CFI Board of Directors

Charles Atkinson is an agriculture producer from Great Bend, Kansas and represents the United Soybean Board. He is a sixth-generation grower and began farming in 1980.

He grows soybeans, wheat, sorghum, corn, native hay and cover crops on their 1,000-plus acre farm. They also have a cow/calf operation. Atkinson farms with his son, Matthew, and his father, Marion. Atkinson and his wife, Inga, have three children, Matthew, Chelsey and Lynette. They also have seven grandchildren.

Grady Bishop is a proven agribusiness leader with over 25 years of experience in livestock production, animal health and ag technology.
Grady was raised on a row-crop farm in Southwest Kansas and received a B.S. in Animal Science from West Texas A&M University. He began his professional career spending a few years with one of the largest cattle-feeding operations in the US.
Returning to graduate school, he entered a M.S. program in Ruminant Nutrition from Kansas State University, concurrently working at Certified Angus Beef’s Supply Development Division based in Manhattan, KS.
Following graduate school, Grady worked for Elanco Animal Health for over 19 years in roles ranging from cattle sales representative to global Senior Leadership. His tenure at Elanco included responsibilities across beef, dairy, swine, corporate affairs, food chain market access and strategic planning for major patent loss events.
In 2022, Grady joined Vytelle, a precision livestock and IVF company focused on helping cattle producers accelerate genetic progress. He served as both VP of North America Commercial Operations and VP of Global Marketing for the fastest growing IVF provider in the industry.
In 2025, Grady returned to Elanco Animal Health where he now leads monetization efforts for the Global Livestock Sustainability business.

In her current role as senior vice president and chief communications officer, Kristen is responsible for overseeing the Cooperative’s communications strategy, marketing, brand and messaging development and ensuring effective communication with farmer-owners, employees, consumers, customers and other key stakeholders. She also oversees the cooperative’s innovation efforts, including DFA’s CoLAB Accelerator and investments in ag-tech and dairy food startups. In addition, she leads farmer-owner development programs aimed at fostering the next generation of DFA and industry farmer-leaders. She also has responsibility for event planning and experiences and DFA’s headquarters administration. Kristen joined DFA in 2007 as a communications associate and has served in a variety of roles within the communications team.

Marc Cool is the Global Seed Policy Lead for Corteva AgriscienceTM, leading global seed policy development, product advocacy and technology acceptance and company engagement with global trade associations. Marc brings science and wide commercial experience into the discussion on how the agricultural industry fits into the context of societal needs. With very extensive international experience, working in multiple crop sectors, Marc tries to identify collaborations which add value to all parties.

Charles Leftwich serves as the Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Sysco Corporation, the world’s largest foodservice distributor. In this role he supports Sysco’s Purpose of “Connecting the World to Share Food and Care for One Another” by establishing food safety, product quality, sustainability, and regulatory compliance strategies across the Sysco enterprise. To implement these strategies, Charles leads a team of talented food safety professionals across Sysco’s broadline distribution services, specialty manufacturing locations, and Sysco’s industry leading private label brand program which is renowned for its commitment to the highest product quality and food safety standards.

Charles is a highly-experienced professional in the food safety, quality assurance and regulatory field with expertise in the harvest, manufacturing, distribution, and foodservice industries. He has served on various industry associations’ boards of directors, committees and working groups. He has held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his career and prior to Sysco, Charles led teams in Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Operations and Environmental Health and Safety at Cargill Meat Solutions and Kane Beef. Charles graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science, and a Master of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University.

Sarah Ludmer is a strategic global food systems leader who brings 15 years of industry experience on top of a decade of clinical expertise. As the Chief Wellbeing and Sustainable Business Officer for WK Kellogg Co., she connects her passion for making a positive impact with both the top and bottom line. Sarah is proactive, creative, and highly collaborative, working internally and externally with thought leaders, policymakers, environmentalists, and wellbeing partners. She is a persuasive and self-motivated leader who continuously seeks new ways to unlock impact, including broadening the definition of health to a wellbeing and food systems approach—one that considers not just nutrition but also the emotional, societal, cultural, and ecological dimensions of our food.

Matt Perin, currently Director and Head of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs based in Washington, DC. He reports to Keith Dailey, group vice president of Corporate Affairs at Kroger General Office.

In this role, Matt leads Kroger’s federal advocacy and lobbying efforts and consults with their state government relations leaders. He oversees Kroger’s Political Action Committee (KroPAC) and maintains relationships with key governmental and political stakeholders. He is also responsible for maintaining relationships with key trade associations such as the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the National Retail Federation, and FMI: The Food Industry Association where he chairs the government relations committee. Matt’s efforts in Washington, D.C. have been critical to Kroger’s strategy and response throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Washington, he serves on the board of directors for the Business-Government Relations Council, and volunteers for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.

Jessica Sobel is the Vice President of Strategic Growth Initiatives at Freshpet, where she leads long-term planning to drive the company’s growth and leadership vision. She joined Freshpet in 2021 after holding multiple strategy, sustainability, and finance roles at Unilever from 2016 to 2021, including Head of Business Transformation, Director of Corporate Strategy, and Director of M&A Integration. Previously, Jessica was Senior Director of Sustainability at The Hain Celestial Group, leading global sustainability efforts. Before that, she worked at Unilever as Senior Manager of North America Sustainable Living, focusing on Brands with Purpose and implementing the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. She also held various roles in Corporate Finance at Unilever. Jessica holds a BA in Environmental Economics from Colgate University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jarrod Sutton is a nationally recognized agrifood executive and ecosystem builder with more than 25 years of experience advancing innovation, industry alignment, and long-term value creation across the global food and agriculture sector. As Managing Director of Purdue DIAL Ventures and former Chief Strategy Officer of the National Pork Board, he has led enterprise-building, industry strategy, and stakeholder engagement efforts that strengthen trust, resilience, and competitiveness throughout the agrifood system.

Cameron is Vice President, Head of Strategy at Compeer Financial, with deep expertise in strategic initiatives and business development across the finance and agriculture sectors. Prior to Compeer, Cameron held leadership roles at Land O’Lakes, Truterra, and Cargill, driving growth and innovation in cooperative and commercial environments. His career also includes consulting experience with BearingPoint, a finance role at Unilever and service as a Peace Corps Volunteer focused on small enterprise development.

Alex is the Chief Operating Officer for the National Pork Board in Clive, IA. In this role,

he supports the mission of the National Pork Board and U.S. pork producers by leading the operations of the organization, which includes Finance, IT, Human Resources, Project Management & Research Management, Legal and Government Relations. Prior to this role, Alex held multiple roles with DuPont Pioneer/Corteva, serving as a Project Manager in North American Integrated Operations, a Finance Manager in Finance and a Senior Analyst in Stewardship & Compliance.

Douglas D. Buhler is Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation at Michigan State University.

As Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation Buhler supports the broad research and innovation mission at Michigan State University. His work focuses on the food, environment, and international research portfolios of the University.

Buhler who is also Professor of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences previously held positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service. He joined Michigan State University as Professor and Chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences in 2000. In 2005 he became Associate Director of MSU AgBioResearch and Associate Dean for Research for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR). Buhler served as interim Dean of the CANR from 2011 to 2013 and again in 2016. From 2013 to 2021 he was Director of MSU AgBioResearch with additional duties as Senior Associate Dean (2013-15) and an Assistant Vice President for Research and Innovation (2015-21).

Buhler’s professional activities have generated over 330 publications including 130 refereed articles. Buhler has been an author or editor of three books and presented over one hundred invited seminars, symposia, and workshops. He has made presentations or represented MSU in over twenty countries. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Weed Science Society of America, and North Central Weed Science Society and is a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Buhler serves on numerous boards including the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Foundation, and Center for Food Integrity.

Jason leads the Market Transformation work of WWF-US for agriculture, aquaculture, business and industry, finance, fisheries and forests. Over the course of his career he has worked on a family farm and in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has taught at Harvard and Yale and spent more than 30 years with human rights and environmental organizations.

Craig Wilson is the Executive Vice President at IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, an international lab & consulting services company, offering a comprehensive portfolio of lab testing services and consultation across multiple industries. IEH works with food production plants and manufacturers to ensure that the products released into the global supply are tested, safe, and in compliance with regulatory standards.

Craig recently retired as the Vice President, General Merchandising Manager of Quality Assurance/ Food Safety, Non-Foods Quality Assurance, Environmental Services/Haz Mat and Merchandise Services for Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Ian Reece was born in Manchester, England but the United States has been home for most of his life. He holds a BA degree from Upsala College and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Ian spent 40 years working for foreign bank branches in New York City. He retired as Senior Credit Officer and head of Corporate Social Responsibility for North America at Rabobank. He served as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, treasure and later Co-Chairman of Global Green USA, Chairman of the External Advisory Board for The Ohio State University’s Global Water Institute, and currently is Chairman of the Center for Food Integrity’s Foundation.

As an executive at a 20 billion-dollar global food and beverage company with 20,000 employees, a broad customer network, and a diverse product portfolio, she navigated everything from daily challenges to innovation, sustainability, and strategy. Today, as the CEO of the American Cider Association, Monica’s challenger mindset is being put to work to grow U.S. hard cider in an astonishingly competitive space.