Barton, David G.

David Barton is Professor and Extension Agricultural Economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University. In addition, he is Director of the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center. He has served on the faculty of Kansas State University since 1976. Prior to coming to K-State, Dr. Barton completed his Ph.D. studies at Purdue University and was a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Cornell University for three years.

David Barton's primary faculty responsibilities at Kansas State University are to provide education programs to Kansas agribusiness firms on economic and management topics through the Cooperative Extension Service. He has conducted numerous management training seminars for agribusiness managers on management topics such as management-by-objectives (MBO), motivation, communication, delegation and financial planning. Dr. Barton has also advised and assisted agribusiness firms in the improvement of their general management and financial management practices.

His classroom teaching assignments have been on the topics of (1) quantitative methods for agribusiness decision-making, and (2) agricultural cooperatives; and his research activities have included studies on milk, meat, grain, and food marketing and on agribusiness financial management. Cooperative related research includes studies on financial performance, equity management, loss handling, governance and unification. He has prepared several case studies on cooperative agribusinesses and provides educational programs to cooperatives and other agribusinesses on governance, finance, strategic thinking and business structure.

In 1984 David Barton was appointed the Director of the newly established Arthur Capper Cooperative Center. The mission of the Center is to enhance the understanding of the nature and role of cooperatives in our society. The Center uses the teaching, research and extension resources of the University to improve cooperative education and research at Kansas State University. The activities of the Center are supported by income from endowment fund contributions made by cooperatives and their friends and from project fees and grants. Dr. Barton is frequently called upon to design educational programs, to prepare education materials and to make presentations on cooperative-related topics. High interest topics recently presented are on governance, finance, strategic thinking and business structure.

He is currently serving on the on the Kansas Cooperative Council (KCC) Board of Directors.

Bass, Robert

Bob Bass was elected to the CHS Board of Directors in 1994. He currently serves as its first vice chairman, chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the CHS Foundation Finance and Investment Committee.

Bass has a wealth of agricultural and cooperative experience. He is the vice chairman for the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives. And, he served 15 years as a director and officer for Co-op Country Partners cooperative and its predecessor organizations.

Bass also is involved in numerous cooperative and agricultural industry organizations.

After completing the farm training program at Madison-Area Technical College and earning a bachelor’s of science degree in agriculture and extension education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bass spent two and a half years as a high school teacher. He and his wife, Judy, operate a 500-acre dairy and feed grain farm with his brother and sister-in-law near Reedsburg, Wis. Bass has one stepson.

Becker, Lawrence (Larry)

Lawrence (Larry) Becker was first elected to the board of the former Adams-Marquette Electric Cooperative in 1982. Since 1989 he has served continuously as board secretary. Along with work on negotiations and by-laws sub-committees, Larry is active in cooperative education and legislative activities. He previously served on the education committee of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives; Larry currently serves on WFC’s government affairs committee.

Larry and his wife, Kathy, are parents to two grown sons, Ryan and Ben. Through their own education and that of their sons, the Becker family has strong ties to the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The Becker family farm near Glen Oak in Marquette County includes 800 acres of cropland to grow mostly hay and grain to support their dairy and sheep herds.

Larry is a former high school and technical college instructor in agricultural courses. He is president of the Wisconsin Sheep Breeders Cooperative and chairman of the American Lamb & Wool Councils. Larry is currently serving a presidential appointment to the National Sheep Center at the United States Department of Agriculture. In addition, Larry is a current appointment to the Governor’s Grow Wisconsin Livestock Council.

Brandenburg, Jeffrey A.

Jeff specializes in providing audit, accounting, and consulting services to businesses with a special emphasis on cooperatives, agribusiness and the insurance industry. He currently serves as the Agribusiness Group Leader for Clifton Gunderson LLP. Jeff is an active member in the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives and a variety of cooperative and agribusiness associations. He also holds the designation of Certified Fraud Examiner and received his BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Griffin, Mary

Mary Griffin is Senior Policy Advisor for National Cooperative Business Association. She manages the Cooperative Finance and Tax Council (CF&TC), which identifies and addresses finance, tax and legal issues that have cross-sector impact on cooperatives. She advocates before the US and International Financial Accounting Standards Boards for standards that maintain the integrity of the cooperative form of business and is working to coordinate the U.S. participation in the international cooperative community’s response to FASB/IASB rules that impact cooperatives. Griffin also advocates on behalf of cooperatives before Congress, working to secure more funds for cooperative development in the US. Prior to coming to NCBA, Griffin was with Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, where she represented the interests of consumers on various finance-related issues. Griffin received her law degree from Temple University and her LLM from George Washington University.

Kundert, Paul

Since 2003, Paul Kundert has been President/CEO of the University of Wisconsin Credit Union, a growing federally insured financial cooperative serving the University of Wisconsin communities. UW Credit Union’s 300 employees serve the financial service needs of more than 115,000 members through 13 branch locations and more than 60 ATMs. With assets totaling over $1 billion, UW Credit Union is ranked nationally among the nation’s leading credit unions.

Prior to joining UW Credit Union, Mr. Kundert held a number of senior positions at IBM Mid America Employees Credit Union during his 14-year tenure including the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. During that time, the credit union’s membership grew by more than 33,000, assets increased by $800 million to over $1 billion, and members’ equity increased by $100 million.

Paul received a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Winona State University. He also earned an MBA from the University of St. Thomas as well as a CPA professional designation.

Paul is a native of Rochester, Minnesota and currently resides with his wife and two sons in Middleton, Wisconsin.

LOWERY, MARTIN J.

Martin Lowery is Executive Vice President, External Affairs of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). His overall responsibility is to ensure that NRECA continues to serve the needs of its membership and to assist in directing the implementation of the organization’s strategic plan.

Prior to being Executive Vice President, External Affairs at NRECA, Martin was named Manager of the Management Services Department’s Consulting and Training Services Division. His responsibilities included directing the provision of services to NRECA member systems and allied organizations.

These activities represent a full range of management and technical consulting and training services, including strategic planning, management audits, merger studies, marketing programs, market research, organization studies, compensation planning, financial management, board and supervisory training and development, member and employee attitude surveys, and management information systems.

Prior to joining the Consulting and Training Services Division, Dr. Lowery served as Assistant Manager of NRECA’s Computer Services Division. As Assistant Manager, he was responsible for a staff of 20 professionals covering all aspects of the data processing environment with particular emphasis on compensation and benefit administration, new applications, database design, system software and computer operations.

Previous experience includes five years as manager of an Engineering and Technical Services Division for a Washington-based management consulting firm.

Dr. Lowery received a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from DePaul University and his Ph.D from Duke University.

Swanson, David P.

An attorney at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, David Swanson has been a partner in the corporate practice group since 1998 and chair of the Agribusiness, Rural Electric and Cooperatives Law practice group. For 25 years, his practice has focused on organizational issues, financing and transactions for agricultural and rural electric cooperatives, as well as cooperative financial institutions. He has worked with many start-up groups on the organizational, tax and securities issues involved in starting a new rural enterprise.

Dave’s work experience has included facilitating the joint venture between National Cooperative Refinery Association and Farmland Industries, Inc., which established Cooperative Refining, LLC; he had the lead role in the 1992 acquisition by Tri-State G&T (Denver, CO) of Colorado-Ute assets in a Chapter 11 proceeding and in the documentation and legal aspects of the 1998 consolidation of Cenex and Harvest States Cooperatives; handled private placement debt offerings in 1997-1998 for Minnesota corn Processors, Tri Valley Growers and American Crystal Sugar Company; and he also played the lead role in the formation and capitalization of many rural electric joint ventures – Cooperative ConNEXTions, EnPower Services, Western States Power Corporation. In 2002, Dave Swanson took the lead role in the financing of a $939 million coal plant in Arizona for Tri-State G&T and has more currently provided counsel in the development of ethanol plants in the states of Nebraska, Indiana, and Ohio and formed a unique cooperative whose members consisted of Best Buy, Jostens, and others to share software. Dave has most recently been involved with the development and financing of ethanol and biodiesel plants across the country, as well mergers and acquisitions of biofuels facilities.

Mr. Swanson is a 1978 graduate of St. Cloud State University (B.S., chemistry) and a 1981 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law. Prior to joining Dorsey & Whitney, he worked for 15 years at Doherty, Rumble & Butler in St. Paul, Minnesota, and 2 years at Chapman and Cutler in Chicago. He lives in Plymouth, MN, with his wife and four children.