Michigan Farm Bureau announces personnel changes
Contact: Jill Corrin, (800) 292-2680, ext. 6585
LANSING, Aug. 27, 2010 - The Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB) has announced several employee promotions, new hires, and retirements over the past several months. Highlighted here are some of the changes.
Legal counsel
David VanderHaagen, general counsel and secretary for MFB and its affiliated companies, is retiring effective Jan. 3, 2011. VanderHaagen, of Okemos, joined the MFB Family of Companies in 1996. Upon retirement, he plans to continue to represent agricultural cooperatives in Michigan and continue his counsel relationship with the law firm of Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C., where he was a senior partner prior to joining the Farm Bureau staff.
Succeeding VanderHaagen will be Andrew J. Kok, who has been promoted to general counsel and secretary for the MFB Family of Companies effective Jan. 3, 2011. Kok, of Saranac, presently serves as the MFB Family of Companies' assistant general counsel and assistant secretary, a position he has held since August 2008. Prior to joining Farm Bureau, he was a partner with the law firm Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt and Howlett, LLP in Grand Rapids, where he served as chair of the firm's Environmental Practice Group and chair of the Agribusiness Law Group.
Member publications
Tim Rogers, of Mason, has been promoted to manager of the MFB Member Publications Department. Rogers joined the Farm Bureau staff in 2003 as an advertising sales representative and was promoted to business manager of member publications in 2005. In his new role, he has assumed additional direct supervisory duties and now manages all aspects of member publications, including the Michigan Farm News.
Agricultural ecology
The MFB Agricultural Ecology Department has hired Emily Ries, of Sand Creek, as its new ecology specialist. Ries begins work on Aug. 30. She replaces Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, of Coldwater, who resigned to take a job closer to her home with The Nature Conservancy of Indiana.
In her new role, Ries will be responsible for working with MFB members to further the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, advance farmer involvement in farm bill conservation programs, and enhance Michigan's conservation delivery system through effective partnerships.
Ries grew up on her family's Lenawee County cash crop farm. She is a recent Michigan State University graduate with a bachelor's degree in agriculture and natural resources communications. While a student at MSU, Ries interned with MFB multiple times in the Agricultural Ecology and Promotion and Education Departments as well as the Field Operations Division.
Elections
Earlier this year, Matt Kapp's position changed to land use and elections specialist. Kapp, of Lansing, had been working as the MFB land stewardship specialist since December 2007. In his new role, he assumed additional duties for working with county Farm Bureau Candidate Evaluation Committees, providing political education, and helping AgriPac-endorsed Friends of Agriculture get elected. Kapp joined the MFB staff in December 2004 as a regional representative for MFB's North Region, serving Farm Bureau members in Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Cheboygan, Otsego, Crawford, Oscoda, Montmorency, and Presque Isle counties.
Regional Representative
Pat Lause, of Hesperia, retired as the regional representative for MFB's West Central Region on April 30, ending a nearly 34-year career in that position serving county Farm Bureau members in Montcalm, Mecosta, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola and Lake counties. Lause joined the Farm Bureau staff in November 1976 and was promoted to an advanced regional representative in 2004. His replacement has not been selected yet.
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