Jun 14, 2021

National Agri-Marketing group announces top award winners

The National Agri-Marketing Association has announced its Association Leaders and Marketer of the Year honorees.

Tim Hassinger is named the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA’s) AgriBusiness Leader of the Year, Chad Gregory is named Ag Association Leader of the Year and Amy Bugg is named NAMA Marketer of the Year.

The three awards are NAMA’s highest honors.

AGRIBUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR

The AgriBusiness Leader of the Year award recognizes outstanding leadership in private, public or academic service and is conferred each year to a senior executive at an agribusiness.

Hassinger is retired  president/CEO of Dow AgroSciences and Lindsay Corp. He was raised on a farm in central Illinois and graduated with a degree in Ag Economics from the University of Illinois.

He presently serves on the Board of Directors of Intelinair, the developer of Agmira, a crop monitoring service, and AgData, which provides marketing program management and other services for the crop input, animal health and retail markets.

Hassinger joined Dow AgroSciences following his graduation from the University of Illinois and has held a number of management responsibilities, leading global business teams and living and traveling extensively in six continents. He was promoted to President/CEO of Dow AgroSciences in 2014.

One of his last initiatives as at Dow AgroSciences, was leading the company through the merger between The Dow Chemical Company and DuPont which led to the formation of Corteva Agriscience in 2019.

In 2017 he joined Lindsay Corp., Omaha, NE, a leading developer of water management solutions for agriculture – including center pivots – as president/CEO. While at Lindsay, he led the company’s transformation to enhance the company’s ability to deliver value to shareholders through improved financial  performance. The company’s commitment was demonstrated by their mission to provide solutions that conserve natural resources, enhance the quality of life for people, and expand our world’s potential. He retired from Lindsay in 2021.

AG ASSOCIATION LEADER OF THE YEAR

This award recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence among senior executives who have made significant contributions to the agriculture industry in their roles with trade association or commodity organization.

Chad Gregory is president/CEO of United Egg Producers (UEP), Alpharetta, GA. A 1993 graduate of Southern Illinois University – Carbondale he joined UEP in 1999 and has served in his present position since 2013.

As the leader of this farmer cooperative, Gregory is charged with working collaboratively to address legislative, regulatory and advocacy issues that impact the industry through active farmer-member leadership. Today, UEP members represent more than 90% of all eggs produced in the U.S.

Gregory’s leadership in five key areas during 2020 were: 1) Preserving the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic (pivoting from food service to retail); 2) Guiding egg producers through hen housing transitions; 3) Establishing UEP’s long-term strategic plan; 4) Creating a path for young professionals in egg production, and 5) Representing the U.S. egg industry internationally.

NAMA MARKETER OF THE YEAR

Awarded to an active member of NAMA and recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing., this year’s recipient is Amy Bugg, brand marketing lead of AgroLiquid, St. Johns, Michigan. As an agri-marketer, she has worked in the agricultural industry for more than 25 years from seed, crop protection, animal health and now crop nutrition. Her passion for the industry led to her current role where she leads a 10-person communications and marketing team for the fertilizer company, AgroLiquid.

She led an up-brand initiative with four agency partners that has since achieved 82% brand awareness and familiarity among grower and retailer target audiences just in the first eight months of the new campaign. Not only that, Bugg has directed six product launches with multifaceted campaigns in one year, with two of these launches exceeding marketing forecasts. Key to all of this is Bugg’s passion for great relationships, team building and prioritizing communications goals, objectives and strategies.

A graduate of the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Agricultural Communications, Bugg has worked for The Lacek Group, Woodruff, Verdesian LifeScience, Swanson Russell, McCormick Co., AdFarm and Osborn Barr. She has served on NAMA’s Executive Committee.