USDA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director, Civil Rights Staff
Job Titles:
- Director, Customer Services Division
Bio
Brad Rippey is an agricultural meteorologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of the Chief Economist, and the managing editor of the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin. He is one of ten rotating authors of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor and a contributor to the monthly North American Drought Monitor. Prior to joining USDA in 1998, Rippey worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce for more than 10 years. Since 1994, he has been a columnist and contributing editor for Weatherwise magazine. He is a 1988 graduate of Penn State University.
Bio
Brian Morris is an agricultural meteorologist with the USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) located in the Office of the Chief Economist. Mr. Morris is a member of the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committees (ICEC) within the WAOB, lending his expertise in weather and climate and their impacts on agricultural production across eastern and southern Asia. He joined the WAOB in 1999, previously having worked as a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center for six years. Mr. Morris is the Production Manager and contributing author to the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin. Furthermore, he has served as an adjunct instructor with the Graduate School USA, where he taught Introduction to Meteorology, and represented the United States in matters of international agro-meteorology within the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization. He completed undergraduate studies in Meteorology at North Carolina State University and earned a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems from N.C. State as well.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Finance
- Fellow for the Office of Energy
- Program Management Specialist ( Grants )
Bio
Ms. Hernandez is a Fellow for the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. Ms. Hernandez serves as a program assistant, finance liaison, and provides research support to senior Economist. She previously worked for USDA's Office Program and Budget Analysis. Ms. Hernandez graduated from the University with a B.A. in Economics.
Bio
Dr. Hartley is responsible for the development of policy, tools, and metrics to facilitate private investment in conservation and the participation of farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in emerging environmental markets. Dr. Hartley recently served on assignment to the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary for Research Education and Economics, first as the Acting Administrator for the Economic Research Service and then as a Senior Advisor to the Mission Area. He previously worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington, DC and in California and served with the U.S. Peace Corps as an agricultural extension agent in Senegal, West Africa. He is a Certified Crop Advisor, and a licensed Pest Control Advisor. Dr. Hartley attended the University of California at Davis, Davis, CA and holds a Ph.D. Ecology, emphasis Agroecology, M.Sc. Agronomy, MSc. International Agricultural Development.
Job Titles:
- Member of the OCE Leadership Team
- Deputy Chief Economist
In her role as Deputy Chief Economist, Dr. Nickerson advises the Chief Economist, the Secretary, and top policy officials regarding the economic implications of programs, regulations, and legislative proposals affecting the U.S. food system and rural areas.
Dr. Nickerson's career at USDA has spanned 20 years. Prior to joining the Office of the Chief Economist, she was the Director of the Market and Trade Economics Division at USDA's Economic Research Service and earlier served on the management team of ERS' Resource and Rural Economics Division. In these leadership roles she oversaw and influenced research on a broad range of topics related to the agricultural economy, global markets and trade, rural economy, socially disadvantaged farmers, conservation, and resources and the environment. She served on the White House's Council of Economic Advisers in 2013-2015, where she provided economic advice on administration initiatives and regulatory actions relating to agriculture, climate change, economic development, transportation, rural child poverty and evidence-based policymaking. She also served as CEA liaison to the White House Rural Council.
Dr. Nickerson received her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Environmental Studies from California State University, and a B.S. in Accounting from Towson University.
Bio
Dr. Clayton Myers is a Senior Entomologist in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). His responsibilities include regulatory issues related to insecticides and insecticide resistance management. Dr. Myers also serves on USDA's hemp working group, providing input on numerous regulatory issues for this newly legalized crop, with an emphasis on registration of needed crop protection tools. Prior to joining OPMP, Dr. Myers worked at EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs for nearly a decade, and he has extensive experience in pesticide benefits/usage analysis, label review, and insecticide efficacy review. Dr. Myers has both a research and practical background in IPM for specialty crops. He earned his Ph.D. from Penn State University and grew up on a small family fruit farm in Central Pennsylvania. Dr. Myers also served as a post-doctoral researcher with USDA-ARS at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV.
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Marketing Service ( AMS )
- Director, Civil Rights
Job Titles:
- ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY for CIVIL RIGHTS
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for Management and Operations / U.S. Department of Agriculture
Penny Brown Reynolds, Ph.D., J.D. is the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, leading the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. More...
Penny Brown Reynolds, Ph.D., J.D. is the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, leading the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Dr. Brown Reynolds serves as one of the nation's preeminent civil rights scholars and experts bringing 30 years of transformative leadership experience in civil rights, law, executive management, as well as higher education and organizational change management.
As Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Dr. Brown Reynolds provides executive leadership and oversight for all of the agency's strategic implementation, internal general operations, operational decision-making, organizational change management, civil rights policy initiatives, the agency's budget, external stakeholder engagement, employee professional development, while concurrently serving as USDA's Chief EEO Officer for its 100,000 plus employees. In addition, Dr. Brown Reynolds oversees performance management of the agency's career Senior Executive Service leadership, including the Associate Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, the Executive Director for the Center for Civil Rights Operations and the Executive Director for the Center for Civil Rights Enforcement, special emphasis programs and liaising with agency Civil Rights Directors.
Before her appointment, Dr. Brown Reynolds was recognized as the first African American in Georgia's history to serve as the Governor's Executive Counsel and the first African American to serve as Georgia's Lieutenant Governor's Executive Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Georgia Senate. She has uniquely served in all branches of local, state and federal government, as well as the judiciary. Her distinguished career in law has included serving for nearly a decade as a trial court Judge in Fulton County State Court, Atlanta, Georgia, where she was appointed as one of the youngest judges in the state's history, and also serving as a Georgia State Assistant Attorney General, an Assistant District Attorney, and a judicial clerk for the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Dr. Brown Reynolds is heralded as a higher education and business thought leader. In 2019, Dr. Brown Reynolds received a dual appointment with the University System of Georgia to oversee the coordination and development of the Student Success Program strategic plan and related operational initiatives. While serving as an adjunct University Professor at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Department of Criminal Justice, Dr. Brown Reynolds was named Instructor of the Year. She is the author of numerous books and articles and has lectured across this nation.
The Louisiana native received her Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Georgia State University, a Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University College of Law and earned her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, from Nova Southeastern University, finishing first in her class with a master's degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center (I.T.C.), and having completed Post Doctorial studies at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Dr. Brown Reynolds is a licensed attorney, registered mediator and arbitrator, and is the founding Chair of the Judicial Section of the Gate City Bar Association, an affiliate of the National Bar Association. A proponent of community engagement, Dr. Brown Reynolds is committed to service to others and has been recognized nationally for her major contributions.
Bio
Dr. Cameron Douglass is an Agronomist (Weed Scientist) in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), and primarily handles policy issues involving registration reviews of herbicides and herbicide resistance management. Dr. Douglass's portfolio also includes invasive species-related matters and serving on USDA's Invasive Species Working Group, as well as pollinator issues and serving on USDA's Pollinator Working Group. Dr. Douglass previously worked as a biologist in the Environmental Fate and Effects Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pesticide Programs from 2016-2020. Prior to working at USEPA, he was the Thomas McKenna Meredith Postdoctoral Scholar in Environmental Sciences at Trinity College (Hartford, CT). Dr. Douglass received his Ph.D. in Bio-agricultural Sciences and Pest Management from Colorado State University, his M.S. in Vegetable Crops (Weed Science) from Cornell University, and his B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic.
Bio
Dr. Jean Buzby has worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for over 25 years and is currently the USDA Food Loss and Waste Liaison in the Office of the Chief Economist. Prior to this position, she was on detail at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Resource Conservation and Sustainability Division as a Senior Policy Analyst. For most of her career, she has worked at USDA's Economic Research Service (USDA/ERS), first as an Agricultural Economist and then as the Chief of the Diet, Safety, and Health Economics Branch in the Food Economics Division. Prior to moving into management, her primary areas of work were food safety, food consumption, and food loss research. Dr. Buzby's food safety research included estimating the costs of foodborne illness, analyzing the legal incentives for firms to produce safer food, and exploring international trade and food safety issues. Her food consumption research was primarily centered on using information gleaned from the Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System. Dr. Buzby is domestically and internationally known for her estimates of food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States. Dr. Buzby received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky.
Job Titles:
- National Coordinator for the USDA Climate Hubs
Bio
Dr. Julian Reyes is the National Coordinator for the USDA Climate Hubs program. In this role, he provides connection and cohesion across the regional Hubs, integrates Climate Hub work across USDA agencies, coordinates with other climate networks, and engages with stakeholders. Prior, Dr. Reyes was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State in their climate change office. He was also a Climate Hub Fellow with the USDA Southwest Climate Hub/ARS Jornada Experimental Range from 2016 to 2019 where he spearheaded development of the AgRisk Viewer and produced new knowledge on agricultural risk management using spatio-temporal patterns of crop insurance loss. He has broad expertise in hydroclimatology, climate change and impacts in agroecosystems, and eco-hydrologic modeling. Dr. Reyes received his PhD and B.S. in civil engineering both from Washington State University.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chairman
- Chairman of the World Agricultural Outlook Board
- Chairman of USDA 's World Agricultural Outlook Board
- WAOB Chairperson
Dr. Mark Jekanowski is Chairman of USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB), where he is responsible for the monthly forecasts of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report and the work of the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility. Dr. Jekanowski also serves as Program Chairman for USDA's largest annual meeting, the Agricultural Outlook Forum.
Dr. Jekanowski joined the WAOB in August 2018 as Deputy Chairman. Previous positions with USDA include Deputy Director for Outlook at the Economic Research Service, and Chief of the Crops Branch, also at the Economic Research Service. Prior to his service at USDA, Dr. Jekanowski was a Senior Vice President at Informa Economics, where from 2009-2011 he was also Head of the Washington, DC office. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, and a B.S. in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was raised on a commercial, family-owned vegetable and tobacco farm in Hadley, Massachusetts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the OCE Leadership Team
- Chief Economist
Dr. Seth Meyer was appointed USDA's Chief Economist in January of 2021, returning to USDA after two years. Prior to his return, Seth was a Research Professor and the Associate Director for the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri. FAPRI is well known for its agricultural policy and market analysis, being called on by Congress and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its insight into commodity production, price, farm income and trade impacts from various agricultural policies including Farm Bill proposals, trade agreements and disruptions, and crop insurance.
Dr. Meyer was previously the head of the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), the agency at USDA charged with bringing together USDA resources in the assessment of crops around the world. The OCE also publishes those finding in the ‘WASDE' report which is closely watched by agricultural markets here and abroad.
Previously, Dr. Meyer served as an economist with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and as a visiting scholar at several research institutions around the world. Dr. Meyer grew up in eastern Iowa and has a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri.
Bio
Dr. Stephanie Morris joined the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy (OEEP) as an Agricultural Project Coordinator in March 2021, where she coordinates climate adaptation efforts across the Department. In this role, she works with USDA Mission Areas to integrate climate adaptation into their planning, programs, and activities to prepare the USDA and its stakeholders to be resilient and successful in a changing climate. Stephanie came to OEEP from USDA's Office of the Chief Scientist, where she was a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow. Prior to joining USDA, she worked as a research scientist at the Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency and served as a NOAA John A. Knauss Legislative Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives. Dr. Morris has a B.S. in Chemistry from Sewanee: The University of the South and a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program.
Job Titles:
- Director for Sustainable Development
Bio
Elise H. Golan is the Director for Sustainable Development for USDA. In this role, she provides leadership in planning, coordinating, and analyzing the Department's various policies, programs and activities that impact and relate to sustainable agricultural, natural resource, and community development including food security. Prior to this position, Elise served as the Associate Director of the Food Economics Division at the Economic Research Service, USDA. She received her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of California at Berkeley and completed a post-doctorate fellowship focusing on environmental economics at the University of Haifa, Israel. Before joining USDA, Elise did consulting work for, among others, the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, and the California Department of Finance. She served as a senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1998-99. Dr. Golan's research has spanned a wide range of sustainability issues, including land tenure and sustainable land management in the Sahel and West Africa; rice-straw burning and sustainable land management in California; regional and U.S. food-system modeling; food labeling and market development; food access, affordability, and security; and the distributional consequences of food policy.
Dr. Mojduszka is an Economist in the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost and Benefit Analysis (ORACBA), Office of the Chief Economist, USDA. Her responsibilities at ORACBA include reviewing and evaluating regulatory impact, economic, and risk analyses required for qualifying USDA proposed and final rules and regulations that affect food safety, human health, animal and plant health, human safety and the environment. Prior to joining ORACBA in late 2006, Dr. Mojduszka was a professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She also was a Harvard University fellow in the Economics Department and a visiting teaching faculty at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters referenced in over fifteen hundred peer reviewed publications and scientific reports. Her research areas include economics and policy of food safety and nutrition; the role of economics in evaluating risk and risk control programs; food standards as non-tariff barriers to trade; discrete choice demand modeling for understanding consumer and firm behavior and public policy; random utility modeling; food safety and nutrition risk management; food safety and nutrition control schemes modeling (with endogenous risk).
Bio
Eric Luebehusen is a Meteorologist with the USDA's Office of the Chief Economist, where he covers weather and crop impacts for the US as well as international areas, including Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and the Former Soviet Union. As an employee of the World Agricultural Outlook Board, his key responsibility is to provide analysis in support of the USDA's monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate. He has developed over 100 operational yield regression models to support the WASDE, using innovative techniques to merge satellite and weather data into a dynamic process that provides WAOB economists with real-time yield forecasts. Eric was an author of the US Drought Monitor for over 10 years, spearheading the effort to use GIS data to improve the product's accuracy and detail. He has also worked for: the Maryland Department of the Environment as an air quality modeler and forecaster; NOAA's Satellite Analysis Branch as an operational meteorologist; and the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, gaining valuable experience at the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility.
Bio
Harlan Shannon joined the World Agricultural Outlook Board in 1999. As a meteorologist, Harlan is responsible for assessing weather and climate impacts on Australian agriculture, developing geospatial products and applications to support WAOB agricultural weather and drought monitoring activities, preparing ad hoc weather analyses when extreme weather threatens U.S. crops and livestock, and serving as the WAOB focal point for World Meteorological Organization (WMO) related activities. Prior to joining USDA, Harlan worked for the Center for Conservation Research and Technology, developing a numerical model to forecast avian soaring flight times and altitudes to reduce the bird strike hazard to aircraft. Harlan earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Economist With the Office of Energy
Bio
Irene Margaret Xiarchos is a Senior Economist with the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. She has a PhD in Natural Resource Economics, and a long career in research and policy, evaluating the intersection of energy with agriculture, the environment, and rural development. She is responsible for the GHG estimates from energy use in agriculture, and explores opportunities for sustainable development with a focus in resource management, infrastructure, value chains, markets and trade.
Job Titles:
- Senior Agricultural Economist
Bio
Jeff O'Hara is a Senior Agricultural Economist in the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. Jeff studies incentives and trends in the implementation of climate-smart practices on U.S. farms and ranches. Prior to joining USDA's Office of the Chief Economist in 2021, Jeff was an economist at USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (2015-2021), the Union of Concerned Scientists (2010-2015), and the Chicago Climate Exchange (2007-2010). Jeff received a PhD in economics from University of California, San Diego (2007) and BS in economics from The George Washington University (2000).
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Biotechnology Advisor
Job Titles:
- Economist at the World Agricultural Outlook Board
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Joanna Hitchner is an oilseeds economist at the World Agricultural Outlook Board in USDA's Office of the Chief Economist. Prior to her current position, she spent six years as a poultry analyst and program specialist for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. From 2005-2009, she consulted and worked for agribusinesses in Senegal, Martinique, and Ecuador, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama working for a women's agricultural cooperative. In early 2018, she was detailed to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Trade and Agriculture Directorate in Paris to work on the cereals section of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027. Ms. Hitchner has bachelor's in economics from Connecticut College and a master's in business administration from the University of Maryland.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Chief Economist
- Senior Policy Advisor
Bio
Joseph Cooper is Senior Policy Advisor to the Chief Economist, Office of the Chief Economist, United States Department of Agriculture. Joe was previously chief of the Agricultural Policy and Models Branch for the Market and Trade Economics Division of the Economic Research Service of the USDA. He has also served in other roles on the management team in the Resource and Rural Economics Division of ERS. In addition, he has been a researcher in both divisions. Joe has also served as the Senior Economist in charge of agriculture and natural resources issues on the White House's Council of Economic Advisors and has worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, providing FAO with economic advice on a wide range of agricultural policy issues. Joe received Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Human Health Risk Assessor
Bio
Ms. Julie Van Alstine is a Human Health Risk Assessor in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). Ms. Van Alstine previously worked as an environmental health scientist, senior chemist, and supervisory chemist in the Health Effects Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2022. Directly prior to joining OPMP, she worked as a health science specialist at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Ms. Van Alstine received her MPH in Global Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and her BS in Chemistry from Allegheny College.
Job Titles:
- OPMP in 2012 As a Plant Pathologist
- Plant Pathologist
- Senior Plant Pathologist
Bio
Dr. Julius Fajardo is a Senior Plant Pathologist in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). Dr. Fajardo joined OPMP in 2012 as a Plant Pathologist. In this capacity, Dr. Fajardo's portfolio includes policy issues involving registration reviews of fungicides, biofungicides and plant growth regulators as well as fungicide resistance in collaboration with EPA. He has worked on emerging diseases and pathogens through USDA-ARS' National Plant Disease Recovery System, USDA-APHIS' Multi-Agency Coordination Group for citrus greening or huanglongbing including the Federal Interagency Committee on Invasive Terrestrial Animals and Pathogens (ITAP). Dr. Fajardo provides scientific support with the Office of the Chief Scientist on the role of antibacterial and antifungal compounds in crops on foodborne antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Fajardo received his Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Pathology from Texas A&M University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Master of Science degrees in Plant Pathology from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos.
Kate Zook serves as a Senior Program Analyst in the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. Kate works with USDA leadership to coordinate policy and activities related to climate change mitigation, energy, and environmental markets for the U.S. agriculture sector. Her expertise is in policy analysis related to market-based conservation, agriculture, and climate change. Kate has domestic and international experience in agricultural resource management, working for both academic and nongovernmental organizations. She also has served a variety of public policy roles, including a term at the White House in the Office of Management and Budget. Kate earned undergraduate degrees in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management from the University of Delaware, and a Masters of Environmental Management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, focusing on economics and policy.
Job Titles:
- Director, Civil Rights Division
- Economic Research Service ( ERS )
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Economist
- Board As a Food Grains Economist
Bio
Kevin Wittenberger joined the Board as a food grains economist in August 2021. Prior to his current position, he served for ten years as a Foreign Service Office with the U.S. State Department with postings in the Agricultural Policy Office, the Visa Policy Office, the India Desk, Honduras, the Philippines, and Washington, DC. He also served as an economist with the Economic Research Service working as an oilseeds analyst and he was Peace Corps Volunteer in Bangladesh.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Office of Pest Management Policy
- Director, Office of Pest Management Policy
Kimberly Nesci serves as the Director of the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). In this role, she leads the development and coordination of USDA policy on pesticides, biotechnology, integrated pest management, and related topics.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of the Office of Risk Assessment
- Director, Office of Risk Assessment and Cost - Benefit Analysis
Linda Abbott serves as the Director of the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis (ORACBA). In this role she coordinates the review of regulatory risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses for major USDA proposed rules affecting the environment, human health or human safety.
Prior to this position she served as a senior risk assessor on the ORACBA staff. While at ORACBA, she was also detailed to the USDA Office of Pest Management Policy to evaluate risk models used to assess human health exposure and ecological risk. She began her USDA career as an ecologist at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service where she developed risk assessments and environmental assessments required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Dr. Abbott received her Ph.D. in biology-ecology from Utah State University, M.S.in environmental biology from George Mason University, a B.S. in biology from Florida Southern College and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law.
Bio
Dr. Margaret Walsh is OEEP's Senior Ecologist, focusing on Climate Assessment, Scientific Analysis, Decision-Support Tool Development, International Science, Food Systems and Security, and Sustainability.
Mark Brusberg serves as the Chief Meteorologist of USDA's agricultural weather and assessments group, a component of the World Agricultural Outlook Board. In this capacity, Mr. Brusberg helps to coordinate the activities of USDA agencies responsible for weather- and climate-related issues and serves as a liaison with other organizations having similar interests, notably the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
He is a leading figure in the Department's drought assessment and mitigation activities, and has worked toward improving the performance of the U.S. Drought Monitor through a strong partnership with the National Drought Mitigation Center. He serves on the Executive Council of the NOAA-led National Integrated Drought Information System and also serves in a leadership capacity with the National Drought Resilience Partnership, a multi-agency advisory group supporting the Executive Office of the President. Additionally, he is a lead representative to the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Support and Services. He is a recognized international expert in agricultural meteorology; as such, he is the International Editor of the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin and an author of the North American Drought Monitor.
Mark Powell serves as risk scientist in the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis (ORACBA). In this role he conducts reviews of regulatory risk assessments for major USDA proposed rules affecting the environment, human health or human safety. Mark's primary focus is on sanitary and phytosanitary risks (food safety and animal and plant health). He also participates in the interagency review of regulations and guidance of other Federal Agencies that could potentially affect issues of interest to the Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining ORACBA, Mark was a risk assessment team leader at the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and a Fellow at Resources for the Future, an environmental think tank. He has a Ph.D. in Ecology and an M.A. in Public Policy from Rutgers University.
Job Titles:
- Food Grain Analyst for USDA 's World Agricultural Outlook Board
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Mark Simone serves as a Food Grain Analyst for USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board since 2017. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committee for wheat and rice. He routinely evaluates and clears U.S. and international commodity supply, demand, and price projections developed by the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committees for wheat and rice in preparation of USDA's monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand (WASDE) report. Mr. Simone was previously employed by the USDA, Farm Service Agency (FSA), Economic Policy Analysis Staff serving as an Agriculture Economist for 10 years. He also has experience with the U.S. International Trade Commission, Office of Industries as an International Trade Analyst and as a commodity analyst with Andrew B. Bellingham Commodity Trade Analysis, Inc. Mr. Simone earned his master of science, agricultural and resource economics at Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR and his bachelor of science, agricultural and managerial economics, at the University of California, Davis, CA.
Job Titles:
- Management Analyst / Compliance Division / Center for Civil Rights Operations
Job Titles:
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Michael Jewison has been with the Department of Agriculture since 2006 and has served as the Department's Chairperson of the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committee for feed grains since 2016. His primary responsibility is overseeing the development of the USDA's global supply and utilization forecasts/estimates as part of the monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. Before joining the WAOB, Mr. Jewison spent several years at USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) and Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), joining USDA in 2006. As a native of Minnesota, he did his undergraduate studies at St. Olaf College, his graduate work at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, and also studied at the Beijing Language and Culture University.
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Economist
- Analyst at the World Agricultural Outlook Board
Bio
Michael McConnell is a commodity analyst at the World Agricultural Outlook Board in the USDA's Office of the Chief Economist. Prior to his position at the Board, he was an Agricultural Economist at the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). He served as the coordinator for the Feed Outlook and the Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook programs during his tenure, in addition to roles in the Livestock Outlook program. In addition to ERS, he has experience as a Senior Consultant at Informa Economics and as a Grains Industry Analyst at the U.S. International Trade Commission. He has a master's degree in Economics and bachelor's degree in Economics and History, both from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.
Job Titles:
- Senior Agricultural Economist
Bio
Ms. Michelle Ranville is a Senior Agricultural Economist in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). Ms. Ranville previously worked as an economist in the Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2015. Her work at EPA focused on evaluating the economic benefits of pesticides, primarily in agricultural applications. She also worked on cost-benefit analysis for regulations and led an effort to develop a method for establishing economic minor uses of pesticides. She has since worked as an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on surveys related to labor costs and occupational requirements. Ms. Ranville earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University and a M.A. and B.A. in Economics from the University of Toledo.
Job Titles:
- Senior Analyst With the Office of Energy
Bio
Mindy Selman is a Senior Analyst with the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. Her areas of expertise include environmental markets (with a focus on water quality and carbon markets) as well as other market-based mechanisms for promoting conservation, conservation metrics, and farm-scale tools for estimating environmental benefits. Ms. Selman leads the development of the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT), a farm-scale tool for estimating nutrient and sediment losses from crop and pasture lands.
Job Titles:
- Communications Director and Agricultural Outlook Forum Coordinator
- Director of Communications at OCE
Bio
Mirvat Sewadeh is the Director of Communications at OCE and USDA's Agriculture Outlook Forum. She leads external and internal communications for OCE and its sub offices and coordinates USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum, the Department's premiere annual event. Prior to joining OCE in 2018, Ms. Sewadeh worked for the Economic Research Service as Assistant Director for communications where she led the development and implementation of communications efforts and data dissemination for the Market and Trade Economics Division. Before joining ERS, Ms. Sewadeh worked as an advisor for the World Bank and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on international trade issues. Among other roles, she served as a senior consultant for the World Bank's Development Economics and Research Group and as the economic editor for USAID's first quarterly publication on international trade issues in Southern Africa. She co-authored several reports on trade and development. Ms. Sewadeh holds a bachelor's degree in English and demographic studies from the University of Jordan, master's in business administration from University of Maryland Smith School of Business, and a master's degree in international relations and economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Bio
Ms. Claire Paisley-Jones is a General Biologist (Risk Assessor & Risk Management Analyst) in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), focusing primarily on pesticide use and usage data analysis in support of human health and ecological risk assessments (including Biological Evaluations and Biological Opinions for endangered species consultation). Ms. Paisley-Jones previously worked as a biologist in the Biological and Economic Analysis Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2013 to 2022, where she gained extensive experience in pesticide usage/benefits analysis, label review, and risk assessment methodology development. Ms. Paisley-Jones earned her M.S. in Environmental Science (with a focus in Agricultural Ecosystems Management) from the Ohio State University, where she was a National Science Foundation GK-12 Teaching Fellow. She earned her B.A in Biology from the College of Wooster.
Bio
Ms. Elyssa Arnold is a Regulatory Risk Assessor in the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), focusing primarily on ecological risk assessments including Biological Evaluations and Biological Opinions for endangered species. Ms. Arnold previously worked as a biologist and team lead in the Environmental Fate and Effects Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2011 to 2020. From 2020 to 2021, Ms. Arnold worked as the Biosolids Program risk assessment lead in the U.S. EPA Office of Water. Ms. Arnold earned her MPH from the Yale School of Public Health and her MEM from the Yale School of the Environment, both with concentrations in environmental health. She earned her BA in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Officer
- Administrative Officer for the Office of Pest Management Policy
Bio
Ms. Lori Quade is the Administrative Officer for the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). Lori has been in the Federal government for the past 13 years. All of that time had been spent with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH. Lori has experience with a wide range of administrative tasks, as she has been a support staff assistant, administrative assistant, and for the last 6 years, an administrative officer. During her various roles, Lori has led meetings, mentored new staff, has been a purchase card holder, managed the division's FedEx account, has been a liaison for assisting travel planners, and she beta tested a new SharePoint budget tracking tool. With 35 years in customer service, Lori has learned how to tailor her skills to meet the needs of a diverse clientele. Before entering the government, Lori was with Home Depot for 11 years, with the last 4 of those years as the lead of the inventory management team.
Job Titles:
- Scenic Recreation Area Advisory Council
Job Titles:
- Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion ( EDI )
Job Titles:
- Affairs Coordinator
- Agricultural Labor Affairs Coordinator
Bio
Peter Feather serves as the Agricultural Labor Affairs Coordinator in the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He is responsible for analyzing the Department's various policies and activities that relate to agricultural labor, and he represents the USDA on immigration issues. Dr. Feather has held this position since June, 2009. Prior to that, he held positions as the Fuel Economy Division Chief at the Department of Transportation, Senior Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers and Economist at the USDA Economic Research Service. Dr. Feather received his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota in 1992. He also holds BS and MS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri.
Bio
Rebecca Nemec Boehm is a Senior Economist in the Immediate Office of the Chief Economist. Rebecca has expertise in the economics of food and nutrition assistance programs, nutrition science and policy, food systems, and the environmental dimensions of agricultural production. Prior to joining OCE in 2022, Rebecca was a Senior Economist in the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Connecticut Agricultural and Resource Economics Department and at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. Rebecca received her MS and PhD from the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and her BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Rebecca grew up in California's Central Valley and served as a research intern at USDA's Agricultural Research Service research station in Parlier, California in her younger years, collecting soil and water samples from alfalfa fields on the western edge of Fresno County.
Job Titles:
- Food Loss & Waste Policy Analyst
Bio
Sharon Sydow is a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). In OCE, her focus is on providing economic analysis of agricultural trade policies and market developments. She began her career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1991 at the Economic Research Service (ERS), where she was hired as the grains and oilseeds analyst for the Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, her research focused on agricultural trade and policy reform in Russia and other former Soviet countries. In 1998, she moved to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to work on multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2001, she was named Director for Agricultural Trade Policy in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she worked on a number of bilateral and multilateral agricultural trade issues. After several years of private sector work on agricultural trade issues, she returned to USDA in 2015 to work in OCE. She received her B.A. from Miami University (Ohio) and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University, where she also attended the W. Averell Harriman Institute for the Advanced Study of the Soviet Union.
Bio
Shawn Arita serves as a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington DC. In his role he conducts economic analysis and advises the Chief Economist and senior officials regarding the economic effects of various trade policy issues, ongoing events in global commodity markets, and other areas affecting the U.S. farm economy. He performs economic modelling on policy issues of interest for U.S. agriculture and has conducted model-based assessments as needed by USDA programs such as the MFP and CFAP programs as well as arbitration of WTO trade dispute cases. He has published economic research articles in academic journals such as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, Ecological Economics, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, and others. Prior to this position, Shawn was an economist at the Economic Research Service, USDA and also served at the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Shawn received his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii and originally hails from the Aloha State.
Job Titles:
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Shayle Shagam is the livestock, poultry, and dairy analyst for USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board and has served as the Department's has served as the Department's Chairperson of the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committee for meat and dairy since 1999. Prior to joining the World Agricultural Outlook Board, he worked for 12 years as an international livestock analyst responsible for red meat trade forecasts and animal product trade issues. He has a bachelor's in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois and an master's degree in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University.
Job Titles:
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Stephen Haley has been with the Department of Agriculture for over 30 years and is currently a Commodity Analyst for the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) within the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). He has been serving as a chairperson charged with overseeing the development of the USDA's global supply and utilization forecasts/estimates as part of the monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) and other departmental reports. Haley earned his doctorate in Economics at the Purdue University in 1985.
Job Titles:
- Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee Chairperson
Bio
Stephen MacDonald has been with USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) since 2017, where he chairs the Department's Interagency Commodity Estimates Committee (ICEC) for cotton. Previously, he was a Senior Economist with USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS), as an international cotton analyst, participating in USDA's monthly updates of its global cotton estimates and annual long run baseline projections. As a research economist for ERS, his other research interests included forecasting methodology and evaluation, prices, and exchange rates. His education includes degrees in biology and international affairs from Cornell University and George Washington University, and completion of doctoral studies in economics at George Mason University.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Research Service ( ARS )
- Director, Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
Troy Hillier serves as an economist in the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis (ORACBA). In this role he conducts reviews of regulatory risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses for major USDA proposed rules affecting the environment, human health or human safety. He also participates in the interagency review of regulations and guidance of other Federal Agencies that could potentially affect issues of interest to the Department of Agriculture. Before joining the Office of the Chief Economist, Mr. Hillier spent nearly 20 years consulting with public and private sector clients on issues related to regulatory analysis of issues ranging from environmental and energy policy to the definition of bingo. Prior to that, he was a policy analyst at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Hillier received his Master of Public Affairs degree from the School of Public and Environmental affairs at Indiana University. He studied as an undergraduate at Northern Michigan University, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Albion College, where he received an AB in Economics and Management.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Officer for the Office
- Resource Management Analyst ( Budget Execution )
Bio
Mrs. Brown-Harrod is an Administrative Officer for the Office of the Chief Economist under the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. Mrs. Brown-Harrod serves as an Administrative Officer responsible for providing budget execution, interagency agreements, cooperative agreements invoicing, purchasing and contract award support to the Office of the Chief Economist and division staff offices. She previously worked for 13 years with USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service serving as a program assistant. Mrs. Brown-Harrod graduated from the University of Maryland Global Campus formerly known as (University of Maryland University College) with a B.S. in Information Technology Services.
Job Titles:
- Director, Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights
Vince Breneman serves as the Senior Geographer in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He is responsible for geospatial analytics, data development, and data visualization across a range of agricultural and food sector issues with special focus on agricultural programs, markets and natural disasters. Vince joined the OCE in August of 2019. Prior to that, he served as the Chief of the Research Support Branch and Geospatial Program Manager at the Economic Research Service. Vince has MS and BA degrees in Geography from George Mason University and Virginia Tech.
Bio
Bill Chambers was appointed Deputy Chairperson for USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WOAB) in 2021. He formerly served as the WAOB Chair for food grains. He oversaw the preparation and release of USDA's official supply and demand estimates pertaining to wheat and rice, which were released in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand (WASDE) report and other USDA publications. Dr. Chambers also served ten years as a commodity and policy analyst with USDA's Farm Service Agency where he analyzed commodity markets, farm policies, new program proposals, and budget outlays. He was also an agricultural economist at ERS and researched a wide variety of issues affecting agricultural commodity markets. A native of Minnesota, Dr. Chambers received master's and doctorate degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1995 and 1999.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy
- Director of USDA 's Office of Energy
William Hohenstein is the Director of USDA's Office of Energy and Environmental Policy (OEEP), within the Office of the Chief Economist. OEEP serves as a focal point for the Department's energy, environmental markets, and climate change activities.
Before working at USDA, Mr. Hohenstein served as a Division Director in EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics. Prior to that, Mr. Hohenstein served in the Climate Change Division of EPA's Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation. He represents the United States at international climate change negotiations and has served as a U.S. representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mr. Hohenstein has a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Cook College, Rutgers University and a M.E.M. in Resource Economics and Policy from Duke University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.