Jul 29, 2019

Brandt board hires prominent NASCAR name

Brandt recently added two new names to its board of directors.

Rick Brandt, President and CEO called the two new directors “rock stars.”

Kelley Earnhardt Miller, according to a press release from the company, is “one of the most prominent women in NASCAR and co-owner of JR Motorsports” and brings to the job “additional drive, diversity and competitiveness.” The daughter of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt, she is the backbone of JR Motorsports, also overseeing all business ventures for her brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr., according to Brandt.

The other new director, Chris Harbourt, brings a deep background in agriculture with both academic and start-up experience. He was a co-founder of Agrible, which sold for $63 million in 2018. He is currently the CEO of AirScout, Inc., the managing partner of Hatch Ag Group, LLC and an assistant professor with the University of Illinois.

In addition to her duties at JR Motorsports, Earnhardt Miller serves on the board of The Dale Jr Foundation, which has raised over $8.1 MM for various charities. She’s also the chairman of the board of Blueharbor Bank, a trustee for Iredell Memorial Hospital and a board member for Children’s Hope Alliance. She and her husband L.W. Miller live in North Carolina; she has three kids.

In all of his professional ventures, Harbourt fosters the marriage of technology and agriculture. His latest venture, Hatch Ag Group, is a consulting business designed to help commercialize Ag technology out of the University of Illinois. Even his teaching load has a practical bent: He teaches classes in crop science, entrepreneurship, and startups in the Department of Crop Science, Ag & Bio Engineering Department, and the Technology Entrepreneurship Center. Harbourt is a resident of St. Joseph, IL. He and his wife Susan have two sons.

A leading agricultural company, BRANDT consists of three divisions – specialty formulations, retail agronomy and dealer support – that serve growers.

Brandt recently added two new names to its board of directors: Chris Harbourt and Kelley Earnhardt Miller.Photos: Brandt