Professional Development

- CCA Institute

Carrie is a Sr. Creative Marketing Consultant with Compeer Financial. For the last 14 years Carrie has provided marketing solutions for Farm Credit. She received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Illinois State University. Carrie was born in central Illinois where she grew up close to the farming community. Currently Carrie lives in central Illinois with her husband and two daughters. We spend a lot of time riding our horses and enjoying the outdoors.

Courtney joined the UW Center for Cooperatives in 2011 and served as a cooperative development specialist until assuming the role of executive director in 2018. Courtney develops research, outreach, and education programs on cooperatives and provides support to new and established cooperatives in a wide range of industries. Her areas of expertise include cooperative education, business development, cooperative finance and governance, and innovative uses of the cooperative model. Courtney teaches a course on cooperatives at the UW-Madison and loves challenging students to think critically about why co-ops emerge, how they differ from other forms of enterprise, and how the model can be used to address current social and economic issues.

Thomas is the kind of person that solves five problems before he even gets in the building. As the director of digital strategy, he leads Infinity’s digital team, developing bold strategies and campaigns that help clients reach their full digital marketing potential through keyword search, display advertising, paid search, and email marketing. 
 
Thomas earned his bachelor’s degree in management information systems and a Master of Arts in mass communications from The University of Southern Mississippi. On top of being Infinity’s go-to media problem solver, Thomas is a thought leader and highly decorated speaker on the topics of digital media and marketing technologies. 
 
Thomas is Google Ads certified in Search, Measurement, and Video, and The Trade Desk Edge Academy certified in Marketing Foundations. 

Recently named one of the  25 most influential nonprofit thought leaders  and one of the  seven nonprofit thought leaders to follow on Twitter during the coronavirus crisis , Julia Campbell is on a mission to make the digital world a better place. The author of two nonprofit marketing books, Julia’s passion is to get organizations to stop spinning their wheels and start getting real results using digital tools. She launched Social Media for Social Good Academy, the first online training course for nonprofit social media managers. She lives north of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two kids.

Suzanne Campbell’s origins in cooperatives echo the journey many of us have taken. She was looking for a job when she found her purpose. She’s been called to roles in Member Service, Bookkeeping, Frontline and Organizational Training, Human Resources, and, ultimately, found her home in Marketing and PR. She brings with her a depth and breadth of knowledge from across the industry. In her role as the Brand & Content Manager for Simplicity CU and Exclamation Services, she’s the head content author and helps lead a team of creative designer’s intent on contributing to the success of everyone they meet.

Candace Croft, CCC, is Communications and Public Relations Coordinator at West Florida Electric Cooperative. She is the editor of the cooperative’s monthly member newsletter, Current Light Flashes, serves as the Youth Tour program coordinator and runs the co-op’s social media. She works to facilitate the cooperative’s advertising, community & media relations efforts, school programs and community events. Croft has been a Certified Cooperative Communicator (CCC) through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association since 2007, a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) since 2007 and earned her Master Cooperative Communicator (MCC) certificate from CCA in 2012. She is currently a member of CCA’s board of directors, serving as Secretary/Treasurer. Croft has been employed by West Florida Electric since 2005.

Meghaan Evans is internal communications manager for NRECA. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in strategic public relations from The George Washington University. In her role as internal communications manager, Meghaan has overseen the successful overhaul of NRECA’s Intranet, implemented a series of widely read internal newsletters, collaborated with Human Resources and NRECA’s social media manager to launch several employer branding initiatives, and contributed to several committees aimed at engaging NRECA employees. Her professional dream is that all organizations will invest in and support a holistic internal communications strategy.

Getting up at 2 in the morning might shock some of her listeners, but for Pam Jahnke, it’s part of the business. Growing up on a dairy farm just north of Green Bay, Pam grew up surrounded by agriculture. Pam’s a past president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, been named Farm Broadcaster of the Year and moderated panels for U.S. Ag Secretary’s in the White House. In her spare time, Pam is active farming in partnership with her brother, sister and mother on the home farm.To date, the Midwest Farm Report network has grown to encompass 26 stations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and daily appearances on the CBS TV affiliate in Madison as well as her popular “Fabulous Farm Babe” Facebook page.

Karen Jones is the youth and young producer specialist for GROWMARK.  She develops, manages, and administers GROWMARK’s involvement in youth programs. She also works with the GROWMARK Foundation. Karen joined GROWMARK in 2004, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Communications from the University of Illinois.  Her professional experience includes employment in GROWMARK’s agronomy division, marketing services department, and corporate communications.

Karen and her husband, Christopher, farm in cooperation with Karen’s family. They have an eight-year-old daughter.

Like many, Pamela Karg cut professional teeth as a journalist. “Retiring” from the daily co-op world, she returned to journalism as part of her freelance repertoire across all media and, for over 15 years now, 14 daily online rural/ag news sites. Delivering nearly 100 stories piping hot “off the press” from information gleaned from 300 daily emails, Karg feeds news-hungry minds from wherever she is—the USA, former USSR countries, USAID Farmer to Farmer volunteer assignments across Africa and Eastern Europe.

April Lollar is the director of communications for Coast Electric where she implements the cooperative’s strategic communications plan. April is Accredited in Public Relations and is a Certified Cooperative Communicator (CCC). She is on the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CCC board and serves on the advisory committee for NRECA’s Young Adult Member Engagement project. April was recognized as a Senior Practitioner by the Public Relations Society of America and was the Public Relations Association of Mississippi’s 2017 Professional Achievement Award winner. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Ole Miss.

Carrie Mess is a mom, advocate for agriculture and a Wisconsin dairy farmer. She has been using social media to connect with consumers for over 10 years via her Dairy Carrie blog and branded social media platforms. She also consults with farms and small businesses to help them develop their own voice in the digital world.

John McHugh is the Director of Corporate Communications, Leadership Development, and Training for Kwik Trip, Inc., based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. In his role at Kwik Trip he has helped the company achieve recognition as a Top Workplace as listed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Des Moines Register. Prior to joining Kwik Trip in 2004, John was an instructor and principal at Aquinas High School in La Crosse. He holds degrees from the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota and the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. John sits on the Boards of Trust Point, Betterlife Insurance and Viterbo University. He and his wife Maggie enjoy living at their log home near Sparta, Wisconsin.

Joel Penhorwood is a multimedia communication specialist for Select Sires Inc. He and his wife Katie, proud Buckeyes, reside in rural Ohio where they have corn, livestock, and lots of fun. Joel has also spent several years as a farm broadcaster and reporter for Ohio Ag Net and Ohio’s Country Journal. He enjoys all things communication and agriculture and stays busy honing his skills in the video and audio realms in particular. For fun, he relishes aviation, playing music, and anchoring weekend news at the local radio station. Adobe Audition is his favorite program in the Adobe Creative Suite.

Angela Russell is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is the Vice President of the CUNA Mutual Foundation at CUNA Mutual Group.  Angela is responsible for leading the development, direction and implementation of short and long-term strategies and programs that support Diversity & Inclusion and overseeing CUNA Mutual’s Corporate Social Responsibility program. In 2018, Ms. Russell was named as one of the nation’s most powerful diversity executives by Black Enterprise magazine.

Ms. Russell has nearly 20 years of professional experience involving diversity and inclusion, external relations and outreach, communications, policy development, and research and evaluation and holds a Master of Science in Population Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Beloit College, and serves on the Board for JustDane, Edgewood College Board of Trustees, and Wisconsin School of Business Advisory Board.

Tera Stoddard is a Communications Specialist for CHS Stewardship. In her six years with CHS, Tera has been responsible for the creation and promotion of new funding programs that benefit the next generation of ag leaders and strengthen hometown communities. In addition, she works with funding partners to raise the visibility of CHS Stewardship charitable contributions and shares the impact of those programs with CHS employees and owners. She is also responsible for overseeing employee giving campaigns and volunteerism activities. Tera is currently pursuing a certificate in Corporate Citizenship Practice from Boston College and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural communication from Purdue University. 

Cathy Statz is education director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU).  For over 25 years, she has coordinated cooperative education programs for Farmers Union members, their children and the general public, including the WFU summer camp program. She also serves as the co-coordinator of the National Farmers Union (NFU) College Conference on Cooperatives.

Statz has been a participant, co-facilitator and mentor of state and national cooperative leadership development programs, and has assisted with cooperative youth conferences domestically and abroad.  She serves on the boards of the Ralph K. Morris Foundation, the InSPIREation Foundation, and the Association of Cooperative Educators (ACE).

Tina Walden is the Youth Coordinator for Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association. Each year she has the privilege of educating youth members about cooperatives, cooperative careers, and what makes the cooperative business model different and successful.

Brianna Wall, a Certified Cooperative Communicator, is in her 15th year at Oklahoma Electric Cooperative and serves as Creative Director. She designs all external and internal communications pieces, and her work has been awarded locally and nationally. In addition, she serves on NRECA’s Council of Rural Electric Communicators and NRECA’s Young Adult Member Engagement task force. One of her greatest passions is giving back to her community of Moore, Oklahoma, by serving on several nonprofit boards of directors and co-chairing the local Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Moore program.