David Kohl is an internationally renowned speaker and writer on agricultural issues. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Cornell.  Dave has conducted more than 5,000 workshops and seminars for agricultural groups such as bankers, Farm Credit, FSA, and regulators, as well as producer and agribusiness groups. He has published four books and over 500 articles on financial and business-related topics in journals, extension, and other popular publications. Kohl writes for "Farm Journal," "Top Producer," "Ag Lender," and "Soybean Digest."  Dr. Kohl was one of the leaders in establishing guidelines for the standardized reporting and analysis of agricultural producers' financial information on a national and international basis. Recently, a $2 million endowed Chair of Agribusiness Management and Finance was established at Virginia Tech in the name of Dr. Kohl.  Kohl’s talks are designed to provide a big-picture overview of the economic and business management techniques that can be used in business, family and personal lives. He has a fresh, unorthodox presentation style that you cannot miss and will not forget.

Joe Outlaw is a Professor and Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University.  He also serves as the Co-Director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University.  In this role, Dr. Outlaw frequently interacts with members of Congress and key agricultural committee staff to provide feedback on the likely consequences of agricultural policy changes.  His extension education and applied research activities are focused on assessing the impacts of farm programs, renewable energy, and climate change legislation on U.S. agricultural operations.  Dr. Outlaw has received numerous awards in excellence for his policy education efforts from the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, the National Public Policy Education Committee, USDA-FSA, and the Vice Chancellor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.   He is originally from Devine, Texas.  He received his B.S (1987), M.S. (1988), and Ph.D. (1992) degrees from Texas A&M University, all in agricultural economics. 

Thomas Elam earned Master’s and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics at the University of Tennessee. He is also a graduate of the American Marketing Association Executive Strategic Planning course. Dr. Elam has been working in the area of grain and livestock economics for over 35 years. His professional career spans service to the University of Illinois, the Economic Research Service of USDA and Elanco Animal Health. In a 24 year career at Elanco Dr. Elam was primarily engaged in global market research and strategic planning. This contributed to his expertise in agricultural production, animal health economics and animal health industry structure.  In recent years and as founder of his own company, FarmEcon LLC (www.FarmEcon.com), Dr. Elam has focused on the consequences of U.S. biofuels policies on grain and oilseed markets. FarmEcon LLC also focuses on agricultural market analysis and outlook, competitive intelligence, customer profiling, business interruption assessment and strategic planning. Dr. Elam is a much sought after speaker on a variety of topics related to global animal health economics and agricultural economics and outlook. He has given talks on a wide range of agricultural issues in most of the countries of the world with significant animal production. In 2006 Dr. Elam was named as one of the top 20 consultants to the Poultry Industry by Poultry USA magazine.  He has recently completed three major studies for the U.S. National Chicken Council.  These studies addressed U.S. chicken demand, the competitive state of the U.S. market, and an analysis of the proposed GIPSA rules for poultry contracting.