Dr. DeDecker received her Ph.D. in swine well-being at the University of Illinois in 2011 and then started her career with Smithfield Foods.

Currently Senior Director of Research and Extension for Smithfield Hog Production, Dr. DeDecker oversees applied research in all disciplines of swine production with the goal to identify cost effective solutions that can be implemented at the farm level using Extension services and outreach.

Neal Hull joined the National Pork Board in 2019 as director of domestic market development. He leads the field team of channel market development managers to align NPB’s strategies with key retail and foodservice customers across the country; he is focused on building trust, adding value and creating demand for U.S. pork. Neal has more than 30 years’ experience in the food industry, including foodservice and retail.

Neal grew up on a small farm near Moravia, Iowa, where his family raised pigs and other livestock. He graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing and minored in speech communication.

Neal and his wife, Sara, have three children and reside in Austin, Minn.

Born in the Netherlands, Tony has lived in St. Louis, Mo., since he was 3 years old. He began his career at Schnucks as a bagger when he was 16 and held various positions at multiple stores throughout high school and college while he earned a pre-architecture degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. After graduating, he continued his career with Schnucks and has held positions in the Meat/Seafood Department as a QA inspector, visual merchandiser, buying analyst and category manager. He has been with Schnucks for 29 years and currently serves as the senior director of meat and seafood. He has been happily married to his wife, Jennifer, for 18 years, and they have two children, Aiden and Alexis.

Chris Ford works with swine operations across the Farm Credit Services of America, Frontier Farm Credit, and Ag Country Associations’ state territory and throughout the Midwest ranging in a variety of sizes. Chris is a part of the specialized Swine Team which has lending relationships with 28 of the 40 largest swine producers in the nation. Prior to becoming a Vice President of Corporate Swine Lending, Chris was a Credit Underwriter that specialized in swine operations.

Jordan is the founder and CEO of Phinite and a seasoned entrepreneur currently leading his third startup. He first recognized the opportunity to recycle animal waste nutrients into high-value fertilizer while managing wastewater treatment and resource recovery projects in Darwin, Australia. In 2016, he earned top honors from the U.S. EPA in their Nutrient Recycling Challenge for his innovative work in this field. Jordan relocated with his family to North Carolina,one of the largest hog-producing regions in the U.S., to launch Phinite. Under his leadership, the company has grown into a regional leader in waste management and sustainable fertilizer production, driving innovation at the intersection of agriculture and environmental stewardship.

Shonda Sammons is a partner and Program Leader with the sister organization of 21st Century, 21st Century Agriculture Leadership. With over 30+ years of experience, she works with employers and employees to provide coaching, guidance, and leadership development. In addition to her highly engaging facilitation style, Shonda converts individuals into enterprising champions and assists companies in identifying in-house talent and matching employee skill sets to job responsibilities.

Originally from Indiana, Shonda has called Kentucky home for the last 23 years. After graduating from Austin Peay State University with a Bachelor of Science in Agri-Business, Shonda held many financial services roles but always knew she wanted to own her own business. She established Advocate Builders in 2013 and has remained an integral part of her company. She is also the author of a tracking program that offers the ability to manage advocate relationships and to track cross-sells and referrals company-wide. She is an adjunct professor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College.

She also specializes in Corporate Culture Development, Customer Service, DISC and Motivators, EQ-i 2.0,

EQ 360, and Performance Management.

Gary Weihs serves as Managing Partner for Kincannon & Reed, the world’s premier search firm for senior leadership roles in food, agribusiness, and life sciences organizations.

Leveraging more than 30 years of management experience in technology, production, renewables, biotech and agricultural equipment environments, Weihs focuses on senior executive and direct-report-level assignments within agricultural and food sectors.

Weihs and the Kincannon & Reed team work to become trusted partners with their clients through a consultative approach, strong work ethic, deep industry knowledge, and extensive professional networks. Early in an engagement, Weihs and his colleagues gain a thorough understanding of their clients’ near-term business objectives, long-term strategies, and organizational culture. This discovery process enables them to apply their executive experience into recruiting skilled, results-oriented, and visionary leaders for their clients.

Before joining Kincannon & Reed, Weihs led domestic and international organizations ranging from Fortune 100 companies to entrepreneurial start-ups.

Weihs received a Civil Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently resides near Omaha, Nebraska in Harlan, Iowa.

Emily Pottorf is the Territory Representative for Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for Gestal. She has been with the company for 4 years. Emily grew up on an Iowa farm with her 3 sisters and spent her high school through college career working on nursery and sow farms. She followed her passion for the pork industry to Iowa State University where she earned her degree in Animal Science. She continued to work in the swine industry post-graduation; her favorite part of working with Gestal is helping farmers find solutions and improve efficiencies in their operations.

Dr. Dalton Obermier is the Farm Research and AI specialist for JYGA Technologies, residing in central Nebraska. Dalton grew up on a diversified livestock farm in Nebraska, where he developed a deep passion for the livestock industry. Dalton earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Nebraska, followed by a master’s degree in swine genetics at North Carolina State University. He then completed his doctorate in animal breeding and genetics at the University of Nebraska, where he utilized machine learning and computer vision systems to study swine behavior in relation to feed efficiency. Dalton has been with Gestal for one year and enjoys working with producers from around the world.

Thomas W. Campi, DVM, MPVM is CEO and co-founder of Modulant Biosciences, a new biotech company focusing on antivirals for pets and livestock.  Their current pipeline includes an antiviral for cats suffering from FIP and an antiviral for pigs infected with the PRRS virus.  They also have a One Drug for All Cancers platform.

Tom is a veterinarian and is board certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. He has extensive experience in drug development, regulatory affairs and technology evaluation.   Dr. Campi’s career spans 35 years and includes leadership roles in regulatory, research and technology acquisitions at Elanco, and Head of Research and Regulatory Affairs at Huvepharma. He was also a founder and partner in Reliance Animal Health Partners and Covenant Animal Health Partners.

Tom received his veterinary degrees from the University of California, Davis.

Mallory Strickland is a graduate of Ohio State University and NC State University. She joined Smithfield Hog Production in 2010, as a production trainee from Cardington, Ohio, where she grew up raising her own breeding stock along with 4-H and FFA show pigs. Currently, she is the animal care program manager for Smithfield Hog Production and oversees the Animal Care Management System for the company and contract farms across the nation.

Mallory is responsible for the internal and third party/external animal care audits on company and contract sites. She is the lead for the Animal Care pillar of Smithfield’s Sustainability Impact Report. She serves as Smithfield Hog Production representative on the National Pork Board Common Swine Industry Audit Task Force, PQA Task Force. Mallory also serves on the NC Pork Council conference and producer education committee and scholarship committee. She was a participant in the 2024 Pork Leadership Institute class (PLI). The PLI program is a year-long collaboration hosted by The National Pork Board (NPB) and National Pork Producers Council (NPPC)  Mallory resides in Warsaw, NC with her husband, and dogs.

Kyle Leistikow began his research career at UW-Madison where he worked for three years under the guidance of Eric Johnson investigating the secretion and stability of Clostridial neurotoxins. He received his PhD from Marquette University under the guidance of Krassimira Hristova and Christopher Marshall where his work on bacterial communication systems led to the discovery of a novel antimicrobial compound capable of inhibiting clinical and agricultural MRSA infections.

Kyle currently leads a research team at Microbial Discovery Group that uses ecological, evolutionary, and computational approaches to understand and harness the ways in which commensal bacteria reduce disease and antimicrobial resistance evolution both in the host microbiome and in downstream environments. Over the last 10 years, he has established numerous collaborative relationships with both industrial and academic partners that have resulted in multiple patents, publications, and the adoption of One Health-based microbial surveillance programs.