LINCOLN, Neb. — The American Gelbvieh Association announced the hiring of Lindsay Upperman as performance programs coordinator. In this role, Upperman will help coordinate member education and breed improvement efforts, as well as travel the country visiting Gelbvieh and Balancer stakeholders.

“We are very excited to have Lindsay joining our team,” said Megan Slater, AGA executive director. “She has a strong cattle background and a wealth of education that will make a great addition to the talented staff of the AGA.”

Originally from Chambersburg, Pa., Upperman grew up an active member of 4-H and traveled the country with her parents showing livestock and participating in livestock judging and stockman’s contests. After high school, Upperman attended school at Butler Community College where she was a member of the junior college’s livestock judging team. After earning an associate of applied science in agriculture, Lindsay joined the ranks of the Kansas State University livestock judging team where she received the All-American Judging Team Award and completed a bachelor’s degree in animal science. Upperman earned her master’s degree in animal biology from the University of California-Davis where her studies focused on lethal recessive alleles in beef cattle. Upperman is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with a focus on the estimation of genetic parameters for days to finish traits in beef cattle.

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“Starting from a young age, I have been involved with the beef cattle industry through raising my own herd, livestock judging competitions, and even completing graduate education focused on beef cattle research. Through these experiences, I am prepared and excited to help guide the Gelbvieh and Balancer producers in reaching their operation’s genetic potential towards a more profitable future,” Upperman said.

Upperman began her role with the AGA on Dec. 28 and can be reached at lindsay@gelbvieh.org or at the AGA office at (303) 465-2333.

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The National Grain and Feed Association has hired Michael Seyfert as its new president and chief executive officer.

Seyfert is scheduled to become NGFA’s top executive staff officer on March 1, succeeding Randy Gordon, who will retire by the end of March after serving nearly 43 years with NGFA, the last eight as its president and CEO.

Seyfert serves as director of government and industry affairs for FMC Corp., a crop protection company.

Before joining FMC in February 2014, Seyfert was the Senate Agriculture Committee staff director under Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. Before taking that position in 2011, Seyfert worked as an aide to Roberts beginning in 1997 and serving as the legislative director in his personal office from 2005 to 2011.

During that time he also worked on issues involving the other committees on which Roberts served: Finance, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Ethics and Intelligence, the last at a time during which Roberts also served as chairman of Intelligence.

Seyfert has also served as chair and past vice chair of CropLife America’s Federal Affairs Committee, co-chair of CropLife America’s Trade Working Group, past co-chair of the National Corn Growers Association’s Agri-Industry Council; and as a member of the Farm Foundation’s Roundtable Steering Committee.

Seyfert received his undergraduate degree in agricultural economics and was a member of the Agriculture Honors Program at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan., and subsequently earned a master of public administration degree from the George Washington University.