We are excited to bring some fantastic speakers to the 2023 Farmer's Showcase. Attendees will leave the event armed with new insights to help them make better decisions for their farm operations.
Brian started his career in the insurance business in 2000 when he joined his parents at Loman-Ray Insurance. Brian has grown the agency from a single location in Broadlands to fourteen offices today across Central Illinois. Brian's development of the Farmer's Association helps fill a great need in the farming community for affordable healthcare and other ancillary services built specifically for those in the farm industry.
Steve is not your average cookie cutter run of the mill presenter, but strives to be a motivational speaker that educates and informs audiences on what is happening today to help prepare for what is next. His focus is on Agribusiness, technology, the future, risk management, interpreting global macro trends and grain marketing with crop insurance. His expertise is not limited to Agriculture but also includes global markets, insurance, lending, capital markets, energy, and finance. He has 37 years of vast experience that includes being the managing director for a multi-million dollar, Global Trading Company with operations in 62 countries, over 2000 employees and profitability in the hundreds of millions. Today, he is part of an executive team that manages a division of AIG that focuses on helping innovative Ag Producers manage risk and link up with the right partners to maximize profitability. He has lived in South America and the European Union and today resides in Central Illinois with his wife and family.
Dennis is a professional farm manager, investment advisor and commodity broker, operated and managed over thousands of acres of rice, corn and wheat along the Texas gulf coast, southwest of Houston for over 40 years. He was a licensed floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade and a frequent speaker at agri-business marketing meetings throughout the U.S. rice belt and the Midwest grain growing region. Specializing in commodity hedging and market analysis service for trading strategies, Mr. DeLaughter has served by appointment from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture on the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee during both the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. A graduate of Texas A&M University, he holds an MBA from A&M with an undergraduate degree is Agricultural Economics.
Shay talks about farm transition within or outside of family, 5 ways to succeed in NOT transitioning your farm business successfully, how in the world you should even get started, and some of the major impacts a well thought out transition can have on your financial, emotional, and relational well-being. Shay is actively engaged in transition in his own operation, and works with progressive farm businesses throughout the United States and Canada as they transition their businesses, collaborate, and improve communication and profit management.
Jon has over 15 years in the crop insurance industry in varied roles with a heavy concentration of product release today. He also runs a farm and small elevator in central IL. Heavy adoption of crop insurance policies as a core to the operation.