Jason D. Meyer developed his passion for agriculture growing up on his family’s diversified grain and livestock farm in NE Iowa. That passion was fostered further while attending Northwestern College where he earned a BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Ag-Business and Finance along with a Minor in Economics.  Jason’s career in the grain business was launched at the Chicago Board of Trade where he spent time on the floor as a runner and a retail commodity broker. After a few years, he decided to get back to his agriculture roots and accepted a position at Advance Trading Inc. in Bloomington, IL where he was taught the basics of cash grain trading. He then put these new-found skills to use working as a Grain Originator in Dodge City Kansas.  The pull of the Midwest brought Jason to Beresford SD where he severed as the Coops Grain Merchandiser for 5 years before accepting a position as Grain Division Manager for Western Iowa Coop. After a coop merger, Jason decided to reevaluate his career goals and decided to take advantage of an opportunity with CVA coop where he could use his vast knowledge and experience along with an extensive network of grain industry professionals to work with producers on an individual level as a Grain Specialist. Jason and his wife live in Sioux City where they are raising their 3 young children. Jason is also privileged to serve as an advisory board member for the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Program at Morningside College and as Vice-President of his HOA.

Kelby Vandenberg is a grain merchandiser for CVA. He has worked for CVA since the CVA/UFC merger in September of 2014. Prior to the merger, he began working for UFC in January of 2014. He has been responsible for trading rail corn, wheat, and milo in his time with UFC and CVA. He currently trades corn into the truck ethanol markets for CVA. Kelby is a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University where he earned his degree in Business Administration with a minor in Finance in December of 2013.

Brian was born and raised in Bloomington, Illinois on a grain and livestock farm.  He earned both a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.  Prior to joining Advance, he worked for a farmer advisory service based in Wisconsin.  He currently is an economist responsible for wheat market fundamentals and domestic grain consumption trends assisting in feed grains and soybean analysis.  He assists in the preparation of a weekly fundamental review of commodities for clients and brokers.  He also writes a weekly summary of fundamental market developments and the importance of implementing disciplined risk management strategies.
 
Brian has also been a featured guest on a number of national media television outlets.  These include U.S. Farm Report, Ag Day and This Week in Agribusiness.  He has also participated in press briefings at the Chicago Board of Trade and for the Minneapolis Grain Exchange following the release of monthly USDA Supply/Demand reports.  Brian also provides periodic market updates for several radio stations and wire service providers and has been interviewed by various newspapers and magazines.  He has also been invited to speak twice at the Australia Grain Marketing Conference. 

Nick Fitzgerald is a Risk Management Consultant at Advance Trading, Inc. that partners with agribusinesses to identify, manage, and mitigate commodity price risk. He represents a diverse network of domestic and international commercial customers whose businesses span from grain and oilseeds trading, processing, transportation, food, and livestock.
 
He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S.in Business Management. Prior to working at ATI, Nick spent time at various locations across the U.S. working for Archer Daniels Midland in their FOB Trucking, Corn Processing, River Terminal, Eastern Rail, and Soybean Processing Divisions.
 
Nick is originally from Downs, IL where he grew up interested in the grain industry learning and listening to his father and family. He spends most of his free time traveling, enjoying the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family.
 

Tim was a former UNL Extension employee serving North Central and North Eastern Nebraska, he has BS degrees in Agronomy and Animal Science, an MBA in Operations and Finance, and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Management. In 2004, Tim joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a Farm Management Specialist, and has worked for 15 years studying and delivering educational programs focused on the current, and previous USDA Farm Bills. Tim provides economic analysis and education on a variety of farm-based issues to include land management, cash/share land rent, flexible cash leasing, farm policy, and farm economic trends. Tim continues to work with UNL on ag-economic issues and educational program delivery.
 

Ken Pilsl is a senior grain merchandiser for CVA Coop located in York, NE. Ken’s primary focus at CVA is merchandising yellow corn shuttle trains on the BNSF, UP, and CN railroads. In addition to trading rail corn, Ken also focuses on CVA’s corn hedge and spread accounts. Ken is also CVA’s milo merchandiser. Prior to CVA, Ken was the general manager for CPI Lansing LLC where he managed 2 BNSF shuttle loaders in Fairmont and Red Cloud, NE. The first 20 years of Ken’s career was spent at Bartlett Grain Company in Kansas City, Missouri where he primarily traded export yellow corn trains to Mexico. Ken has an Agribusiness degree from Kansas State University.

Marcus Wilhelm is the Regional Vice President for CoBank’s Omaha banking center and has over 17 years of agricultural sales and credit experience.  Marcus leads a team of lenders that provide over $9 billion in credit facilities throughout Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota to the Grain and Farm Supply sector as well as CoBank’s entire ethanol portfolio.  He received his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and was commissioned into the Nebraska Army National Guard in 2003, where he spent over 10 years as a Chinook helicopter pilot and served as the Commander of B Co. 2-135^th during a deployment to Afghanistan in 2011-2012.  Marcus and his family reside in Syracuse, Nebraska where they are able to continue operating their 5^th generation family farm with his brothers.