Popular Pig

Glenn Argenbright has 30 years’ experience operating and running a variety of private, pre-IPO, and public technology companies. He has founded over a dozen startup ventures, resulting in three public offerings, nine exits, and billions in shareholder returns. His background includes expertise and projects in software, firmware, middleware, hardware, enterprise, SaaS, consumer goods, and Web and mobile applications.

In 2017, Glenn launched Quake Capital, an early-stage venture fund with offices in New York, Austin, Los Angeles, and Cologne Germany (through a partnership with Deutsche Telekom). Quake is now on its eighth fund, with over 300 investments and nine exits across its portfolio. The firm was recently recognized as the second most active funder of female founders worldwide (Forbes); one of the ten most active early-stage funds (Crunchbase); and one of the twenty most active venture funds in NYC (Pitchbook). And, according to published CrunchBase data, Quake is the #1 early-stage fund in the world for diverse founders (2021 Beta Boom Study of over 3,400 global early-stage funds, incubators, and accelerators). All of Quake’s funds rank in the top 20% of venture performance with their latest fund producing Net IRR of roughly 40%.

Glenn has appeared as a guest lecturer at numerous universities and startup events throughout the U.S. In addition, he’s been interviewed for both print and television, with features in/on Barron’s, Bloomberg, Business Week, CNBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fox Business, Fox News, Inc. Magazine, Wired, and many others.

A native son of South Dakota. Chad Greenway was born and raised on a hog, cattle, and crop farm in Mt. Vernon, SD. He learned the value of hard work, resiliency, and perseverance working daily on the family farm. Growing up in a small rural community Greenway was thrust into leadership positions at an early age on the farm and in the community.

Greenway attended the University of Iowa on a football scholarship. While at Iowa, Greenway was named 3-time All Big Ten and was a 2- time All American. Greenway was on the leadership council all four years of college which is the highest honor voted on by his peers. Greenway graduated with a degree in Communication Studies in December of 2005.

Since his retirement from the NFL in 2017 Greenway has stayed active in the Twin Cities as President of his family’s Lead the Foundation which launched in 2010 and is still active in supporting families and kids across the upper midwest. He has also became Partner with two different companies over the past 5 years. (Gray Duck Spirits, Bankshot Solutions) Greenway resides in Wayzata, Mn with his wife Jennifer and four daughters and is active in training, coaching and being a dad to his girls.

Leadership & Advocacy

Joel Harris is an active member in Iowa’s biotechnology industry through both of his roles; CEO of Genvax Technologies and Executive Director of the Ag Startup Engine. As co-founder and CEO of Genvax Technologies, Joel is leading his team to develop mRNA + nanoparticle vaccines for livestock. The Genvax team is targeting multiple diseases, most notably swine influenza and the foreign animal disease African Swine Fever. This work requires unique and extensive collaborations that Joel has initiated with state and national leaders in the human and animal biotechnology space, government groups such as the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics and IEDA and supporting stakeholders like United Animal Health, Iowa Corn Growers Association and Johnsonville Ventures. During 2023 Joel will be networking with government leaders to advocate for support for emerging technologies and bringing those technologies to Iowa.

As Executive Director of the Ag Startup Engine, Joel is instrumental in supporting Iowa-based biotechnology companies. Biotechnology companies that Joel has led investments in are Leah Laboratories, Mazen Animal Health, GW Nutrition, Gross-Wen Technologies, Skroot Laboratories and Pyrone Systems. Joel has served on the boards of IowaBio and Mazen Animal Health. He and his father founded Harrisvaccines (a livestock vaccine company later acquired by Merck Animal Health) that still operates in the ISU Research Park today. During his tenure, Ag Startup Engine was presented with the LWBJ Impact Award for the 2021 Prometheus Awards. Joel is deeply involved in the biotechnology industry in Iowa and continues to bring talent, jobs, and new technologies to the state.

Innovation

At Harrisvaccines, Joel applied unique sales and marketing strategies to bring the first mRNA vaccines to market in the animal health industry. At that time, mRNA was referred to as repliconRNA and was delivered via a viral particle (nanoparticles are the delivery vehicle for Covid mRNA vaccines). Harrisvaccines was initially denied a pathway to regulatory approval by USDA and Joel (as the case with many startups hampered by regulations) created badly needed cash flow for the company by providing swine producers with farm specific vaccines without the requirement for regulatory approval. Eventually, Harrisvaccines assisted the USDA in developing the regulatory requirements for prescription-based farm specific vaccines that is currently followed by Merck Animal Health. At Genvax, Joel is again applying innovation to the development of mRNA/nanoparticle vaccines for animals.

After experiencing first-hand the frustration of finding and valuing farm equipment for his corn and soybean farm in Iowa, Kyle McMahon founded Tractor Zoom to better connect good data and investment decisions for dealerships, Farm Credit Associations, Farm Service Agencies, banks, auctioneers, and farmers. In addition to his work at Tractor Zoom, Kyle remains involved in row crop production and swine operations, and has a background in private equity and other entrepreneurial ventures.

Jenna was raised on a diversified grain and pig farm outside of Lebanon, Indiana. Growing up, she was heavily involved in 4H and FFA. Jenna attended Kansas State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in animal science in December of 2019 and master’s degree in applied swine nutrition in the summer of 2021. Jenna then started with Elanco as a swine account manager in Kansas and Nebraska.

She transitioned into a swine nutritional health consultant role at Elanco in November of 2023 to help support Elanco’s growing portfolio in the nutritional health space. Jenna currently resides near Pleasanton, Nebraska with her husband, Garrett, and two dogs, Dixie and Callie. In her spare time, Jenna enjoys spending time with family, volunteering at her church, baking sweet treats, and lifestyle photography.

Angela was raised on a row crop farm in northeast Iowa, spending her time picking up rocks and working ground in the spring, and driving the grain cart in the fall during harvest. Angela attended Iowa State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business with a double major in Economics. Angela started with Elanco after graduation, working on the beef sales team as a territory manager in the Dakotas. She then transitioned into a key account manager in swine, working in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Angela went to work for NutriQuest after 10 years with Elanco, spending 8 years supporting the growth of their swine business. With the recent acquisition, Angela is now back working with Elanco as a marketing brand manager supporting the Nutritional Health and Feed Additive brands. Angela currently resides in Clear Lake, Iowa with her husband, Adam, and three children. In her free time, Angela enjoys watching her kids in activities and sports, reading and enjoying the outdoors.

Nick Lehman is a 4th generation livestock, and grain farmer in western Boone County Iowa.  He and his dad have been raising pigs together for over 30 years and now operate a 4880 head finisher site.  Aside from the daily farming operation they serve as a test site for some of the latest equipment AP is bringing to the market.

Nick brings his suggestions for maintenance and seasonal prep from 17 years of confinement operation in the roller coaster of weather that Iowa brings each year.

Dr. Hyatt Frobose serves as the USA Commercial Director and Nutritionist for JYGA Technologies, Inc., a Quebec-based company producing GESTAL brand precision feeding systems for the swine industry. Hyatt specializes in assisting swine producers with group-housing solutions and nutritional programs to optimize performance and welfare of sows and growing pigs in commercial environments.

Since completing his Ph.D. in swine nutrition and management at Kansas State University in 2015, Dr. Frobose has been a featured speaker and specialist working with producers around the world in adopting new technologies and adapting to increased animal welfare standards. In his role with JYGA, Hyatt has assisted with the designer renovation of over 250 sow farms representing over 400,000 sows. Dr. Frobose and his family are based in Greeley, KS and are actively involved in their church, local 4-H programs and seed stock and cow/calf operation.

Mark graduated from Iowa State University in 1973 and went to work for Wilson Foods in Oklahoma City for 6 years.

Mark joined Purina Mills in 1979 as a salesman in Nebraska and became a Swine Consultant in 1984. He then moved to North Carolina for Purina Mills as Swine Business Manager in 1988.

Mark moved to Fremont, Nebraska in 1994 and helped build Swine Management Services into a full line management company that built 40 sow farms and managed 80,000 sows.

Ron Ketchem and Mark purchased the consulting and intellectual property of Swine Management Services from Purina Mills (Land O Lakes) in 2002 and grew it into the leading independent swine consulting company providing “information solutions” to the swine industry through state-of-the-art benchmarking and analysis programs.

Mark has been married to Carolyn for 48 years and they have two children.

Nicole Boettger

Nicole has been with MetaFarms since January 2023 serving as Director of North American Swine. She brings 35 years of experience and relationships along with industry knowledge to the sales and marketing team.  Before joining MetaFarms, she held sales and marketing roles in the feed, pharma, and pork industry associations (MN Pork and National Pork Board). She also taught Ag Education right out of college. Nicole grew up on a crop and swine farm in Southern MN and owns a contract finishing site. She holds production degrees from the University of MN and an Ag Education Degree from South Dakota State University.  When not at work she enjoys training her Labrador Retrievers for field trial hunting competitions and cheering on the Jackrabbits.

Ron Ketchem

Ron Ketchem graduated from the University of Missouri in 1973 with a BS in Animal Science and master studies in Reproductive Physiology and Animal Breeding. He worked 12 years for a genetic company in production, sales, and marketing and developed their AI program. He then spent 15 years in Indiana with a major feed company as a Swine Consultant providing technical support and training. Ron later purchased Swine Management Services, LLC in August 2002 with Mark Rix. SMS was sold on September 30, 2019 to MetaFarms, a sow record-keeping company in Minnesota. Today, Ron consults with over 400,000 sows in the US, Canada, and Australia. Ron has been married to his wife Pam for 36 years and has 3 grown sons.

Patrick Fleming is the vice president of demand development for National Pork Board. Fleming leads the marketing and domestic demand team on a revolutionary, data-driven approach to make pork more relevant to more Americans. His return to NPB coincides with the culmination of an 18-month effort funded by the Pork Checkoff to develop and deploy new consumer market research and insights across the pork industry.

Fleming and his team focus on developing a consumer-facing campaign designed to win more hearts and minds for pork, in particular Millennial and Gen Z Americans, whose consumption of pork continues to decline. Fleming guides his team day-to-day on priorities related to consumer demand, multicultural marketing, food service and retail support, packer/processor collaboration and human nutrition strategies for NPB with input and direction from the producer-led board of directors.

Wesley Lack – Pork Regional Business Director for Zoetis.

Wes started with Zoetis in November of 2022 as Area Business Manager on the beef team in Iowa.  In June he was promoted to his new role as Pork Regional Business Director leading the US pork team.

Wes grew up on a farming operation in Hatch, NM and graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s in Ag Economics and Business.

He currently resides in Afton, IA, with his wife, April, and three children, Kaylin, Austin, and Kathryn.