128th Annual Convention Speakers
Angela Caddell, Group Vice President of Agricultural Products, BNSF Railway
Transportation Open Forum
Dan Christenson, Senior Director, Government Affairs, PepsiCo
Dan Christenson joined PepsiCo in April of 2016 and is the Senior Director for Government Affairs based in Washington, DC. In this role, Dan leads PepsiCo’s overall policy engagement with the federal government and has primary responsibility for PepsiCo’s advocacy strategy on agriculture issues. He also leads a large portfolio of external engagement and corporate reputation work with farmers and other organizations in the agricultural value chain. Previously, Dan served at the US Department of Agriculture from 2011 to 2016, where he served in multiple roles including Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Tom Vilsack. Before joining USDA, Dan served for many years as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee (2005-2011); first under Chairman Tom Harkin and later to Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln. Dan is a magna cum laude graduate of Luther College, and received his M.A. from Iowa State University. He resides in Kensington, Maryland with his wife Betsy and their two daughters, Hannah and Alice.
Closing General Session
Jarad Farmer, Managing Director, Sales, CPKC
Transportation Open Forum
Nathan Gonzales, Publisher & Editor, Inside Elections
Nathan Gonzales is Editor & Publisher of Inside Elections, which provides nonpartisan analysis of campaigns for Senate, House, governor, and president. He’s also co-host of the Inside Elections Podcast and an Elections Analyst for CQ Roll Call. He tackles elections in a nonpartisan, data-driven, and accessible way and offers audiences some of the most detailed electoral forecasting in the business.
Gonzales has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and NBC Nightly News, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, NPR’s All Things Considered, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. His work has also appeared on FiveThirtyEight, NBCLatino.com, and in Campaigns & Elections magazine.
Gonzales grew up in Oregon, earned his Master of Arts from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management (Washington, DC) and his bachelor of arts from Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California). He first came to Washington, D.C. as an intern in the White House Press Office and lives in the city with his wife and four children.
Opening General Session
Ted Johnson, Director of Marketing – Agriculture and Food, CSX
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Paul Maass, CEO & Director, Scoular
Paul is Scoular’s first outside CEO in the company’s history and is entrusted by the Board of Directors to develop and advance the company’s strategic growth initiatives to strengthen the current business, drive innovation (particularly enabled by technology), expand the company’s portfolio into adjacent market segments, and position the company for long-term growth. Known in the industry and beyond as an inspirational leader, influential Board director and diversity and inclusion champion, Paul has made it his mission to modernize critical organizational practices and evolve Scoular’s culture to enhance employee engagement and performance.
Prior to joining Scoular, Paul served as President of ConAgra Foods’ (now Conagra Brands) Commercial Foods and Private Brands segments. In that role, he led businesses with total annual revenue of $13 billion, more than 15,000 employees, and 90 manufacturing facilities in seven countries. Paul also led the creation of Ardent Mills, ConAgra Foods’ milling focused partnership with Cargill and CHS, and served as Chairman of the Board for Ardent.Paul was raised on a farm near Paullina, Iowa. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in agricultural business.
Closing General Session
Anthony Peña, Government Relations Manager, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association
Anthony Peña joined the PNWA team in September of 2022. For over two years, Anthony served Senator Patty Murray’s office in the Southwest Washington region as Outreach Director and District Representative bringing strong knowledge and understanding on the region and issues within the PNWA portfolio. Anthony also worked in the Washington State Legislature for State Senator Annette Cleveland, and as a labor and political organizer for Working America AFL-CIO.
Anthony earned a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Eastern Washington University, where he also served as President of the Association of Student Planners. He is also a graduate of the Institute for a Democratic Future, and has a strong record of civic engagement and volunteerism in his community. Anthony lives in his hometown of Vancouver, Washington.
Transportation Open Forum
David Przednowek, Assistant Vice President, Grain, CN
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Ryan Raess, General Director – Grain, Union Pacific Railroad
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Alan Shaw, President & CEO, Norfolk Southern
Alan Shaw is President and Chief Executive Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation. In his current role, Shaw oversees all areas of the company’s business, building a customer-centric and operations-driven organization. With 28 years of achievement at Norfolk Southern, he is one of the most respected leaders in the industry. Shaw has helped the company build the strongest intermodal franchise in the eastern U.S., positioning the railroad for growth in consumer- oriented, service-sensitive markets. He has also led support for numerous innovations in customer-facing technology, sustainability, and new product offerings.
Shaw joined Norfolk Southern in 1994 as a Cost Systems Analyst and steadily moved into positions of increasing responsibility. Throughout his career at the company he has served as Business Development Manager (1998-2003); Director and Group Vice President, Coal Transportation Services (2003-2009); Group Vice President Industrial Products/Chemicals (2009-2013); Vice President Intermodal Operations (2013-2015); and Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (2015-2021).
Shaw earned a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering and an MBA in finance from Virginia Tech. He completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School and is a CFA charterholder.
Opening General Session
Daniel B. Whitley, Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service
Daniel Whitley began serving as the Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service in July 2021.
Prior to this role, Daniel served as the Associate Administrator for policy and analysis where he led the Global Market Analysis and the Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs units. In this capacity he led the agency’s efforts to analyze agricultural export markets and policy formulation to advance American agricultural interests. He has over 20 years of experience at USDA and began his career as an intern with the Farmer’s Home Administration in a rural Louisiana field office; later, he joined the Economic Research Service before starting his tenure with FAS in 2001. Since joining FAS, Daniel has served in a number of leadership positions including Deputy Administrator of Global Analysis. In this capacity, he represented the U.S. government in key international forums including the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the International Grains Council. Daniel is a native of Baton Rouge, LA and holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Southern University in Baton Rouge and a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Louisiana State University. He currently lives with his family in Washington, DC.
Opening General Session
Jim Wilson, Marketing Director, Norfolk Southern
Transportation Open Forum