ONE Washington, D.C. Highlights
Thank you for joining us at Alltech ONE Washington, D.C. What an incredible experience it was to connect with you in our nation’s capital as we explored collaborative solutions to some of the most critical issues facing U.S. agriculture. We look forward to continuing our conversation about agriculture’s vital role in shaping the future of the planet.
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Illustrations
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Blogs
A groundbreaking new study suggests that agriculture could be carbon-negative by 2050, reinforcing Alltech’s long-held belief that agriculture has the greatest potential to shape the future of our planet. READ MORE
ONE Washington, D.C. Agenda
Monday, September 11
3:00 p.m. – Attendees arrive at The Darcy hotel
4:30 p.m. – Cocktail reception at Gerrard Street Kitchen at The Darcy
5:45 p.m. – Buses depart from The Darcy for an evening dinner cruise
6:15 p.m. – Evening dinner cruise on the Potomac River
8:30 p.m. – Dinner cruise returns and buses return to The Darcy
Tuesday, September 12
7:00 a.m. – Buses depart from The Darcy for the International Spy Museum
7:15 a.m. – Continental breakfast and coffee
8:00 a.m. – Color Guard Presentation and Master Sergeant Charis Strange
8:15 a.m. – Morning session at The International Spy Museum
- The Potential for a Planet of Plenty™
- Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO, Alltech
- Nikki Putnam Badding, Managing Director, Acutia
- Dr. Steven M. Borst, Vice President, Alltech Crop Science
- Dr. Vaughn Holder, Director of Ruminant Research, Alltech
9:45 a.m. – Coffee and networking
10:10 a.m. – U.S. Leadership in Global Climate Conversations
- Jaime Adams, Senior Advisor for International Affairs for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Chief Scientist and U.S. AIM for Climate Lead
10:30 a.m. – 2023 Farm Bill Outlook
- Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
10:50 a.m. – The Future of Food and Farming: How the 2023 Farm Bill Impacts the U.S. Agri-Food Supply Chain
- Sen. Pat Roberts, Partner, Capitol Counsel, LLC. Roberts was a U.S. Senator for 23 years and was the first member of Congress to chair both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees
- Congressman Collin C. Peterson, President, The Peterson Group; former Congressman who served as chairman and ranking member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee from 2005 to 2021
- Moderator: Randy Russell, The Russell Group
11:45 a.m. – Lunch
1:00 p.m. – Panel Discussion: Politics of Geography, Protein and Sustainability
- Daniel Whitley, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service
- Tara McCarthy, Global Vice President for ESG, Alltech
- Jorge Guajardo, Partner, Dentons Global Advisors; former Mexican ambassador to China
- Moderator: Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO, Alltech
2:30 p.m. – Coffee and networking
3:00 p.m. – The Pursuit of Global Market Growth
- Alexis Taylor, Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Joan Hurst, Deputy Assistant, Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
3:50 p.m. – Closing Remarks
- Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO, Alltech
4:15 p.m. – Tour of The International Spy Museum
5:30 p.m. – Buses depart from The International Spy Museum
6:00 p.m. – Reception at the U.S. Botanic Garden
8:00 p.m. – Buses depart U.S. Botanic Garden for The Darcy
8:30 p.m. – Washington, D.C. guided night tour
Wednesday, September 13
Our event will reconvene at the U.S. Capitol Building
7:15 a.m. – Buses depart from The Darcy for the Capitol Building
8:00 a.m. – Breakfast in the Visitor Center at the Capitol Building
- Opening Remarks
- Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO, Alltech
- Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), U.S. House of Representatives
8:30 a.m. – Morning session in the Visitor Center at the Capitol Building
- Implications of the War in Ukraine and the Collapse of the Black Sea Grain Deal
- Caitlin Welsh, Director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
9:00 a.m. – Panel discussion in the Visitor Center at the Capitol Building
- How Key Domestic and International Issues Could Redefine American Agriculture
- Philip Brasher, Executive Editor, Agri-Pulse Communications
- Jessica Taylor, Senate and Governors Editor, Cook Political Report
- Moderator Tyson Redpath, The Russell Group
10:00 a.m. – United States Capitol Hill visits (optional; schedule independently)
Afternoon – D.C. tourism experiences (optional)
*Locations and times are subject to change
ONE Washington, D.C. Speakers
Jaime Adams
Senior Advisor for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Jaime Adams is the senior advisor for international affairs for the chief scientist and undersecretary for research, education and economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In that role, Adams spearheads international agricultural science and technology issues for the USDA.
Adams also is a chief architect of the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate), a joint initiative by the United States and the United Arab Emirates to address climate change and global hunger by uniting participants to significantly increase their investment in and support of climate-smart agriculture and food-systems innovation. Adams is currently leading efforts to promote the United States’ participation in AIM for Climate.
For over 20 years, Adams has worked on high-level international agricultural issues through a policy and technical lens, with a focus on the fields of regulatory, trade, science, technology and research. She currently serves on several National Science and Technology Council committees and is also an invited member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Global Science Diplomacy Roundtable.
In her time with the USDA, Adams has served in numerous capacities, including as chief of staff for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. She has also previously served as a chief of staff for the U.S. ambassador and coordinating director for development and economic affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Adams has supported a variety of international initiatives involving high-level foreign and U.S. leadership, including the president of the United States, U.S. Cabinet officials, members of the U.S. Congress and American ambassadors to other countries. Her experience includes representing and negotiating on behalf of the United States government at bilateral and multilateral meetings, including the G7 and G20.
Adams holds a bachelor’s degree in international, resource and consumer economics and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Nikki Putnam Badding
Managing Director, Acutia
Nikki Putnam Badding is a registered dietitian and the director of human nutrition initiatives at Alltech. She is also the managing director of Acutia, a human health and wellness subsidiary of Alltech.
In her role at Alltech, Putnam Badding helps farmers and producers across the globe utilize consumer trends and behaviors and apply the lens of human nutrition to agricultural practices for the improved health of plants, animals and consumers. At Acutia, she oversees the organization’s business strategy and product development and manages company-wide operations. Putnam Badding is also a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and an executive committee member of its practice group, Dietitians in Business and Communications.
Prior to joining Alltech, Putnam Badding worked as a dietitian for a large U.S. supermarket chain. She also conducted research at the University of Kentucky, where she examined the food environment as a determinant for obesity, as well as community-based behavioral interventions focused on chronic disease prevention.
Putnam Badding holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, where she also completed a dietetic internship. She earned a master’s degree in nutritional science at the University of Kentucky and recently completed an executive development program through University College Dublin.
Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY)
U.S. House of Representatives
Andy Barr has served as the United States Representative for Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District since 2013.
Congressman Barr is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves as the chairman of the influential Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee. This subcommittee has oversight of key financial regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council. This subcommittee also has jurisdiction over the monetary policy functions of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve System and, as a result, is leading congressional oversight of the Fed’s efforts to combat the current inflation crisis and recent failure to achieve its price-stability mandate.
Barr is also beginning his second term on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he serves on the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee. In addition, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently appointed Barr to serve on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
During his time in Congress, Barr has been a champion for Kentucky families, farmers and small-business owners, fighting to keep taxes low and against overly burdensome regulations. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barr was a key architect of the Paycheck Protection Program, which delivered forgivable loans to small businesses to stay open and keep paychecks flowing to their workers.
Barr graduated from Lexington’s Henry Clay High School in 1992, earned a bachelor’s degree in government and philosophy with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of Virginia in 1996, and received a law degree from the University of Kentucky in 2001.
Barr and his wife, Davis, reside in Lexington, Kentucky, with his two daughters, Eleanor and Mary Clay.
Dr. Steven M. Borst
Vice President, Alltech Crop Science
Philip Brasher
Executive Editor, Agri-Pulse Communications
Philip Brasher is the executive editor at Agri-Pulse Communications, a leading source of the latest information from the agriculture industry.
Brasher has been reporting on food and agriculture policy in Washington, D.C., since 1999, leading coverage for The Associated Press, the Des Moines Register and Congressional Quarterly before joining Agri-Pulse in 2014. He has reported on food-security challenges in Africa and Central America through grants from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and has also reported in Europe and the Middle East.
Brasher is a member of the board of the North American Agricultural Journalists and a member of the White House Correspondents Association. A native of Lubbock, Texas, Brasher holds a degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jorge Guajardo
Partner, Dentons Global Advisors
Jorge Guajardo is a partner at Dentons Global Advisors. He has been advising companies on government relations, geopolitical risk and market entry for more than 10 years. Guajardo also served as Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2007–2013 and, before that, as consul general of Mexico in Austin, TX.
A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Guajardo has a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.
Dr. Vaughn Holder
Director of Ruminant Research, Alltech
Dr. Vaughn Holder is the ruminant research director at Alltech. He previously served as the project manager for the company’s beef nutrition research.
Holder first came to Alltech for a research internship at the company’s North American Bioscience Center in Nicholasville, Kentucky, where his research focused on the effects of various yeast culture strains on the growth of select rumen microorganisms in vitro. He later rejoined Alltech as a postdoctoral trainee, and in that role, he focused on offering advanced technical support in relation to ruminant protein nutrition. Holder later transferred to Alltech’s South African offices in Stellenbosch as the national research and technical director before returning to Alltech’s research headquarters in Nicholasville, where he now heads the company’s global nutritional research related to ruminant species.
Holder holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Pretoria, a master’s degree in ruminant nutrition and microbiology from the University of Pretoria, and a doctoral degree in ruminant nutrition from the University of Kentucky.
Joan Hurst
Deputy Assistant, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Joan Hurst is a deputy assistant at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), an agency of the federal government that is responsible for developing and promoting American trade policy.
In her current role at the USTR, Hurst leads agricultural negotiations for the U.S.–Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) and manages U.S. agricultural trade issues for the South Asia region. In her previous roles at the USTR, Hurst managed agricultural trade relations with China and the European Union and served as the lead agriculture delegate to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Prior to joining the USTR, Hurst spent time at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she led work on bilateral trade relations with China. She also led agricultural market access negotiations for the Doha Development Round, the trade-negotiation round of the WTO, whose objective was to facilitate increased global trade. Hurst also has experience in the U.S. food and beverage industry and at private consulting firms.
Hurst holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Brown University and a master’s degree in public policy from George Mason University. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Hurst currently lives in Northern Virginia.
Dr. Mark Lyons
President and CEO, Alltech
Dr. Mark Lyons grew up in the Alltech business, having traveled with his father and Alltech’s founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons, from a young age to visit customers. With experience working in all regions and nearly all departments — before even officially joining Alltech — he has a deep and uniquely personal knowledge of the company. Based on Alltech’s belief that agriculture has the greatest potential to positively shape our world’s future, he launched the Planet of Plenty™ vision in 2019. He has called for collaboration to provide nutrition for all, revitalize local economies and replenish the planet’s natural resources.
Dr. Lyons began his career at Alltech focused on the development of the company’s core nutritional technologies. He spearheaded many critical projects, including simultaneously managing the establishment of a plant in Serbia and the creation of Alltech’s flagship yeast production facility in São Pedro, Brazil. He also spent nearly four years in Mexico rebuilding the company’s solid state fermentation plant in Serdán, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Under his leadership as director of North America from 2009 to 2011, Alltech expanded its presence with the opening of new offices and a growing involvement in all agricultural sectors. In 2012, Dr. Lyons relocated to China, the world’s largest feed market, as part of Alltech’s focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Living in Beijing and traveling throughout the country, he led the Alltech China office and focused on building bridges between China and the wider industry through research, education and strategic initiatives.
Today, Dr. Lyons is based at Alltech’s headquarters in Kentucky, USA. He serves on the CLEAR Center Advisory Council and is active in many industry groups. Dr. Lyons has published papers and patents in areas ranging from enzyme production to global economics and is interested in the assurance of food safety and quality throughout the entire food chain.
Dr. Lyons received his bachelor’s degree in political science and environmental science in 1999 from the University of Chicago. He received his master’s degree in brewing and distilling in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. in the area of solid state fermentation, at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 2008. Dr. Lyons is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French and German, and he has a working knowledge of Mandarin.
Tara McCarthy
Global Vice President for ESG, Alltech
Tara McCarthy is the global vice president of ESG at Alltech. In this role, she works to advance the company’s purpose of Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™, focusing on the economic, environmental and social aspects of the well-being of the planet.
McCarthy has more than 25 years of experience in the food industry at large and is passionate about the opportunities presented by sustainably produced food. Throughout her career, McCarthy has led capability initiatives for students, early-career executives and entrepreneurs within the food industry and, as a result, has formed successful partnerships both at home and abroad.
McCarthy has lived and worked in numerous markets, including Germany, France and Belgium. Before joining Alltech in 2022, she served as the chief executive of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, and as the chief executive for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s seafood development agency. In 2019, she co-founded Agdif, an initiative championing diversity in the Irish food industry. She has brought Ireland’s food industry to the world by speaking widely about Origin Green, Ireland’s unique national sustainability program. In 2021, she led the establishment of the Origin Green Global Council.
McCarthy has been recognized with a number of awards, including a Fellowship of the Marketing Institute of Ireland and a Top 25 Ireland’s Most Powerful Women in the Public Sector Leaders Award. She was named Alumna of the Year for Business and Commerce by the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2017 and Alumna of the Year by the University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School in 2019.
McCarthy holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a master’s degree in business studies with a focus on marketing from the University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School. She is an affiliate of IMD Business School in Switzerland. McCarthy lives in Dublin with her husband, Didier, and three children.
Congressman Collin C. Peterson
President, The Peterson Group; former U.S. Congressman
Congressman Collin C. Peterson represented Minnesota’s Seventh District from 1991 to 2021. He served as chairman and ranking member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee from 2005 to 2021 and was instrumental in writing and passing four farm bills. He is a nationally recognized expert on agriculture policy and has a strong reputation for his steadfast commitment to bringing everyone to the table while offering positive and practical solutions to difficult problems.
Peterson grew up on a farm near Moorhead, Minnesota, and was active in 4H, high school music and sporting activities, and working on the farm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from Minnesota State University Moorhead, served in the National Guard, and went on to become a certified public accountant in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. He was elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 1976 and served for 10 years with a focus on the agriculture and tax committees.
Peterson is currently president and founder of his government affairs and public policy firm, The Peterson Group. He also has a partnership with Combest Sell and Associates in Washington, D.C., to advise and consult on policies that bolster U.S. agriculture and rural America.
Tyson Redpath
Principal, The Russell Group
Tyson Redpath is a principal at the Russell Group, a leading bipartisan government and industry-relations firm focused exclusively on food and agriculture public policy.
Redpath began his career in Washington, D.C., as a member of the legislative staff of Congressman John Boehner, who represented Redpath’s home district. Redpath served twice on Boehner’s staff, where he focused on food, agriculture and trade policy.
Redpath holds a degree from Indiana University. Born and raised on a farm outside of Oxford, Ohio, Redpath currently lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife, three kids and two dogs.
Sen. Pat Roberts
Partner, Capitol Counsel, LLC.; former U.S. Senator
Pat Roberts served in the U.S. Congress for 40 years, including 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 24 years in the U.S. Senate, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving congressional member representing Kansas in American history.
In his tenure in Congress, Roberts built a strong reputation as a national leader in the fields of agriculture, health care and defense. He is the only member to serve as chairman of both the Senate and House Agriculture committees. One of his most notable achievements was passing the “Freedom to Farm” bill in the House of Representatives. He also served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee for four years, where he worked to improve the country’s intelligence-gathering and analysis capabilities at a critical moment in national history. He also led Congress through one of the most sweeping and exhaustive reviews of U.S. intelligence ever conducted.
Roberts has been recognized as a leader in the field of food and biosecurity, having held the first hearings on this issue in Congress. He also helped pass major biosecurity legislation providing for food security and safety, leading to the founding of the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University — which is housed in Pat Roberts Hall — and, later, the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.
Roberts is an advocate for a strong education system, free and fair trade policies, increased investments in science and technology, a focused foreign policy and a strong military. One of his proudest accomplishments was serving as chairman of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, which led to the completion of a national memorial honoring President Eisenhower in 2020. Roberts is often in demand as a speaker and has become well-known for his wit and humor.
A native of Topeka, Roberts holds a degree in journalism from Kansas State University. Upon graduating from college, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years. Roberts and his wife, Franki, have three children and seven grandchildren and currently live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Randy Russell
President, The Russell Group
Randy Russell is president of The Russell Group, a leading bipartisan government-relations firm focused exclusively on food and agriculture public policy.
Russell has been with The Russell Group since 1986. He previously served in a number of agricultural-policy positions in the U.S. government and beyond, including as the chief of staff for Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block; deputy assistant secretary for economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); vice president for agriculture and trade policy at the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; director of government relations for The Pillsbury Company; and coordinator for the 1981 Farm Bill at the USDA.
Russell holds degrees in public administration and economics from George Mason University.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Chair, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
“Made in Michigan” through and through, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow continues to lead on public policy and improve the lives of the people of Michigan and Americans across our country. Her leadership is characterized by an unrivaled work ethic, the ability to build bipartisan coalitions to get things done, and a commitment to public service that has set the standard for constituent service.
Throughout her years in public service, she has blazed trails and opened doors for women and girls. Among her many “firsts” — Stabenow was the first woman elected to the United States Senate from Michigan.
As chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, her work continues to shape our nation’s food and farm policy, impacting generations to come. As chair or ranking member of the committee since 2011, Stabenow has led the writing of more Farm Bills than any current member of Congress. She laid the groundwork to establish the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production at USDA and is a champion for strengthening local and regional food systems. Stabenow is nationally recognized as a leader in protecting and strengthening food assistance and child nutrition initiatives so that more families have access to healthy foods. She’s also a leader in confronting the climate crisis.
Alexis Taylor
Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Alexis Taylor is the undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Prior to her current role, Taylor was appointed as director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) by Governor Kate Brown in 2016. While directing the ODA, Taylor worked to promote and regulate agriculture and food as part of her mission to ensure healthy natural resources, a thriving environment and a strong economy for Oregonians, both now and in the future.
Taylor previously oversaw the Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In that role, she traveled the world, working to open new markets and improve the competitive position of American agricultural products in the global marketplace. Before joining the USDA, Taylor worked for several members of U.S. Congress from Montana and her home state of Iowa.
Taylor grew up on a farm that has been in her family for 160 years. While still in high school, she enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves, and during her junior year at Iowa State University, her army unit was deployed to Iraq, where she served one tour with the 389th Combat Engineer Battalion. While no longer an active reservist, Taylor continues to advocate for veterans.
Jessica Taylor
Senate and Governors Editor, Cook Political Report
Jessica Taylor is the senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, an online newsletter that analyzes political elections and campaigns across the United States. Taylor’s analyses are regularly quoted and published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications.
Over the past decade, Taylor has reported on politics for numerous prestigious outlets, including NBC News, National Journal, Politico and The Hill, where she also served as campaign editor. She has appeared on CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News and MSNBC, and her expert analysis contributed to real-time election-night coverage on CBS in 2012 and C-SPAN in 2020 and 2022.
Taylor is the senior author of the 2022 and 2024 editions of The Almanac of American Politics, making her the first female senior author in the book’s 50-year history. Before joining the Cook Political Report, she served as a political reporter for National Public Radio, where she covered elections and breaking news from the White House, both chambers of Congress and statewide elections. Taylor also previously served as a senior analyst/reporter for The Rothenberg Political Report (now known as Inside Elections).
A native of East Tennessee, Taylor graduated magna cum laude from Furman University with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Caitlin Welsh
Director, Global Food and Water Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Caitlin Welsh is the director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she analyzes the drivers and consequences of food and water insecurity around the world, including for U.S. national security.
Welsh’s specific areas of focus include the impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global food security and nutrition, food insecurity in the U.S. military, and the coherence between U.S. global water security policy and U.S. global food security policy.
Prior to joining CSIS, Welsh served for over 12 years in the U.S. government, including at the National Security Council and National Economic Council as director for global economic engagement with responsibility for the G7 and G20, and at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Food Security, where she served as acting director.
Welsh was a presidential management fellow at the U.S. African Development Foundation and a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco. She has testified before Congress on global food security on multiple occasions, and her analysis has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, NPR, PBS, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, BBC, Newsweek, and other outlets.
A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Welsh received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in public administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Daniel Whitley
Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Daniel Whitley is the administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Whitley began his career at the Farmers Home Administration and later joined the Economic Research Service. In his tenure at the USDA and the Foreign Agricultural Service, Whitley has served in a number of leadership positions, including as the deputy administrator of global analysis. In that role, he represented the U.S. government in key international forums, including the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the International Grains Council.
Whitley previously served as the associate administrator for policy and analysis at the Foreign Agricultural Service, spearheading the agency’s efforts to analyze agricultural export markets and policy formulation to advance American agricultural interests. He also led the USDA’s units on Global Market Analysis and Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Whitley received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Southern University and A&M College and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Louisiana State University. He currently lives with his family in Washington, D.C.
