LANDFUND PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Farm Operations
Mr. Ussery started his career in 1985 as a regional field engineer with Continental Eagle Corporation where he rose to be in charge of operations in the Southeastern United States. Since, he has held management positions within a privately owned farming conglomerate in the Mississippi River Valley, managing tens of thousands of farmland acres and several agricultural businesses. Mr. Ussery has held key roles in many professional associations, including: as President of the Southern Cotton Ginners Association, as Delegate to the National Cotton Council from 2006 to 2013, on the Board of Directors of the National Cotton Ginners Association, and as a Charter Member of the Arkansas Rice Merchants Association. Mr. Ussery received a degree in Agricultural Engineering from Mississippi State University.
Job Titles:
- COO
- Founding Member
- President
Chris Morris is a founding member of LandFund Partners where he serves as President and COO. Mr. Morris received his Bachelor of Science degree in Financial Economics from Centre College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude. Mr. Morris started his career at Commonwealth Economics, a regional economic and financial consultancy. Mr. Morris has been recognized as one of Nashville's Top 40 Under 40 by the Nashville Business Journal and Top 30 Under 30 by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He is active in the Nashville non-profit community and is a past Chairman of the Phoenix Club of Nashville. Mr. Morris has attained the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
Grant Ballard is Of Counsel for LandFund Partners. He is a partner with the Firm of Ark Ag Law, PLLC, which maintains a nationwide practice focused on the representation of Agricultural producers and other rural businesses. Ballard focuses his practice on the representation of farmers and ranchers in areas including Federal Farm Programs, Crop Insurance litigation, contract law, environmental law, and governmental compliance investigations. Ballard represented producers in litigation before private arbitrators, State and Federal Courts, and the USDA National Appeals Division.
Jefferson Manning, MBA serves as an Associate for LandFund Partners. Born and raised in north Louisiana, Jefferson completed his undergraduate degree from the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and received his Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Jack C. Massey College of Business at Belmont University. Throughout his professional career, he has been a part of large scale business transactions in settings ranging from the private investment PE and VC world as an analyst to the entertainment industry as an artist manager. He has prepared detailed underwriting reports of potential investments, overseen multi- million dollar recording budgets for artists, created marketing strategies for national touring bands, projected financial models for large scale investments, and helped raise capital and create a social media brand with a combined reach of over 20 million followers.
Mr. Farris received a full-tuition fellowship to study economics and finance at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, where he was awarded a Master's Degree. Before attending Princeton, Mr. Farris studied economics and philosophy at Centre College from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He served as an economist at the Center for Economics Research at the Research Triangle Institute, as well as a senior economics consultant with both the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Farris served as Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Mr. Farris serves on the Board of Directors of Kentucky Technology Inc and is past chair of the Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) Investment Committee. Mr. Farris also serves on the Board of Trustees at Centre College and Sayre School.
Mr. Howell is a Farmland Consultant to LandFund Partners. Mr. Howell has decades of farmland analysis and investing experience. Mr. Howell spent 38 successful years at MetLife Agricultural Investments, where he focused on the lower Mississippi River Valley region and rose to the role of Director. Mr. Howell built and maintained a territory portfolio of over $700 million in the region. Phillip received his undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University. Among several directorships and volunteerism roles for the community of Lonoke, AR, he has been a deacon and Treasurer at Lonoke Baptist Church for 26 years and is a Director for Malvern National Bank. He and his wife Susan have three children and eight grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Director of Investor Relations
Samantha Bates is the Director of Investor Relations at LandFund Partners. Ms. Bates received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Her investor relations experience includes roles at Westport Capital Partners, a diversified real estate fund, Blue Harbour Group, an activist hedge fund and GCM Grosvenor, a global alternative asset manager.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance
- Director of Finance With LandFund Partn
Savannah Reynolds is the Director of Finance with LandFund Partners. Ms. Reynolds received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from East Tennessee State University, where she graduated summa cum laude as an Honors-in-Discipline Scholar and was named Outstanding Student of the Year in Accountancy. Ms. Reynolds also received a Master of Accountancy with a concentration in Audit and Controls from the University of Tennessee. Ms. Reynolds started her career in the Nashville PricewaterhouseCoopers assurance practice. Her professional experience includes positions with W Squared, LLC (now LBMC W Squared, LLC) and most recently as the Senior Manager - Accounting and Finance at Silicon Ranch Corporation. Ms. Reynolds was admitted as a Certified Public Accountant in Tennessee in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Regenerative Farm Advisor
Mr. McKaskle started farming in 1973 as a fifth-generation farmer. He is a pioneer in organic weed and pest control and has worked with the USDA and various university research programs to develop groundbreaking organic cultivation techniques. Mr. McKaskle produces organic rice and has become the largest domestic producer of organic aromatic and long grain varieties of rice, securing relationships with notable companies such as Chipotle, Whole Foods Market, United Natural Foods, KeHE and Hiland Naturals. McKaskle Family Farms currently operates on over 3,000 acres cultivating a variety of crops including: popcorn, Basmati and rice varieties, soybeans, corn, cotton and oats.
Steven Ussery is a Farm Manager at LandFund Partners. Steven received his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business from the University of Arkansas where he participated in several of the crop testing programs set up across the state of Arkansas. Steven started his career as a fertilizer representative at Greenpoint Ag, and managed large-scale commercial farm and greenhouse operations for several years in California and Missouri. Steven grew up working as a farm hand with local farmers in the Mississippi Delta where he found his love for farming, hunting and fishing.