2007 Product of the Year judges

Agri Marketing, Nov-Dec, 2007

Mike Borel, Partner, The Context Network Walnut Creek, CA

Borel is a Partner in The Context Network--a consulting firm which provides business management and strategy consulting services to the agriculture, biotechnology and food companies and government agencies. Major areas of expertise include strategy, merger and acquisition support, valuation of new technologies, formation of alliances and market research.

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He began his career with DuPont before joining Valent Corp where he was Pres/CEO.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Dr. W. David Downey, Exec Dir of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

As a professor emeritus of Agricultural Sales and Marketing at Purdue University, Dr. Downey teaches course in AgriSelling and Agri-Marketing Strategy to undergraduates from several disciplines. He has been instrumental in the development of a curriculum in which students can earn a four-year B.S. degree in AgriSales and Marketing--the first such program in the U.S.

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He was won four major teaching awards from Purdue and two national awards from the American Agricultural Economic Association. He received all of his degrees from Purdue, including a B.S. in agronomy, and M.S. and Ph.D. in agricultural economics. He has been teaching undergraduate courses at Purdue since 1963.

Dave Coppess, VP Mktg, Heartland Co-op, West Des Moines, IA, Immediate Past Chairman, Agricultural Retailers Assoc (ARA)

Heartland Co-op is a value-added, full-service cooperative owned by more than 5,000 farmer-members serving more than 33 communities throughout central and east-central Iowa.

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Heartland is a large grain shipper with ag input sales of seed, fertilizer, crop protection products, feed, and petroleum serving approximately 1.5 million crop acres.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Billy McLawhorn, CPCC-I, McLawhorn Crop Services, Cove City, NC Past Pres, NAICC

McLawhorn Crop Services, Inc. (MCSI) was founded by Billy McLawhorn in 1982 to provide soil and crop management advisory services to producers in eastern North Carolina. McLawhorn's firm was a key leader in the reintroduction of cotton production to the area and has continued to help producers develop new markets and innovative cropping systems for a number of crops, through intensive management advice on more than 25,000 acres.

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MCSI has five full-time and three part-time employees and utilizes a number of college students as interns during the summer growing season.

He is a past Pres of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants (NAICC), and currently serves as Pres of the NAICC's educational foundation.

He is a graduate of North Carolina State University.

Jack Eberspacher Pres/CEO, Agricultural Retailers Assoc., Washington, DC

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) represents the interests of the nation's crop input retailers. As its CEO, Eberspacher is responsible for ARA's overall business operations and serves as its chief lobbyist before Congress and the Administration.

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Prior to joining the association, he was CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, and prior to that, CEO of National Grain Sorghum Producers Association He has also managed a 3,300 acre cattle and timber operation in Georgia.

He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Jerry Warner, AFM, VP/ Chief Management Officer, Farmers National Co., Omaha, NE First VP, ASCMRA

Warner oversees Farmer National Co.'s farm management division and staff of 70 professional farm managers who manage over 3,600 farms consisting of over 1.2 million acres in 21 states. Other services include real estate sales, appraisals, consultation, commodity marketing, insurance, oil and gas management, conservation and recreation services and mapping technology.

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He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.