Hundreds of farmers and ranchers from across the state will gather in Norman Nov. 10-12 for the 76th Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting. At the three-day convention, the organization will recognize member achievements, set grassroots policy for 2018, elect leaders and hear from state and industry leaders. Below, meet the lineup of speakers for the organization’s biggest annual event.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Dr. Thomas Coon – Vice President, Dean and Director, Oklahoma State University Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
Opening General Session – Nov. 10, 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Thomas G. Coon joined OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in July 2014. Prior to joining the administration at OSU, he served as director for cooperative extension at Michigan State University for nine years. At OSU, he serves as director of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Bill Buckner – President and Chief Executive Officer, Noble Research Institute
Opening General Session – Nov. 10, 1:30 p.m.
Bill Buckner serves as president and CEO of Noble Research Institute, the largest, independent private agricultural research organization in the United States. The Noble Research Institute conducts plant and animal science research and sponsors agricultural programs to enhance agricultural productivity regionally, nationally and internationally. Buckner became the eighth president and CEO of the Noble Research in January 2012 after serving as president and CEO of Bayer CropScience, where he worked for 18 years.
Todd Lamb – Lieutenant Governor, State of Oklahoma
Opening General Session – Nov. 10, 1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma elected Todd Lamb as Lt. Governor on November 2, 2010. Lamb was reelected in 2014, winning in each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. At the start of his career, Lamb worked for then gubernatorial candidate Frank Keating and then served in the Keating administration until 1998 when Lamb became a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service.
In 2004, Lamb was elected to serve in the Oklahoma state Senate. Lamb was re-elected in 2008 and in 2009 became the first Republican Majority Floor Leader in state history. An Enid native, Lamb played football at Louisiana Tech University, then returned to Oklahoma earning his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and his law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Zippy Duvall – President, American Farm Bureau Federation
General Session, Nov. 11, 9:30 a.m.
President of the American Farm Bureau Federation since January 2016, Zippy Duvall is a third-generation farmer from Georgia. In addition to a 400-head beef cow herd for which he grows his own hay, Duvall and his wife, Bonnie, also grow more than 750,000 broilers per year.
Prior to being elected AFBF president, Duvall served for nine years as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau. Duvall’s long leadership history in his home state includes service on the Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmers Committee and Georgia Farm Bureau board of directors.
Mithun Mansinghani – Solicitor General, Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General
Breakfast of Champions – Nov. 12, 7:30 a.m.
Mithun Mansinghani was appointed Solicitor General for the State of Oklahoma by Attorney General Mike Hunter in March 2017. He served for the prior two years as Deputy Solicitor General. As Solicitor General, Mansinghani leads litigation on behalf of the State in appeals, constitutional matters, and relations with the federal government and other states. That has included arguing Oklahoma’s challenge to the federal Waters of the United States rule and the State’s defense of the constitutionality of State Question 777, which allowed it to be put to a referendum vote.
Prior to joining the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, Mansinghani was a lawyer for a private law firm in Washington, D.C., specializing in appeals and administrative law cases. Mansinghani also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in both political science and policy studies from Rice University and his law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS
Nov. 11 – 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.
Brent Bushey – Executive Director, Oklahoma Public Schools Resource Center
As executive director, Brent Bushey is helping to establish the Oklahoma Public Schools Resource Center and is responsible for building relationships with school leaders while also focusing on recruiting and hiring the OPSRC’s staff. This position is a return to his career “roots” as he began his career as a teacher in the New Orleans public schools on behalf of Teach for America and also served Teach for America as national recruitment director. Prior to joining the OPSRC, Brent served as a program manager with the federal government.
Rep. Mike Rogers – Chairman, Oklahoma House Common Education Committee
Rep. Mike Rogers serves the people of Oklahoma’s House District 98, which consists of parts of Tulsa and Wagoner counties. Rogers was appointed as House Common Education Committee chairman by House Speaker Charles McCall in December 2016. He previously served as vice-chair of the committee. The Broken Arrow native was first elected in 2014.
Dr. Kayse Shrum – President, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences
President Shrum is a native Oklahoman who earned her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. She joined the medical school faculty at OSU Center for Health Sciences in 2002 and served as chair of the Department of Pediatrics from 2004 – 2011.
During her tenure, she has made addressing the healthcare workforce shortage in rural Oklahoma a top priority for OSU-CHS. A fervent champion of rural health and primary care medicine, President Shrum led the strategic efforts to create a sustainable rural primary care physician pipeline program, which starts with rural high school outreach programs and culminates with rural-based residency training programs. President Shrum launched award-winning high school recruiting programs like Operation Orange and Blue Coat to White Coat, established the Rural Medical Track (a rural-focused medical curriculum), and expanded the number of residency training programs in Oklahoma by securing a $3.8 million grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and a $5.6 million grant from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.
Brett Coble – Board President, Oklahoma Association of Healthcare Providers
Brett Coble is the vice president of Elmbrook Management Company and oversees the daily operations of seven skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in southern Oklahoma. Additionally, Coble currently serves as the president of the board of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers which represents nearly two-thirds of the state’s nursing homes. In 2012, Coble was appointed by the governor to the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators, the agency responsible for licensing nursing home, assisted living, residential care, and adult day care administrators. Cable and his family live in Ardmore. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University.
Ted Haynes – President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma
Ted Haynes is responsible for all Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma operations, including sales and account management, network management, health care management, medical policy and external affairs. BCBSOK is the state’s oldest and largest private health insurer.
Prior to assuming his current position in 2012, Haynes had served as vice president of Health Care Delivery for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, with responsibility for health care provider networks, provider services, pharmacy programs and Medicaid operations. Haynes earned a bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and a master’s degree in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University.
Terry Stowers – Executive Director, Coalition of Oklahoma Surface and Mineral Owners
Terry Stowers is one of the principal shareholders in the law firm of Burns & Stowers, P.C. The firm has been widely recognized as one of the leading legal firms representing the rights of Oklahoma’s surface and mineral owners for over 30 years. He also serves as the executive director for the Coalition of Oklahoma Surface and Mineral Owners, which works to protect the rights of Oklahoma’s surface and minerals owners at the Capitol and Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and often files briefs with the Oklahoma Supreme Court on important legal issues related to surface and mineral owner issues as a “friend of the court”.
