Conference Speakers

Jarold Callahan

Jarold Callahan is the president and chairman of the American Angus Association Board of Directors, and most recently served as vice president and vice chairman of the Board. He received an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and a master's degree in agriculture from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He taught purebred beef production and livestock selection at OSU and served as executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association before joining Express Ranches in 1996.

As Association president, Callahan serves as chairman of the Executive Committee and works closely with all directors to lead the Board.

Matt Caldwell

As regional manager in Region 6 for the American Angus Association and its subsidiaries, Matt Caldwell coordinates educational and marketing efforts with members and commercial producers in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Caldwell received his bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Marcie, have three children and reside near Parker, Kan.

Bob Weaber

Bob Weaber joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University in August of 2011 as a cow-calf extension specialist. Previously, Weaber served in the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri as extension specialist–beef genetics.

Weaber also serves as central region secretary of the Beef Improvement Federation, is a co-coordinator of education programs for the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium and has served as a member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Policy Division Board of Directors.

The focus of his extension and research programs has been to broaden the availability, use and understanding of genetic selection tools (expected progeny differences, DNA markers and selection indexes), as well as performance data collection schemes implemented by cattle producers.

Weaber grew up on a cow-calf operation in southern Colorado. He earned a bachelor's degree in animal science followed by a master's degree in the Beef Industry Leadership Program at Colorado State University. He completed his doctoral studies in the animal breeding and genetics group at Cornell University. While there, he served as the interim director of performance programs for the American Simmental Association.

Previously, Weaber was director of education and research at the American Gelbvieh Association. Weaber and his wife, Tami, and their young children, Maddie, Cooper and Wyatt, reside near Wamego, Kan.

Daryl Strohbehn

Daryl R. Strohbehn, retired extension beef specialist and staff member of the Iowa Beef Center, coordinated education and outreach in cow-calf production for Iowa State University Extension from 1974 to 2010. A native of Iowa, Strohbehn grew up on an Angus seedstock cattle and grain farm. He received his bachelor's degree at Iowa State University and then his master's and doctorate at Michigan State University.

Strohbehn is recognized in the Cornbelt for his work in cow-calf production systems that utilize on-farm resources and correct genetic programs to yield profit. He pioneered Beef Cow Business Records, and more recently worked in team efforts to develop computer software packages geared toward problem-solving for producers. These included the very popular estrous synchronization planner and the BRANDS nutritional package from the Iowa Beef Center.

In recent years Strohbehn worked on feed efficiency evaluation with producers and did research work with a set of nursing Angus females. Additionally, he has worked with the TriCounty Steer Carcass Futurity Cooperative to produce the Sire Profitability Summary and its benchmarking program.

Strohbehn was a founding member of the Production Angus Associates in Central Iowa and still remains as a managing partner in that business.

Sally Northcutt

Sally Northcutt is the genetic research director for the American Angus Association and Angus Genetics Inc. Her primary responsibilities include selection tool development, beef cattle data analysis, and the modeling and application of the National Cattle Evaluation. She also works with universities and ARS scientists across the nation to coordinate the expansive research activities of the Association.

Before coming to the Association, Northcutt was an extension beef cattle breeding specialist for nine years at Oklahoma State University, and she directed the Oklahoma Beef Inc. (OBI) central bull test at Stillwater. She is actively involved in industry organizations, such as the Beef Improvement Federation, in which she has served in various leadership roles during the past 14 years.

A Kentucky native, Northcutt received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Kentucky and her doctorate in beef cattle breeding and genetics from Iowa State University.

Brian Brigham

Brian Brigham is the genetic systems director at Angus Genetics Inc. His primary focus includes new trait development and improvements such as genomic enhancements to national cattle evaluations.

Prior to joining the Association staff, the Colorado native was a research associate at Colorado State University, where he ran a variety of expected progeny differences (EPDs) for several different U.S. breed associations while concurrently working on both a master's degree and a doctorate in beef cattle breeding and genetics.

While at CSU, his research focuses included development of decision-support software, improvements in stayability predictions, carcass trait evaluations and genetic indicators of bovine respiratory disease. He was also a key investigator in the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium project on cattle health.

In addition, while at CSU he worked part-time on projects with AGI over the last few years. His most recent work has focused on the productive life (longevity) evaluation for Angus cattle.

Tonya Amen

Tonya Amen is the genetic services director for Angus Genetics Inc. Amen assists in coordinating genetic education and outreach programs tailored to Angus breeders and commercial cattle producers. In addition, she interacts with Association entities to enhance strategic development of predictable supply chains using the available technologies and networks.

Amen is a native of Colorado and received a bachelor's degree in animal science from Texas Tech University. She also earned a master's degree and a doctorate in animal breeding from Texas A&M University.

For the past two years, Amen served as a cattle genetics specialist in the southeastern United States with Pfizer Animal Genetics. Prior to Pfizer, Amen served as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls. She is also active in industry activities and currently serves on the NCBA Young Producers Council.

Megan Rolf

Megan Rolf joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Sciences at Oklahoma State University in June of 2012 as assistant professor of beef cattle management and state beef cattle extension specialist. Her extension goals include increasing awareness and understanding of genetic and genomic selection tools within the beef industry.

Rolf was raised on a small cow-calf operation in east-central Kansas near LeRoy. She earned a bachelor's degree in animal sciences with a science option at Kansas State University in 2005. While there, she worked in the school of veterinary medicine, where she was introduced to immunology and virology wet lab research while completing her animal science honors program research related to cytoplasmic inheritance.

Rolf relocated to Columbia, Mo., to pursue a master's in animal science at the University of Missouri, with a focus on use of SNP data to generate genomic relationship matrices. She also examined the use of model-predicted feed intakes in tandem with genomic data for the improvement of feed efficiency.

After completion of her master's degree she pursued a doctorate in genetics at MU, with a research focus on the exploration of methods to separate training and validation populations for improving across-breed genomic selection models for carcass traits. She was a graduate student association representative, graduate student peer mentor and a participant in the Genetics Area Program while at MU. Rolf currently resides in Stillwater, Okla.

Mark McCully

Mark McCully, assistant vice president for Certified Angus Beef LLC, leads the company's efforts to increase the long-term supply of superior Angus-influenced cattle. The company's multifaceted program includes working with the feedlot industry and cow-calf producers across the United States. McCully also oversees brand production through licensed packing companies.

McCully joined CAB in October 2000 as packing director and has led the company's business development effort, overseeing retail, foodservice and international sales. Prior to CAB, McCully was the beef improvement manager for MLE Marketing, one of the largest farmer-owned livestock marketing cooperatives in the United States.

McCully was raised on a family grain and cattle operation in Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Western Illinois University and conducted a graduate program at Michigan State University in ruminant nutrition and feedlot management. While on staff at Michigan State, McCully taught meat animal evaluation and coached the intercollegiate livestock judging team.

Jude Capper

Jude Capper is a self-employed sustainability consultant and an adjunct professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Washington State University.

Capper's current research and outreach work focuses on modeling the environmental impact of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef. Her principal professional goal is to communicate the importance of livestock industry sustainability and the factors affecting it to enhance the knowledge and understanding of stakeholders within food production from the rancher and farmer to the retailer, policy-maker and consumer.

To this end, in 2011, Capper presented 35 invited presentations at national and international (New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Ireland, Italy and UK) conferences.

Current research projects include comparisons of historical and modern production practices in dairy and beef industries; and the effect of technology use and management practices upon environmental impact. She has an active social media presence and spends a considerable amount of time de-bunking some of the more commonly heard myths relating to resource use and the environmental impact of livestock production.

Bryce Schumann

As CEO of the American Angus Association, Bryce Schumann serves as the chief administrative officer of the American Angus Association and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association and each of its subsidiaries: Angus Productions Inc., Certified Angus Beef LLC, Angus Genetics Inc. and the Angus Foundation.

Schumann served as director of activities and director of member services and office management for the Association, and helped coordinate efforts for developing the Angus Foundation prior to accepting the position as CEO in 2008.

Before joining the American Angus Association staff, Schumann served as assistant director of feeder-packer relations for the CAB Supply Development Division. He has also worked for the Kansas Beef Council and Farm Credit Services.

Schumann received his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University and a master's in business administration from the University of Kansas. He and his wife, Gina, have three sons — Wyatt, Dylan and Jessye — and a daughter, Kassidy. They ranch near Lecompton, Kan.

Schumann will wrap up the conference and prep attendees for the tour to follow.