Iowa Corn Growers Association Staff

Grant Menke serves as the Director of Market Development for Iowa Corn where he focuses on growing demand for Iowa corn through biofuels, livestock, international trade, and other key market opportunities. Menke comes to Iowa Corn from USDA Rural Development in Iowa, where he served as the agency’s State Director....

Kevin J Studer, Attorney and Federal Policy Advisor has been involved with agriculture policy for over 20 years serving in many roles in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill and the United States Department of Agriculture. He currently resides in West Des Moines and enjoys spending time with his wife and...

Janelle Kracht, District 4 Field Manager, covers West Central Iowa where she enjoys working with county and district board members, planning and implementing several county events and activities all while advocating for agriculture. She also enjoys working with consumers and sharing the farmers story. Janelle has been with Iowa Corn...

Danielle Balvin, District 6 Field Manager covers 10 counties in East Central Iowa. Danielle grew up on a farm just outside Cedar Rapids. While attending school in Cedar Rapids she recognized at a very young age the need for farmer stories to be shared with those outside of agriculture. She...

Victoria is a 4th generation agriculturalist who takes part in her family’s century farm operation, where they raise purebred Black Angus cattle and grow corn and soybeans. Originally from Iowa Falls, Iowa, Victoria graduated from Ellsworth Community College in 2017 with a Associate of Science degree. She then transferred to...

David Ertl, Technology Commercialization Manager, manages research programs related to profitable corn production technologies such as the Genomes To Fields Initiative. David is a native of Connecticut and received his Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from the University of Connecticut. He then attended Iowa State University where he obtained a Masters...

Alex Buck, PhD is the Industrial Innovation Manager directing and coordinating the new uses research portfolio of Iowa Corn. In addition to being a technical lead, Alex also manages the patent strategy and licensing strategy for converting corn to value-added projects. Alex grew up outside of agriculture in Cedar Rapids....