SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
In order of appearance:
Thursday June 20:
Bryan T. Durkin, Chief Operating Officer, CME Group
Bryan T. Durkin has served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Managing Director,
Products & Services of CME Group since February 2010. He is responsible for the
company's Products & Services, Global Operations, Technology and Enterprise
Computing, and Enterprise Solutions Divisions. Previously, he served as Managing
Director and Chief Operating Officer since July 2007. He also led the company’s global
integrations following CME’s merger with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in 2007
and CME Group’s acquisition of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in 2008.
Before joining CME Group, Durkin served as Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer of the CBOT. Prior to that role, he was in charge of the CBOT’s Office
of Investigations and Audits where he oversaw the audits, financial surveillance, trade
practice and market surveillance self-regulatory and enforcement divisions for the
exchange. His career with both CME Group and CBOT spans more than 25 years.
Durkin holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from Lewis
University. He has been an adjunct faculty member of Lewis University’s MBA program,
teaching courses in organizational behavior and management. He is a member of the
COMEX Governors Committee and a Director of the CME Group Community
Foundation.
David D. Lehman, Managing Director of Commodity Research and Product
Development, CME Group
David Lehman is a Managing Director in the Research and Product Development
Division of CME Group. Lehman is responsible for leading efforts to identify and
develop new CME Group product and services opportunities related to both exchangetraded and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, maintaining viability of current product
offerings and providing strategic insight into new markets, business development and
research within the commodity space. Prior to joining the company in 1989, Lehman
held the position of Industry Economist with the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission. He holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in agricultural and
resource economics from the University of Maryland.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Richard Feltes, Vice-President, Research, RJ O’Brien
Rich Feltes is Vice President Research at R.J. Obrien headquartered in Chicago. Prior
to joining RJO in October 2010, Rich directed Commodity Research at MF Global for 5
years and at Refco for 21 years. Rich is well known for his fact-filled presentations on
the outlook for agricultural prices. He is frequently quoted in the media and serves as a
program advisor to USDA’s annual Outlook Forum. Feltes is an eleven-year veteran of
Continental Grain Company (1973-1984). He spent three years as a cash merchant,
and the balance as Senior Crop Scout responsible for estimating North and South
American crop production. Feltes is a 1970 agricultural graduate of the University of
Illinois and earned an MBA from Southern Illinois University in 1972. Feltes received an
Award of Merit from Illinois’ College of Agriculture in 2007 for professional achievement
and service to his community and the University. He currently serves on the Board of
Directors of the Commodity Markets Council.
Joseph W. Glauber, Chief Economist, USDA
Joseph Glauber currently serves as Chief Economist at the Department of Agriculture
(USDA). As Chief Economist, he is responsible for the Department's agricultural
forecasts and projections and for advising the Secretary of Agriculture on economic
implications of alternative programs, regulations, and legislative proposals. He is
responsible for the Office of the Chief Economist, the World Agricultural Outlook Board,
the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit analysis, the Global Change Program
Office, the Office of Environmental Markets, and the Office of Energy Policy and New
Uses. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Crop
Insurance Corporation.
From 1992 to 2007, Dr. Glauber served as Deputy Chief Economist at the USDA. In
2007 he was named the Special Doha Agricultural Envoy at the office of the U.S. Trade
Representative where he served as chief agricultural negotiator in the Doha talks until
January 2009. In addition to his work in the Doha negotiations, he served as economic
adviser at the so-called Blair House agreements leading to the completion of the
Uruguay Round negotiations. He is the author of numerous studies on crop insurance,
disaster policy and U.S. farm policy. He has also served as senior staff economist for
agriculture, natural resources and trade at the President's Council of Economic Advisers
and as an economist at the Economic Research Service, USDA.
Dr. Glauber received his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of
Wisconsin in 1984 and holds an AB in anthropology from the University of Chicago. In
2012, he was elected Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
David Hightower, President, The Hightower Report
David Hightower is a founding principal of The Hightower Report
(www.HightowerReport.com), a commodity research and information firm specializing in
high quality futures research and analysis for individual investors, brokers, commercial
producers, farmers and end users. The Hightower Report publishes one of the most
widely read daily commodity wires in the world and has become a highly utilized industry
consulting service with many brokerage firms turning to it for their primary commodity
research coverage. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the world’s largest futures
exchange) has sent Mr. Hightower to Europe, South America, India and China to
promote Agricultural futures trading, to introduce electronic trading and to educate
foreign governments and traders on advanced risk management techniques. Mr.
Hightower is also a keynote speaker favorite for 8 major Futures Clearing Merchants,
with seed, implement and food manufacturing companies also turning to Mr. Hightower
for his high impact analysis of current market conditions. In almost every instance, Mr.
Hightower earns a return invitation from his speaking venues.
A keen eye on the complex interaction of the world markets insures that Mr. Hightower
thoroughly examines the financial, agricultural and geopolitical situations around the
globe. This in turn allows his company to provide analysis and commentary on a wide
variety of markets, ranging from grains, livestock, precious metals, stock indices, bonds,
currencies and the energy complex.
Prior to the inception of The Hightower Report, Dave was the Director of Research at
what was then the world's largest commodity brokerage firm. In total he has almost 30
years of experience in nearly every aspect of the futures industry. Mr. Hightower is
thoroughly versed in the complex interaction of the world markets and global
businesses, and his closeness to the markets is evidenced in his direct and opinionated
analysis.
Because of his expertise, Dave has regularly appeared on CNN, Bloomberg Television
and ONN.tv and is often cited in Wall Street Journal, Futures Magazine, Reuters and
many other industry publications. He has conducted extensive work with regulatory
agencies, exchanges and other industry players on a wide range of research and trading
projects and is often called upon by the CME Group to provide their expertise on the
markets. Dave's infectious enthusiasm shines through and has made him a highly
sought-after speaker for industry events.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Nick Kouchoukos, Head of Agriculture and Weather Research and Forecasts,
Lanworth Thomson Reuters
Nick Kouchoukos is Head of Agriculture and Weather Research and Forecasts at
Thomson Reuters Lanworth. Trained in geography and the social sciences, has twenty
years’ experience in the application of satellite imagery and agronomic models to
monitoring crop production worldwide. Prior to joining Lanworth, Dr. Kouchoukos held
faculty positions at The University of Chicago and the University of Alabama and
conducted extensive field research on agricultural geography and history in the Middle
East, South America, and Europe. Dr. Kouchoukos was educated at Yale University.
Lonn Taffel, Senior Vice President - Commodity Analyst, ABN AMRO Clearing, The
Matthews Group
Based in Chicago, Lonn Taffel is in his 25th year in the commodities business. Mentored
by his brother Craig Taffel, Lonn began as a runner and assistant to analyst Dale
Gustufson in 1987 with Drexel Burnham Lambert. Lonn moved to Smith
Barney/Citigroup where he spent 18 years before moving to Cadent Financial in Mar
2006 and then to Abn Amro Clearing in 2008. Raised in Milwaukee, Wi, Lonn attended
the University of Wisconsin where he majored in Economics and played baseball. Lonn
and his lovely wife Nadia have two boys Noah (15) and Jonah (11). Lonn is an avid and
loyal follower of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Wisconsin Badgers.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Charles P. Carey, Former Vice Chairman and Board Member, CME Group, and
Chairman, Commodity Markets Council
Charles P. Carey served as Vice Chairman of CME Group from July 2007 to May 2010
and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Previously, he served as
Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) from 2003 to 2007 and as a member
of the CBOT Board of Directors for 11 years in various roles, including Vice Chairman,
First Vice Chairman and Full Member Director. Carey currently serves as Chairman of
the Commodity Markets Council (CMC) which is industry association of major
commodity market participants and exchanges.
An independent futures trader, Carey became a member of CBOT in 1978 and is a
partner in the firm Henning and Carey. He also serves on the Board of Directors of
BM&FBOVESPA, the largest exchange company in Latin America.
In addition to playing a leading role in the CME/CBOT merger to form CME Group,
Carey spearheaded the transformation of CBOT, a member run institution for more than
155 years, into a for-profit, NYSE-listed public company in 2005.
Carey has received a number of civic, industry and community service awards. In 2007,
he was presented with the Oak Park and River Forest High School Tradition of
Excellence Award, and earlier that year, with the Western Illinois University
Distinguished Alumni Award for his business and professional accomplishments. Other
awards include the Rerum Novarum Award from St. Joseph College Seminary, Ellis
Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundation,
and the Gold Medallion Award from the International Visitors Center of Chicago. In
addition, Carey is President of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, an organization
that is very active in providing scholarships for underprivileged youths.
A lifelong resident of Chicago, Carey received a bachelor’s degree in business
administration from Western Illinois University.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Paul Dubravec, Vice-President/Commodity Merchandising Risk Management, Advance
Trading, Inc
Born and raised in a small rural farming town in Illinois, his interest in agriculture began
early in life as he spent a great deal of time working on various agricultural operations in
the area. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a
Bachaelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics/ Agribusiness Management, he
began his career with a large multinational food and commodity trading firm. As a
merchandiser of specialty grains and feed ingredients, he was actively involved in a
profitable P&L with both trading and logistic authority and responsibilities.
For the past 18 years, Paul has been with Advance Trading, Inc. working as a
Commercial Broker/ Commodity Merchandising Consultant. Advance Trading, Inc. is a
premier Agricultural risk management firm assisting all facets of agriculture in managing
price and volatility risk as well as assisting clients in maximizing merchandising profits.
Though based in the US, Advance is actively involved in global agriculture with active
clients and relationships in over seven countries. Paul has grown his business in the
grain warehousing and elevator sector, and the end user sector. His client base consists
of many U.S. firms as well as international clients. In addition to keeping his clients
informed of current fundamentals and market analysis both in the futures and cash
markets, he spends time daily analyzing each client’s risk in order to develop and
implement prudent risk management strategies. Dialogue with clients to define their
operational risk with regards to volatile commodity markets, hedge placement, space
considerations, logistics, or buy/sell basis activity are just a few points Advance works
with daily to serve each client’s needs and goals.
Paul is active member and Board member in both professional and personal interest
organizations including state and national agriculture trade associations. He currently
serves as Secretary/Vice President on the Board of Directors for Advance Trading, Inc,
the board of Risings Stars Academy Inc., the Advisory Board of Directors for the
Children’s Hospital of Illinois and the Corporate Capital Campaign Committee. He has
been an active participant on various grain association and trade group committees and
boards. Paul remains active in many philanthropic organizations both locally and
internationally. Paul and his wife Teresa have three children, and reside in Bloomington,
Illinois – home to Advance Trading, Inc. corporate headquarters.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Michael McCully, President, The McCully Group, LLC
Mike McCully owns The McCully Group, a consulting firm that works with dairy and food
companies on business analysis, purchasing strategies, commodity risk management,
and other supply chain issues. Mike worked for over 15 years at Kraft Foods where he
held management roles in dairy, meat, and grain purchasing.
Throughout his career at Kraft, Mike worked on many dairy industry issues and served
on the Board of Directors for International Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA) Milk Industry
Foundation and the Dairy Institute of California. He has been a member of IDFA’s
Legislative Oversight Committee, IDFA’s Farm Bill Committee, the National Cheese
Institute’s Economic Policy and Legislative Committee, and the California Dairy
Institute’s Producer Relations committee.
Mike grew up on a grain and beef cattle farm in north central Illinois and remains active
in the beef cattle industry through his partnership in a purebred Angus operation. He
has a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Western Illinois University and a Master’s
degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.
Karl D. Skold, Director of Economic Analysis, Bunge North America
Karl Skold is the Director of Economic Research for Bunge North America. He leads the
development of North American agricultural supply & demand estimates. Prior to joining
Bunge, he was the founder of Westside Economics a consulting firm with clients that
included food processing companies, restaurant chains, financial institutions, and meat
packers.
Prior to Westside, Skold was Vice President of Commodity Procurement and led the
commodity risk management and procurement efforts for ConAgra Foods. Before
joining ConAgra, he was the Director of Research for Frontier Risk Management, a
Chicago based brokerage and money management firm that specializes in agricultural
commodities.
Skold has a M.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Agricultural Economics. He
holds a B.S. degree from Colorado State University in Economics.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Jimmy Connor, Senior Vice President, RJ O’Brien
After graduating from St. John’s University with a Bachelor of Arts in German Literature
and the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in
Glendale, Arizona, matriculating with a Masters of International Management, Jimmy
embarked on an extensive commercial trade tenure with Continental Grain Company for
approximately ten years and Harvest States Cooperatives (CHS) for four years,
eventually leading to team risk management responsibilities for domestic and export
feedgrains and oilseeds, including asset infrastructure expansion.
Thereafter and for the past 17 years, Jimmy has worked with RJ O’Brien & Associates
LLC as a futures broker; helping clients around the world more clearly determine price
transparency in physical markets, define relationships between cash and futures, in
order to rationally assess hedge efficacy as well as opportunistic risks associated with
trade deployment in the US derivative space.
Jimmy was raised in a rural agricultural and dairy production region of west central
Minnesota.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Marina Denicoff, Economist, Transportation and Marketing, USDA
As an economist and team leader at USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Marina
leads projects and reports to provide quantitative analysis and actionable advice to
agricultural shippers and policy makers on the impact agricultural market developments
and policy changes may have on agricultural transportation demand and costs. She has
over 20 years of extensive applied economic analysis experience in the public and
private sectors. Prior to joining USDA-AMS, she served as the chief editor of USDA’s
Faculty Exchange Program publications written in Russian; as a contributor to a daily
commodity analysis and trade newsletter; as an economist with USDA’s Foreign
Agricultural Service in the area of commodity analysis and emerging markets trade and
policy analysis; and, as a commodity analyst in a major agribusiness firm.
Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director, Soy Transportation Coalition
Mike Steenhoek is executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC), an
initiative established in 2007 and comprised of the United Soybean Board, the American
Soybean Association, and eleven state soybean boards. The Soy Transportation
Coalition exists to promote a cost effective, reliable, and competitive transportation
system that serves the agriculture industry.
As executive director of the STC, Mike’s responsibilities include communicating the
initiative and the importance of transportation issues to soybean growers and
processors; establishing and executing the organization’s strategic direction; and
building collaborations with other effected industries.
Mike is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advisory Committee on
Supply Chain Competitiveness, the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on
Inland Water Transportation, and the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Freight
Advisory Council.
Prior to his work on the STC, Mike worked for United States Senator Charles Grassley
(Iowa) for eight years – both in Washington, DC, and most recently in Des Moines, Iowa.
In Washington, DC, Mike served as the Senator’s scheduler and frequent speechwriter.
In Des Moines, Mike served as Senator Grassley’s director of economic development.
Mike received both his undergraduate degree and his Masters in Business
Administration from the University of Iowa.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Andrew Hemp, Senior Executive, Maersk Line
Andrew Hemp has been with Maersk Line for the past 13 years following eight years in
military and project freight forwarding. During this 13 years with Maersk, he has
managed a number of high profile global markets including the military, exempt
commodities and has been the lead on a number of specialized agricultural commodity
markets including the containerized bulk commodity grain market and most recently, a
Great Plains intermodal program in partnership North Dakota Port Services.
In 2003 Mr. Hemp started the containerized bulk commodity grain market from the
United States with Maersk and select customers, and he was awarded Maersk’s Global
Blue Ribbon Award in 2011 for his continued involvement in the global development of
the containerized grain program.
He continues to work with suppliers, handlers, buyers, railroads, governments and
intermediaries towards the further development of the containerized grain market. In
July of 2008 Mr. Hemp was involved in the start of the containerized bulk grain program
in Argentina, and in 2009 from Brazil.
He has participated as a guest speaker at numerous trade functions around the world as
well as being involved in the International Grains Program at Kansas State University
surrounding agricultural logistics.
Andrew was born and raised the youngest of seven in Berkeley California where he and
his wife are raising their two daughters. He studied Transportation and Logistics at
Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA.
Gavin Maguire, Agriculture Markets Columnist, Thomson Reuters
As the Agriculture Markets Columnist for Thomson Reuters, Gavin provides commentary
and analysis on the global agriculture markets that complement Thomson Reuters’
industry leading news file. Before joining Thomson Reuters, Gavin was the Director of
Research for Iowa Grain Company, a specialist agriculture advisory firm, where he
worked closely with professional traders and commercial users of the grains, oilseeds
and livestock industries to formulate hedging and trading strategies. Gavin was also a
Director of E-Hedger, Iowa Grain’s brokerage arm, where he advised U.S. farmers on
how to manage production risks and time grain sales. He has an MBA from the
University of Notre Dame, and a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the
University of York, England.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Fausto Caron, Head of Commodities Brazil, ABN AMRO
Fausto Caron holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas,
Brazil. Fausto started its career as a credit analyst for ING Bank in Brazil moving two
years later (2002) to the commodities department. Since then Fausto has accumulated
more than 10 years of experience in commodity finance, having worked as a relationship
manager and product specialist for ING and ABN AMRO in Brazil and in Switzerland
(Geneva). During his career, Fausto covered all commodity segments (agri, metals and
energy) with focus on different geographies including South America, Europe, CIS and
Africa. Fausto has also worked with a broad range of financial products from typical
trade finance instruments to syndicated deals, DCM and M&A transactions. In January
2011 Fausto has been appointed Chief Representative & Head of Commodities Brazil
for ABN AMRO, being in charge of the expansion of the Commodities activities of ABN
AMRO in the country.
Hongwei Zhang, President, JGG America Inc, Jilin Grain Group
Mr. Zhang is the president of JGG American Inc. based in Chicago. He has extensive
experience in grain business with more than 15 years working history.
In his former position, Mr.Zhang was the vice executive president of Dalian Jilin Grain
Group I/E Trading Co.,Ltd.. In 1997 he entered the soybean business, he has been
involved with soybean import and export business since.
JGG American handles an annual soybean volume of nearly three million mts.
Additionally, Mr. Zhang is in charge of a crushing factory with capacity of 2,500 mts per
day. In 2008, he developed the feed business including DDGS, soybean meal, canola
meal, and cotton seeds meal export to China.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Tom Mallon, Global Director of Energy & Commodities, Interactive Data
Tom Mallon is the Global Director of Energy & Commodities at Interactive Data. He is
responsible for driving strategic growth in the company’s energy and commodities
businesses, as well as defining the overall product strategy for its market data platform
for energy, commodities and derivative professionals, FutureSource. Prior to joining
Interactive Data, Tom was the Head of Commodities & Energy for the Americas at
Thomson Reuters for seven years. Previously, Tom founded and was the principal
consultant for TVM Technologies, a consulting firm focused on providing electronic
trading and risk management solutions to financial services, commodities and energy
institutions, and for over 12 years, he held various senior management positions in
strategic planning, global business development, and project management at the New
York Mercantile Exchange (Now part of CME Group).
James Koutoulas, CEO, Typhon Capital Management LLC
James L. Koutoulas, Esq. is the CEO of Typhon Capital Management, a CTA and CPO
with $75M in AUM across the Arion Financials Program, Chiron Currency Program,
Plutus Grain Strategy, and Tauros Livestock Strategy. Typhon also manages the Hydra
Multi-Strategy Agricultural Fund, LP.
James is the President and Co-Founder of the Commodity Customer Coalition, a nonprofit customer advocacy organization formed in response to the MF Global bankruptcy.
The CCC has over 10,000 members and works with regulators, Congress, and industry
leaders to better protect commodities customers. James has been a vocal advocate for
commodity customers, appearing regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN, featured in
major national print publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and
Reuters, and has written advocacy pieces for ZeroHedge.
Mr. Koutoulas has a J.D. from The Northwestern University School of Law and is a
member of the Illinois Bar. He serves as a consulting expert to the Northwestern Investor
Protection Clinic and is a member of Mensa. James also has a degree in Finance from
the University of Florida, where he was a National Merit Scholar, AP National Scholar,
and Angelo Langadas Classics Scholar. Mr. Koutoulas is also a member of the NFA
board of directors and its executive committee.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Sal Gilbertie, President and co-founder, Teucrium Trading LLC
Sal Gilbertie, President, Chief Investment Officer and co-founder of Teucrium, brings
deep experience in commodities markets, particularly in the areas of trading and
liquidity, providing insights which enable him to design compelling Exchange Traded
Products (“ETPs”) for a wide variety of investors. In 1982, Mr. Gilbertie began trading at
Cargill's oil arm in New York. He has been involved in the financial markets since that
time, most recently with Newedge USA, LLC, where he headed the Renewable
Fuels/Energy Derivatives Over- the-Counter (“OTC”) execution desk and was an active
over-the-counter derivatives trader and market maker. While there, Mr. Gilbertie
developed the liquidity and the standard contract in the ethanol market. Mr. Gilbertie,
who is 53 years old, graduated from Fairfield University with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Business Management.
Andrew Abraham, Principal, Abraham Investment Management
Andrew Abraham, Principle of Abraham Investment Management (AIM), has 18 years of
futures trading experience. Andrew Abraham has authored two books, The Bible of
Trend Following- How Professional Traders Compound Wealth & Manage the
Risks as well as The Bible of Compounding Money- Investing with World Class
Money Managers. Abraham Investment Management utilizes a robust, tactical,
systematic, trend following approach over diversified portfolios with a core emphasis on
risk management discipline. Abraham Investment Management core competency is
researching and testing mechanical systematic trading models with the goal to
compound money over long periods of time.
Giles Korzenecki, Senior Vice-President Diversified Commodities,
ABN
AMRO Clearing, The Matthews Group
Giles graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979 majoring in Finance and
Accounting. He later worked for Paul Kettler, founder of the Black-Scholes option-pricing
model and helped financial institutions hedge their risk portfolios. He co-produced the
first commodity futures fund with Richard Dennis in 1985 and co-managed the second
largest S&P futuresoption fund in the US for over 7 years. He is an avid trading system
developer and has developed six number one trading systems independently reported.
He currently is the SrVP of the Diversified Commodities Group of ABN AMRO in
Chicago.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Ken Stein, Commodity Trading Advisor, CBOT
Ken Stein has been an independent trader and consultant at the Chicago Board of Trade
for thirty years, and is a former member of the Kansas City Board of Trade. He trained
as a grain merchandiser for Cook Industries, Inc. in Memphis, TN, and was manager of
export wheat trading of The Pillsbury Company at its Minneapolis headquarters.
Mr. Stein was a senior market analyst of World Perspectives, Inc., Washington, D.C.,
whose clients included most U.S., European, and Japanese trading houses, large
corporate users, and "state" traders including U.S.S.R., Eastern Europe, Canada and
Australia. He was a markets editor of Milling & Baking News, the wheat industry's
leading publication.
Jerry Considine, CEO and Head Trader, Novo Trading
Jerry Considine began trading futures over thirty years ago. His career started at the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1979. Mr. Considine first worked as a phone clerk at
Drexel Burnham and spot FX trader at Citibank. In 1986, his career ventured back into
the currency future pits as an independent floor trader until 1991. During this time, Mr.
Considine developed robust trading strategies and refined his primarily discretionary
trading techniques. During his tenure as floor trader for almost six years, deploying his
own capital, Jerry had only 3 losing months over a 64 month period. From his
performance in the currency pits, Mr. Considine caught the eye of legendary trader Paul
Tudor Jones, the founder of Tudor Jones Corporation and a hedge fund innovator. Tudor
hired him as a trader for Bellwether Futures (subsidiary of Tudor Investment Corp) in
1991 in their Chicago office. At Tudor Mr. Considine established his name in the industry
by developing a highly regarded track record and reputation. Jerry left Tudor in 1997,
when Tudor decided to close the Chicago office and consolidate trading in New York.
In 1998 Jerry founded Considine Trading (now known as Novo Trading). As a registered
commodity trading advisor, Mr. Considine managed more than $100 million in assets
and constantly outperformed market average and provided steady profits as a result of
trading institutional client and proprietary funds. From his experience at Tudor, Mr.
Considine learned how to manage market risk and created a unique risk-averse
investment strategy using a combination of technical market analysis, sentiment
evaluation and money management that has statistically proven to be profitable. In 2000,
Novo began soliciting capital from high net with clients and institutions. From January
2000 to March 2013, Novo achieved an ROR of 13.08%, with a largest monthly
drawdown of 3.90%.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Robert Johnson, Executive Director, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Ex
Managing-Director, Soros Fund Management
Robert Johnson serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic
Thinking (INET) and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Finance Project for the
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York.
Johnson is an international investor and consultant to investment funds on issues of
portfolio strategy. He recently served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on
International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz.
Previously, Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he
managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets.
Prior to working at Soros Fund Management, he was a Managing Director of Bankers
Trust Company managing a global currency fund.
Johnson served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the
leadership of Chairman William Proxmire (D. Wisconsin). Before this, he was Senior
Economist of the US Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete
Domenici (R. New Mexico).
Johnson was an Executive Producer of the Oscar winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark
Side, directed by Alex Gibney, and is the former President of the National Scholastic
Chess Foundation. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Economic
Policy Institute and the Campaign for America’s Future.
Johnson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S.
in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Friday June 21st
Gregg Doud, President, Commodity Markets Council
Gregg Doud recently joined the Commodity Markets Council, as President, after
spending the past two years as a Senior Professional Staff member of the Senate
Agriculture Committee for Senator Pat Roberts and most recently Senator Thad
Cochran. Gregg was part of the team that crafted the 2012 Senate Farm Bill and his
portfolio of issues included livestock, international trade, food aid and oversight of the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The Commodity Markets Council is the leading trade association for commodity futures
exchanges and their industry counterparts in addressing global market and risk
management issues. In his new role, Gregg will continue to work with regulators and
lawmakers to ensure that agriculture and energy futures, options and swaps markets will
remain globally competitive risk management tools for hedgers and end-users.
Doud was raised on a dry-land wheat, grain sorghum, swine and cow-calf operation near
Mankato in North-Central Kansas. He also owns part of the more than 100 year-old
family farming operation and is a partner in a cow-calf operation.
Prior to joining the Senate Agriculture Committee staff, Doud spent eight years as the
Chief Economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) in Washington,
D.C. At NCBA, Doud chaired the USDA/USTR Animal/Animal Products Agricultural
Trade Advisory Committee and served as a member of the CFTC’s agricultural advisory
committee.
During his 20 years in Washington DC, he has also worked for the U.S. Wheat
Associates and the agricultural commodity consulting firm World Perspectives. Doud
graduated from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Animal Science and an M.S. in
Agricultural Economics.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Bart Chilton, Commissioner, CFTC
Bart Chilton was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the U. S. Senate in
2007. In 2009, he was re-nominated by President Obama and reconfirmed by the
Senate. He has served as the Chairman of the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental
Markets Advisory Committee (EEMAC). His career spans 25 years in government
service—working on Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives, in the Senate, and
serving in the Executive Branch during the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations.
Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Chilton was the Chief of Staff and Vice President for
Government Relations at the National Farmers Union where he represented family
farmers. In 2005, Mr. Chilton was a Schedule C political appointee of President Bush at
the U. S. Farm Credit Administration where he served as an Executive Assistant to the
Board. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Chilton was a Senior Advisor to Senator Tom Daschle,
the Democrat Leader of the United States Senate, where he worked on myriad issues
including agriculture and transportation policy.
From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Chilton was a Schedule C political appointee of President
Clinton where he rose to Deputy Chief of Staff to U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman. In this role, Mr. Chilton became a member of the Senior Executive Service
(SES)—government executives selected for their leadership qualifications to serve in the
key positions just below the most senior Presidential appointees. As an SES member,
Mr. Chilton served as a liaison between Secretary Glickman and the Federal work force
at USDA.
From 1985 to 1995, Mr. Chilton worked in the U. S. House of Representatives where he
served as Legislative Director for three different Members of Congress on Capitol Hill
and as the Executive Director of the bipartisan Congressional Rural Caucus.
Mr. Chilton has served as a strong advocate for consumers and businesses alike and is
the author of Ponzimonium: How Scam Artists are Ripping Off America.
Mr. Chilton was born in Delaware and spent his youth in Indiana, where he attended
Purdue University (1979—1982). He studied political science and communications and
was a collegiate leader of several organizations. Mr. Chilton and his wife, Sherry Daggett
Chilton, split their time between Washington, D. C. and Arkansas.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
De'Ana Dow, General Counsel, Capitol Counsel, LLC
De’Ana H. Dow is general counsel with Capitol Counsel LLC. Ms. Dow is one of the
most respected experts on energy and financial services issues before the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Her primary focus has been derivatives market
issues with many years of senior level experience in both technical and policy areas.
Prior to joining Capitol Counsel, Ms. Dow served as senior vice president with Ogilvy
Government Relations. There, she specialized in futures and derivatives markets
covering all physical commodities, including energy, metals and agricultural, as well as
financial commodities, such as interest rates, Treasury Bonds, equity indexes and the
foreign exchange market.
Before joining Ogilvy Government Relations, Ms. Dow served as Managing Director for
Government Affairs at CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives exchange. As a
lobbyist for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Ms. Dow managed the organization’s
efforts related to the Dodd Frank financial market regulatory reform bill as it progressed
through the House and Senate, and on regulatory actions at the CFTC, Securities and
Exchange Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Federal Trade
Commission, Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. Before her time at CME
Group, Ms. Dow headed the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) Washington,
D.C. office, serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Legislative Counsel. As the head
lobbyist and regulatory counsel for NYMEX, she successfully guided the company
through a complex legislative agenda aimed at eliminating critical liquidity providers from
the markets, and monitored numerous CFTC regulatory filings for accuracy and
sufficient analytical content. Ms. Dow also spent time as an associate vice president and
Counsel in the Market Regulation Department at the NASD, now called Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), where she developed and supervised the futures
market regulatory program.
Ms. Dow began her legal career at the CFTC where she served in a number of
capacities over 22 years, including Counsel to Chairman William Rainer during the
Clinton Administration, and Special Advisor to Chairman James Newsome under the
Bush Administration. She began her career on Capitol Hill serving on the staff of
Kentucky Democratic Senator Walter Dee Huddleston.
Ms. Dow serves on the board of the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation,
which was established 55 years ago to help improve the life prospects of underprivileged
children of Washington, D.C., through its education and athletic programs. She also
serves on the board of Pathways for Living, Inc., a non-profit corporation that offers a
variety of community service programs including a women’s shelter, day care and
affordable housing.
Ms. Dow is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and a member of the
D.C. Bar and the American Bar Associations.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Professor Michael Greenberger, Law School Professor, University of Maryland &
former Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, Commodity Futures Trading
Commission
Michael Greenberger is professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey
School of Law, where he teaches a course entitled “Futures, Options and Derivatives.”
In 1997, Professor Greenberger left private law practice to become the Director of the
Division of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
and through 1999, he served under CFTC Chair Brooksley Born. He also served on the
Steering Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and as a
member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ Hedge Fund Task
Force.
Prior to the passage of Dodd-Frank, Professor Greenberger testified numerous times
before the House and Senate committees about that legislation. Following the passage
of Dodd-Frank, Professor Greenberger was asked to testify before House and Senate
oversight committees on the implementation of Dodd-Frank and to present at three
different roundtables sponsored by CFTC and SEC staffs. He has filed over 20
comment letters on proposals by regulators implementing Dodd-Frank, many of which
have been cited by the Commission in its final Dodd-Frank rules. He has also authored
several chapters and scholarly articles about Dodd-Frank.
Professor Greenberger has conducted many media interviews to discuss financial
regulation, including appearances on CNN, ABC's "World News Tonight," the CBS
Evening News, the NBC Evening News, CNBC, MSNBC, The Jim Lehrer News Hour,
NPR's "Fresh Air," PBS's "Frontline," BBC Radio, and C-SPAN.
Professor
Greenberger's recent testimony and related media can be found at
www.michaelgreenberger.com. He has also been featured in films such as Inside Job
(Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2011), The Warning (NPR Peabody
Award), and American Casino.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Dr Paul E. Peterson, Agricultural economist and clinical professor of derivatives trading,
University of Illinois
Dr. Paul E. Peterson is The Clearing Corporation Foundation Clinical Professor of
Derivatives Trading in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE)
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His primary focus is on futures and
options markets, market regulation and clearing, particularly in relation to commodity
prices and risk management. Other interests include marketing practices and pricing
issues in the livestock, meat and dairy industries.
Prior to joining the ACE faculty, he was the Director of Research and Commodity
Product Development for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1989 to 2012, where
was responsible for the development of new trading and risk management instruments,
as well as the maintenance of existing contracts. His industry career also included staff
positions at the Chicago Board of Trade and the American Farm Bureau Federation.
He has spoken frequently to industry groups, written extensively for government
audiences including Congress, CFTC and USDA, and co-authored The CME Group Risk
Management Handbook: Products and Applications. An Illinois native, he received a
Ph.D. in agricultural economics, an M.S. in animal science and a B.S. in agriculture, all
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jeffrey H. Harris, Professor of Finance, Syracuse University Business School &
Former Chief Economist, CFTC
Dr. Jeffrey H. Harris is currently Dean’s Chair in Finance at the Whitman School of
Management at Syracuse University where he teaches investments and derivatives
courses. Dr. Harris has an extensive background in market microstructure and
regulatory issues. He recently served as Chief Economist at the U.S. Commodity
Futures Trading Commission, with prior experience as Visiting Academic at the Nasdaq
Stock Market and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He has previously
held faculty appointments as the Collins Chair of Finance in the Cox School of Business
at Southern Methodist University (visiting), at the University of Notre Dame and at The
Ohio State University.
His research appears in the Energy Journal, Financial
Management, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Investment Management, the
Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Futures Markets, the Review of Futures
Markets and the Review of Financial Studies.
Dr. Harris received his B.A. in Physics and MBA from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D.
in Finance from The Ohio State University.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Daryll Ray, Blasingame Chair of Excellence, Director, Agricultural Policy Analysis
Centre
Dr. Daryll E. Ray is the Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy, professor
of agricultural and resource economics and director of the Agricultural Policy Analysis
Center (APAC) at the University of Tennessee. Since coming to Tennessee in 1991, he
has established and developed APAC into a highly respected center that has developed
working relationships with government agencies, national federal laboratories, other
universities and non-government organizations (NGOs).
Dr. Ray was raised on a general crop and livestock farm in Central Iowa. He received his
B.S. in farm operations in 1965 and his PhD in economics in 1971 at Iowa State
University. His PhD dissertation resulted in the first econometric, commodity-bycommodity policy simulation model of U.S. agriculture.
Dr. Ray is the author of hundreds of journal articles and other publications. He has
delivered over 350 presentations on policy and economic issues to a wide array of
regional, national, and international audiences. He has made invited presentations in
China, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, England, Italy, France, Belgium and
Switzerland. At their request, he has testified numerous times before Senate and House
Agriculture Committees and before Presidential Commissions on Twenty-First Century
Agriculture and Payment Limitations. He has testified before Congress as part of the
debate for each farm bill during the last twenty years.
An important portion of his work focuses on the nature of agricultural markets, including
non-economic as well as economic and political forces that influence those markets. An
influential APAC publication entitled “Rethinking U.S. Agricultural Policy: Changing
Course to Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide” details APAC’s analysis framework for
analyzing national and international agricultural policy and other public policy and
economic issues.
Dr. Ray writes a weekly column with APAC’s Harwood Schaffer that is published weekly
in agricultural newspapers with over 300,000 subscribers. The columns are also
accessed on APAC’s website by visitors from over 50 countries, totaling over half a
million hits per year.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Dale Durchholz, Senior Market Analyst, AgriVisor LLC
Dale Durchholz is the Senior Market Analyst for AgriVisor LLC, a company jointly owned
by Growmark and Illinois Farm Bureau.
He provides daily market commentary/recommendations to Midwestern agricultural
producers as well as a weekly outlook for Illinois Farm Bureau’s “Cash Strategist” and
Iowa Farm Bureau’s Spokesman. He speaks at many meetings as well as contributing
to RFD Illinois and WILL radio, along with other media outlets.
Prior to joining AgriVisor, Dale had been a grain and/or livestock analyst for other
companies including another producer market consulting firm and two Chicago
brokerage houses, at the latter, heading their research operations.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and a Masters of Business
Administration from the University of Illinois.
Anderson Galvão, CEO, Celeres
Founder and CEO of Céleres®. Agricultural engineer having received his college degree
from Universidade Federal de Uberlândia and a post-graduate degree in business
administration (CEAG) from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. Through the last fifteen
years, he developed and coordinated several Brazilian agriculture related studies and
projects. In the recent years, he is also advising several large scale agricultural projects
in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, transferring and deploying Brazilian
agricultural technologies suitable for tropical areas in world. He is a board member of
ISAAA – International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. Advisory
member of the Biotechnology Information Council (CIB). Associate consultant of GV
Consult of the Business Administration School of São Paulo (FGV/EASP).
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