Iowa Corn Growers Association Staff

Lindsay Calvert, Leadership Development Manager, manages training and development for the Iowa Corn board, committees, staff, and members. She also coordinates the I-LEAD and CAT programs as part of Iowa Corn’s leadership development efforts. Lindsay grew up on a farm in Guthrie County. After vowing as a 14-year-old that she...

Mackenzie Felt, Publications Manager, writes most publications for Iowa Corn including the Roots magazine, Warm Welcomes magazine and Insider member email. Mackenzie is a fourth generation farmer who grew up on her families century farm in Dallas County, IA raising cattle, pigs, corn, and soybeans. Prior to Iowa Corn she...

Victoria Butt, Communications Outreach Manager, handles the Iowa Corn social media platforms, as well as oversees Iowa Corn’s consumer outreach programs, including the Iowa Food and Family Project and CommonGround. Victoria also manages Iowa Corn’s producer and consumer outreach events such as the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, the Iowa Corn...

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...

Jim Gumpert, Director of Grower Services, directs the activities of the Grower Services Team comprised of 8 District Field Managers and is the Staff Lead for the Grassroots Network, Membership and Checkoff (GNMC) Committee at Iowa Corn. Jim has an extensive background in Iowa and Global Agriculture having spent more...

Lowell Appleton, District Field Manager, covers 12 counties in northwest Iowa. Since 1980 Lowell has been a small acreage farmer. Prior to Iowa Corn he worked off the farm for 35 years as an accountant for a local health care provider. His involvement with Iowa Corn first started when he...

John Finley, District 3 Field Manager, covers 11 counties in NE Iowa. Those counties include Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek.

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...

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....