monsanto's Technology and Commercial Organizations. Most recently he led the U.S. Corn Product Management team which was responsible for the commercialization of Monsanto's corn traits, including Genuity SmartStax and Genuity VT-Double Pro.

Hobart obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990, his M.S. in Plant Breeding & Cytogenetics from Iowa State University in 1987, and his B.S. in Ag Studies also from Iowa State in 1986.

John Jansen –  Vice Chairman

Vice President of Innovation, Quality & Regulatory
Bunge
 

John joined Bunge in 1984 and is vice president of Innovation, Quality and Regulatory. He has held several positions within the organization, including vice president of food processor sales of the United States and vice president of sales and marketing for the oils division. John’s current responsibilities include evaluating and commercializing new technologies, with the focus on value creation. John joined the QUALISOY Board in 2008, and he currently serves as the QUALISOY secretary/treasurer.

Rich Wilson, Ph.D.

Consultant
Retired USDA

Rich is retired national program leader for Oilseeds and Bioscience research at the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA, ARS). He made great contributions to the soybean industry during his distinguished 32 year career with USDA. As national program leader, he led more than 400 scientists in nearly 300 projects in crop genetics, molecular biology and agricultural product utilization. Prior to that position, Rich served as the research leader for the USDA-ARS Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research Unit, guiding the focus of soybean research on quality traits. He holds a doctorate from the University of Illinois and has more than 225 publications, including 11 books. Even after his retirement, Dr. Wilson actively coordinates soybean research initiatives and continues to author scientific articles.

Robert Collette

President
Institute of Shortening & Edible Oils
 

Danny Murphy

Director
American Soybean Association

Danny is a soybean farmer from Canton, Miss. He currently serves as Vice-President with the American Soybean Association and as USSEC treasurer. He has been a member of the Missisppi Soybean Association since 1984 and served them as president and vice-president. Danny is a member of the Madison County Co-op Board of Directors, vice chairman of the Madison County Farm Service Agency County Committee, a member and past-chairman of the Mississippi Corn Promotion Board and past-chairman of the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board. He earned a bachelor’s in agronomy from Mississippi State University. 

Danny’s activities include serving as Treasurer for Thornton Chapel United Methodist Church, member of the Canton Lions Club, President of the Madison Country Library System and past-President of the Canton Academy Board of Directors.  

Jeff Barach

Vice-President of Science Policy, New Technologies
Grocery Manufacturers Association
 

Dan Dyer

Global Head Soybean Research & Development
Syngenta Seeds, Inc.

In his position at Syngenta, Dan leads the global soybean breeding and trait research and product development, delivering improved genetics and trait technologies for soybean growers. Dan has been actively involved in soybean research for 30 years, spanning genetics, breeding, physiology, compositional analysis, and end use applications. Prior to joining Syngenta in December 2005, he was Vice President of R&D for Renessen, LLC, a Monsanto – Cargill joint venture, which developed enhanced-quality soybeans and grains for animal feed and processing end uses. Prior to Renessen, Dan was involved in soybean biotechnology research at Dupont and Monsanto. Dr. Dyer completed his doctorate at the University of Arkansas in 1982, following completion of bachelors’ degrees in agronomy and chemical science at Kansas State University in 1978. Read more: Qualisoy QA

Michelle Peitz

Technical Sales, Food Oils
Archer Daniels Midland

Michelle provides customer support and technical servivce to the food industry. She is actively involved in research projects utilizing trait enhanced oils and other technologies to fulfill today’s demands for fats and oils. In addition, she works directly with food manufacturers to provide quality fats and oils that fulfill specific needs for functionality, nutrition and cost effectiveness.

Michelle is involved in the American Oil Chemist Society and actively participates in the Lipid Oxidation and Quality Division. She has been a member of the Institute of Food Technologists since 2005.

Michelle graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s in food science. She has been with ADM since May 2008.

Mark Lippi, Ph.D.

Director of Research, Quality & Technology
W.K. Kellogg Institute

Mark serves as a principal scientist in Quality and Technology at W.K. Kellogg Institute. His food industry experience includes Quaker Oats, Anheuser Busch and Keebler Company. In 2001, Kellogg purchased Keebler where Mark currently works in Technology Assessment and Relationship Management. Mark helped initiate the Open Innovation program for the Kellogg Company. Mark earned his Ph.D. in food science from the University of Illinois. Mark joined the QUALISOY board in 2010.