SPEAKERS

Economist Dan Basse has been in the commodity business since 1979, providing research and insight around the globe. His counsel is sought out in 81 nations - by farmers, elevators, processors, millers, food companies, trading companies, importers, exporters, meat packers, and more. Mr. Basse was raised on a dairy/grain farm in Waukesha, Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1979. Dan has worked with Professional Farmers of America, Brock Associates and the agricultural research division of GNP Commodities in Chicago. In 1987, Mr. Basse founded AgResource Company to serve the needs of the United States and world agriculture community. Mr. Basse is a member of Farm Foundation and the Commodity Market Council.

Tyler Bjornson is the moderator for the fireside chat with Stephen J. Harper, 22^nd Prime Minister of Canada.

Tyler is Principal and Founder of T. Bjornson & Associates Consulting, a public affairs company dedicated to the agriculture and food sector. With over 25 years’ experience in senior political, public and private roles, he has worked under Prime Minister Harper in his office with the Conservative Resource Group, as a Chief of Staff to the Minister of Natural Resources, a Trade Negotiator in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a Vice President of a major Canadian agricultural industry association, and a global government affairs manager inside a large multinational grain company. He currently advises a variety of clients in agriculture from all segments of the value chain. He has owned and operated a government relations firm for the past 10 years.

Tyler’s connection to agriculture goes back to his childhood where he was raised on a grain, oilseed, pulse and hog farm near Camrose, Alberta. He continued his education earning a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Classics from the University of Alberta and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and International Affairs from Carleton University. Outside of work, he serves his community in central Ottawa as a minor hockey coach, volunteer in other youth activities, and remains keenly interested in Canadian and global politics behind the scenes.

Alejandra Castillo is the President & CEO of the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA). A senior executive with over 15 years’ experience in global trade with expertise in trade execution, stakeholder management and trade policy. Alejandra worked at the U.S. Grains Council in D.C., Singapore, and India. Most recently, she opened the Council's' newest office in India, where she served as the Regional Director for South Asia. In that capacity, Alejandra set up the strategy to evaluate and implement the Council’s market development programs in the region which included India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Alejandra also serves as volunteer President of the International Grain Trade Coalition (IGTC). Since 2019, Alejandra has supported the IGTC Working Group on Electronic Trading Documentation. In that role, she served as one of the co-chairs for the Industry Advisory Group (IAG) and the IAG representative for the CPM Focus Group on Sustainable Funding for the IPPC ePhyto Solution Project.

Prior to the Council, Alejandra worked in trade execution with Cargill focused on trade risk management as well as vessel and container logistics for cotton, grains and oilseeds. She also gained experience as an international freight forwarder prior to entering trade execution. Before joining Cargill, she worked as a project manager for the Mayo Clinic and an associate director of admissions for St. Catherine University.

Alejandra is a native of Nicaragua and earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in strategic management and organizational leadership, both from St. Catherine University, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Alejandra's panel participation is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. 

Carlo Dade is one of the country’s leading voices on defending and advancing western Canadian trade interests in Canada and abroad. He leads work on development of a national trade infrastructure plan and renewal of the nation’s trade corridors. His research and advocacy are playing a critical role in the achieving better trade agreements and drawing attention to the often-neglected importance of the assets and systems critical to moving products to markets. He has a reputation for developing creative solutions to some of the major challenges facing Canadian exporters and defending Canadian interests in trade with China and the U.S.

A frequent media commentator and writer, Carlo is a global expert on pan-Pacific trade, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Pacific Alliance trade blocs as well on agricultural issues including Right2Repair. He provides thoughtful analysis on issues surrounding North American competitiveness and Canada-Mexico relations.

As Director of Trade and Trade Infrastructure of the Canada West Foundation, Carlo has a long history in international public policy including as a Professional Affiliate at the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan, as non-Resident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and as a member of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI).

Chris is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Canola Council of Canada. He is responsible for leading the efforts of the Council's professional staff and reports to the Council’s Board of Directors.

Chris joined the Council in August 2021 as Vice President, Stakeholder and Industry Relations. Prior to joining the Council, Chris spent nearly 10 years with a global life sciences company serving as Head of Business Sustainability for North America and prior to that Head of Corporate Affairs for Canada.

Chris also spent several years on the consulting side of the agri-food industry working in government and industry relations, corporate communications and public affairs to advance issues and opportunities at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels for a diverse set of private sector and association clients.

Earlier in his career, Chris worked for the Canadian federal government on animal health, plant health, and food safety related issues in support of Canadian bilateral and multilateral trade relationships.

Mr. Lloyd C. Day is a United States citizen and assumed his position as Deputy Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) on July 1, 2012.

He started his career with the Governor of California, eventually becoming the Deputy Secretary of International Trade and Investment for California. Mr. Day then moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as Administrator of USDA´s Agricultural Marketing Service, Head of Federal Government Affairs at Syngenta, and is now Deputy Director General of IICA.

Mr. Day has received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Stanford University and the University of Glasgow.

Joe Glauber is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC and until January 2024 served as interim Secretary of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS). He also holds appointments at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining IFPRI, Glauber spent over 30 years at the US Department of Agriculture, including as Chief Economist from 2008 to 2014. From 2007-2009, Glauber was the Special Doha Agricultural Envoy at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative where he served as chief agricultural negotiator in the Doha talks. He is the author of numerous studies on agricultural insurance, trade policy and U.S. farm policy.

Erin Gowriluk is the president at Canada Grains Council. Erin most recently served as the executive director for the Grain Growers of Canada, where she managed the day-to-day operations and advanced federal policy work on behalf of 65,000 grain farmer members from coast to coast. She has an extensive and diverse background in agriculture policy having held senior policy roles with Syngenta Canada, the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions, and the Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Erin holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University.

Erin's panel participation is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. 

Shaun Haney is the moderator for the panel on Cross Border Perspectives on the North American and Global Policy Landscape.

Founder of RealAgriculture, Shaun manages one of the leading industry ag media companies for Canadian farmers and ranchers. RealAgriculture provides the latest in ag policy, agronomics, current events and farm management from their website, radio shows, and podcast streams. Shaun is the host of RealAg Radio which is broadcast across North America on Rural Radio Channel 147 on SiriusXM daily and the host of RealAg on the Weekend which is heard every Saturday and Sunday on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME across Saskatchewan. He also makes regular appearances on RFD-TV, Agritalk and US Farm Report. With Justin Funk of Agri Studies, Shaun helms RealAgristudies, a market insights partnership formed in 2019.

For nearly a decade The Right Honourable Stephen J. Harper led Canada through the world’s most complex geopolitical, economic and security challenges as the country’s 22nd Prime Minister. He created the modern Conservative Party of Canada, won three successive national elections and was the longest serving Conservative Prime Minister since Canada’s founding Prime Minister in 1891.

Since leaving office in 2016, Mr. Harper founded and is Chairman and CEO of Harper & Associates, a global consulting and investment advisory business, and is Chairman of Vision One. He serves as a Director of Colliers International Group Inc. and Recover Inc. He is also the recent author of “Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption” and a frequent speaker on geopolitical trends, populism and business.

Mr. Harper serves as Chairman of the International Democrat Union, the Friends of Israel Initiative, and India’s Observer Research Foundation. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Calgary, an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University and an honorary degree from the Jerusalem College of Technology. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and the recipient of numerous international recognitions, including the Order of Liberty, Ukraine’s highest civilian honour.

Mr. Harper resides in Alberta, Canada with his wife Laureen; they have two adult children, Benjamin and Rachel.

Mr. Harper's participation is sponsored by CN.

Michael Harvey is the moderator for the panel on Tri-National Perspectives on Trade.

Michael Harvey has been Executive Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance since 2023. He knows international trade from all the vantage points, having extensive Canadian and international experience in the private and non-profit sectors, as well as in government. For seven years he was Director of Corporate Affairs for the Latin American operations of one of the world’s leading gold mining companies. He was also a Canadian diplomat for 15 years, with postings to the United Nations, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. Michael was the President and CEO of the Canadian Council for the Americas and Vice-President, International with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

A native Nova Scotian, Michael is a member of the Quebec Bar and holds a master’s degree in international Commercial Law and Practice from the University of Edinburg. He speaks fluent French, Spanish and Portuguese, having been interviewed by the media, appeared before Parliamentary committees and engaged in complex negotiations in all these languages.

Mark Hemmes is president of Quorum Corporation, an independent subsidiary of the Quorum Group of Companies, of which he is a founding partner. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Quorum Corporation has been responsible for monitoring Canada's Prairie Grain Handling and Transportation System on behalf Transport Canada and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada since June 2001. Quorum reports to the Government and industry on changes in the efficiency, reliability, structure and operation of the grain handling and transportation system as well as the impacts these changes have on producers. Quorum and its sister companies have also completed studies related to container movements, transloaders, and the role of inland container terminals in Western Canada; analytical and research services for the review of rail freight service in 2008 and 2009 as well as performing multiple studies on the Canadian Grain Supply Chain over the past 20 years.

Mark has extensive experience in the transportation industry. During his 23 years with the rail industry he held a variety of senior and executive positions in the fields of marketing, intermodal, and operations. Mark attended post-secondary schools in Edmonton at the University of Alberta and the University of Western Ontario. He has been involved in many transportation industry organizations throughout his career, including the Canadian Transportation Research Forum.

Todd Hirsch is an internationally renowned economist, keynote speaker, and author whose research and work focuses on enhancing adaptability in an ever-changing world. Having had a front row seat to key issues transforming the global economy for the past 25 years, he delivers dynamic, clear-eyed talks on adaptability, creativity, and resilience to help industry and business leaders prepare for a future that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

An economist by training, Hirsch is currently the director of Energy Transition Centre, an incubator of tech startups focused on navigating our path toward net-zero carbon. Prior to this, he served as VP and chief economist for ATB Financial for 15 years, taught economics at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, and worked in the research department of the Bank of Canada.

In recognition of his work, Hirsch has received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the University of Alberta’s Alumni Honour Award, and an honorary degree from Mount Royal University. He has also spoken to hundreds of business audiences across the United States and Canada, and international audiences from Venezuela to Dublin.

The author of four books, Hirsch’s latest, Spiders in COVID Space: Adapting During and After the Pandemic, shares the inspiring and compelling stories of businesses and not-for-profits that reinvented themselves during the pandemic.

Todd's presentation is sponsored by CropLife Canada.

Ricardo is the Executive Director of APPAMEX, the Agricultural Products Providers Association of Mexico. Prior to joining APPAMEX as Executive Director in 2002, Ricardo served as a project manager at Infosel and an external consultant to the U.S. Grains Council for technical support, outlooks and market projections for Mexico. Active in various national and international advisory groups, Ricardo has expertise in agri-food policy development, trade negotiations and biosafety initiatives, earning recognition such as the 2021 Prix d’Honneur from the International Grain Trade Coalition (IGTC).

Ricardo holds a degree in Food Engineering from the University of Las Americas, Puebla, Mexico, and postgraduate degrees in Applied Marketing at the Institute of Technology and Superior Studies of Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico, as well as Public Administration from the International Public Administration Institute in Paris, France. He also holds a master’s degree in Agri-Food Sector Public Administration from Universities Paris IX and XI.

ABOUT APPAMEX: The Asociacion de Proveedores de Productos Agropecuarios Mexico, AC (Agricultural Products Providers Association of Mexico) was founded in 1992 by representatives of the key trade corporations that marketed into Mexico imported agricultural products in bulk, such as cereals, oilseeds and their by-products as food and feed ingredients. Currently it groups 10 companies, mainly trading companies that represent around 90% of the national import and export of agricultural bulk and ingredients for the Mexican agri-food sector, as well as companies that provide services for this trade, such as port and railway terminals, maritime and railway transport, warehouses, certifiers and foreign organizations that promote international trade in these products.

Ricardo's panel participation is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. 

Courtney Stange is the moderator for the fireside chat on Sustainable Aviation Fuel with Geoff Tauvette.

Courtney Stange is the Global Environment Manager for Viterra. Courtney supports the development and execution of Viterra’s global environmental sustainability programs. Her focus is to ensure Viterra meets their environmental sustainability commitments, external reporting compliance obligations and customer requests/expectations when it comes to sustainability. Courtney provides additional support to Viterra’s Canadian network on marketing programs related to sustainability such as Viterra’s International Sustainability & Carbon Certification and the Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations.

Courtney previously worked in sustainability roles in academia at the University of Regina and Mount Royal University where she focused on external stakeholder engagement, developing best practices, and tracking/reporting on sustainability metrics. Courtney holds dual degrees in Business Administration and Geology from Mount Royal University.

Geoff is a senior leader in commercial aviation and an engineering professional at the forefront of airline sustainability with more than 25 years of experience in integrating aviation fuel procurement, environment, and climate risk management, giving him a unique perspective on creating a sustainable aviation fuels market in Canada to support decarbonizing the aviation industry.

His past responsibilities have centred around setting direction on aviation environmental sustainability strategies, being an industry advocate in the design of aviation climate policy and regulatory measures and reducing aviation emissions through stakeholder collaborations to advance the use of sustainable fuels and other emissions reduction initiatives.

Geoff holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering. He is also an ambassador with the Alberta Energy Futures Lab, a sustainability-driven, innovation-focused initiative whose vision is to accelerate the clean transition of Alberta’s energy system and a board member of the Clean Resource Innovation Network.

Neil Townsend has done one thing during his career in agriculture: write market commentary for farmers. He has worked at the Canadian Wheat Board, Cargill, CWB 2, and G3 in this capacity. For the last 3.5 years, he has worked at FarmLink as the Chief Market Analyst. Neil works with his team to make sense of the markets and advise farmer clients on timing of sales and marketing strategy. Before embarking on his Canadian ag career, Neil spent three years trying to buffer Northeastern Thai farmers from information disequilibrium. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife and three sons.

Nobody knows Ottawa better than Paul Wells. One of Canada’s leading political journalists, he has spent more than 25 years on the Hill, covering eight federal elections, four prime ministers, and a big piece of Canada's history. Fresh, funny, and authoritative, Wells speaks in both official languages on all matters of the day, from the nation’s position in the global economy, to the inside scoop on what’s really happening inside the Parliament buildings and beyond.

For 19 years, Wells was the lead political columnist at Maclean’s magazine. Prior to this, he was the national affairs columnist at The Toronto Star and has also written for the Globe and Mail and The National Post. Wells has won three gold National Magazine Awards and a National Newspaper Award, and has filed stories from 17 countries around the world covering the war in Afghanistan, the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, and three US presidential election campaigns.

Today, Wells is a regular political commentator on both the French- and English-language CBC networks. He has also launched a subscription newsletter, which is already one of the most widely read political newsletters in Canada. In fall 2022, Wells launched his podcast, The Paul Wells Show, in partnership with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He is also a Senior Fellow.

A bestselling author, The New Yorker magazine called Wells "Canada's foremost Harperologist” with the release of his book on Stephen Harper, The Longer I'm Prime Minister. It is the only book to have ever won three major non-fiction book awards: The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, the John W. Dafoe Book Prize, and the Ottawa Book Award.

Wells studied at the University of Western Ontario and the Institut d'Etudes politiques de Paris. He also sits on the Advisory Committee of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs.