By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA
NEAFA congratulates President Danielle Penney-Stroop and Vice-President Jenny Kelsey Mills on their newly elected positions. Both have been integral members of the NEAFA leadership and board, and we are excited to have them at the helm of the association.
Penney-Stroop is currently employed by Novus International as Senior Sales Manager of US Ruminant East. “We provide cow comfort expertise to dairy producers, as well as offer producers a wide variety of products that enhance overall health & production,” said Penney-Stroop. “I have had a variety of roles in the dairy industry for the past 20 years – from large herd management in northern NY & VT, nutrition & dairy management consulting throughout the Northeast, with specialization of calves & heifers. I participated in Class 17 of the Cornell LEAD NY program.”
According to Penney-Stroop, she has “a love for all of agriculture, but my passion, core, and roots lie with the dairy industry.” As part of that passion, Penney-Stroop believes education is key. “I look forward to, and will continue my efforts in working to bridge the educational gaps between the general populous and production agriculture. Additionally, I look forward to increasing my lobbying efforts and becoming more involved in the political process on the behalf of our producers, as we’ll as other ag industry manufacturers and professionals.”
Mills has been a part of the agricultural fabric of the Northeast since she was a child, growing up on a dairy farm in central New York. Mills currently works as the strategic marketing dairy industry lead for Provimi North America, the premix and nutrition business subsidiary of Cargill. Prior to that, Mills worked for Elanco Animal Health for fifteen years, straight from graduating from Cornell University with a masters in calf nutrition in 2004.
The NEAFA Board appointed four individuals to fill five open positions open due to officer elections and board term expirations. These appointments will have a chance to be elected to the board by the membership during the August 31st Annual Meeting. New members include Alan Wright, of Purina Animal Nutrition, Charlie Elrod of Natural Biologics, Karl Bitz of Central New York Feeds, Kevin Kouri of Phoenix Feeds & Nutrition, and Mike Thresher of Morrison’s Custom Feeds.
Alan Wright is currently a senior feed formulator with Purina Animal Nutrition, doing custom dairy feeds for the Northeast, based out of the Caledonia, NY feed mill since 2004. He graduated from Penn State University in 1984 with a degree in Animal Production. After 5 years in a confinement farrow to finish operation; he joined Agway in 1989. Starting as a swine feeds sales person; Alan had many roles over his 15 years with Agway, including Mill manager and Regional Sales manager. He resides in Piffard, NY with his wife Sue; they have 6 grown children, and 10 grandchildren.
Charlie Elrod has been involved in the livestock industry for over 40 years. After building and operating his own dairy in the early 80s, he went on to work with the dairy and beef herds at Berry College while completing his Bachelor of Science degree. Moving north to Cornell University, he completed a Ph.D., focusing on the intersection of protein nutrition and fertility in dairy cattle. After his Ph.D., he spent the next 10 years as a member of the Cornell University extension faculty and directing the New York State Cattle Health Assurance Program. Over the last 20 years, he has worked as a business development manager, tech service consultant and leading R&D and technical support for the dairy division of an animal health company. He is currently the co-founder and President of Natural Biologics, a product development and innovation company focused on solving significant animal health challenges. In 2018 he was appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Animal Science Department at Cornell University.
Karl Bitz is currently co-owner and President of Central New York Feeds, a family business that manufactures animal feed for dairy farms in upstate NY. Previously, he spent eight years working at Palantir Technologies, a Palo Alto, CA based software company where he helped create, transform, and lead operations teams as the business grew from 200 to 2000+ employees. Karl received his B.S. from Cornell University in 2009. He lives in Skaneateles, NY with his wife Kristi and their three kids: Addie (5), Josie (3), and Eli (1).
Mr. Kevin M. Kouri has a B.S. from the University of Vermont and a M.S. from the University of Connecticut, upon completion of his M.S. in May of 2003 he took his first role within Poulin Grain Inc., Newport, VT. He spent 15 years with Poulin Grain Inc. working in various capacities for them servicing accounts in Franklin County, Vermont along with supporting colleagues in other counties. His roles covered field nutrition sales, territory sales manager and in the last couple years while living overseas heading up special projects and sales/tech support. Kevin established his own consulting business Summit View Consulting in 2017 which focused on integrated solutions for the modern dairy cow with hopes of traveling further overseas developing nutrition program and management recommendations to further the dairy clientele. This exposed him to the Asia dairy market working with feed additive distributors within Asia advising nutrition and farm management practices within a rapidly growing dairy industry. In 2018, Kevin’s family had an abrupt change in plans and moved back to Vermont from France at which time he took up a full-time position as Dairy Portfolio Product Manager for Performance Minded Ingredients (PMI) within Land O’Lakes. His time with PMI, Fall 2018 to Spring 2021, allowed him to continue and travel throughout the United States working within different dairy regions and different feed manufactures. In March 2021, Kevin turned back to being closer to the heartbeat of the industry and accepted the position within Phoenix Feed and Nutrition as their Director of Nutrition and Sales. Being back involved in the day-to-day workings of dedicated dairy producers working alongside a dedicated team at Phoenix Feeds and Nutrition is very exciting for him. Having the opportunity to lead and grow a team within this organization along with a company focused on expansion within the region will bring new challenges and rewards daily. Outside of work Kevin is an avid downhill skier with his family, enjoys road biking, fishing and camping with his family throughout New England in the summertime.
Mike Thresher is a 3rd generation Vermont farmer with a passion to see the farms in Northern New England survive and flourish. He is a graduate of VTC with a degree in Agribusiness Management, then joined the family dairy and took over the farm in 1997. In 2000, Mike joined with Morrison's Custom Feeds and found a passion for organic dairy farming and was instrumental in leading to the growth in the Northern New England organic dairy industry. Additionally, he created a Non-Gmo line of feed for Morrison’s. Today he still works with farms all over Northern New England, assisting farms to improve forage quality from the soil up. He also serves on the Board of Directors for NOFA-VT. He lives in Danville with his wife Julie, in his free time they enjoy helping others, or can be found out snowshoeing, hiking, biking or kayaking.