Pork Board Members

Dr. Gordon Spronk, President — Minnesota

Gordon Spronk, DVM, has been a partner in a multi-generational diversified farrow-to-finish and cropping farm, Spronk Brothers III, based in Edgerton, Minnesota, since 1981. Spronk Brothers III markets more than 275,000 pigs per year. The family farm also includes more than 3,000 acres of corn and soybeans. Additionally, Gordon is a staff veterinarian for Pipestone Veterinary Services and was chair of the board for Pipestone Holdings (2002-2021).

Gordon is active in the pork industry, serving on several National Pork Board (NPB) and National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) committees and task forces, including as the president of NPB. His past service includes the NPPC Animal Health committee, NPPC African Swine Fever (ASF) task force and the NPPC ASF working group, NPB Executive committee, NPB Compliance committee and USMEF Executive committee. Prior to his first NPB term, he served on NPPC’s board of directors and has advocated for continued development and support of the U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan, which is now a USDA program.

Chad Groves, Vice President — Kansas

Chad Groves is the CEO for Seaboard Foods, an integrated processor marketing 7.2 million hogs annually from its 330,000 sows based in Shawnee, Kansas.

Seaboard Foods markets and sells pork for Triumph Foods and Seaboard Triumph Foods. Chad has a diverse background in sales, marketing and business for food, including pork.

Jesse Heimer, Treasurer — Missouri

Jesse Heimer owns Heimer Hampshires, a 500-sow show pig enterprise, where he leads a team of eight raising competitive pigs for junior livestock enthusiasts nationwide and sells progressive genetics via semen and breeding stock to other breeders.

Heimer is a founding member and past board member of the Missouri Youth Show Pig Circuit (2009-2023) and a current Missouri Pork Association board member. At the national level, he is a Pork Leadership Institute graduate (2021); hosted dialogue with industry leaders to foster harmony between show pigs and commercial sectors; sits on the NPPC Traceability task force ; participates in the AgView working group and represents exhibition swine on the General Conference Committee of the U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan.

Emily Arkfeld — Missouri

Emily Arkfeld, Ph.D., senior director of innovation for Triumph Foods, has helped develop key principles of the Prairie Fresh® USA Prime program and has led the company’s efforts to secure multiple patents related to pork processing.

Emily is an active member of the American Society of Meat Science (17 years) and the American Society of Animal Science (15 years), where she was active on the Growth, Development, Muscle Biology and Meat Science committee for the Midwest section (2020-2022). She volunteered her time and meat science expertise with the Meat Institute on the product quality subgroup for the Foundation of Meat and Poultry Research and Education (2020-2022). Finally, Emily was the advisor of the National Pork Board’s Domestic Marketing committee (2018-2019).

Paul Ayers — Illinois

Paul Ayers has 15 years of experience with The Maschhoffs LLC, a leading Illinois-based operation with approximately 130,000 sows and market hog production sites in five states. He leads foreign animal disease preparation efforts by participating in industry traceability programs and advisory groups, including the US Swine Health Improvement Plan, Secure Pork Supply, AgView, RABapp, and supporting company safety and sustainability programs.

Ayers is or has been involved in several NPB groups, including its animal welfare advisory group, the Common Swine Audit task force, the Depopulation and Disposal task force (2023) and the Sustainability task force (2023). He also has experience with Operation Main Street (2008-2018) and the National Pork Producer Council’s Public Policy Leadership Institute. He currently serves on the Producer Services Committee for the Illinois Pork Producers Association and was previously on the board of directors (2014-2020).

Patrick Bane — Illinois

Pat Bane is the co-owner and manager of Bane Family Pork, a 3,000-sow farrow-to-wean farm in Illinois. They also raise corn, soybeans and hay.

Pat has been heavily involved in numerous events with the McLean County Farm Bureau, McLean County Fair and the Illinois Pork Producers Association. He was selected as the 2018 America’s Pig Farmer of the Year, where he served in various capacities as an advocate for the pork industry around the nation.

Jeremy Burkett — Wyoming

Jeremy Burkett is the operator of a farrow-to-feeder farm at Casper College in Wyoming.

As a full-time professor at Casper College, Jeremy specializes in teaching and conducting research in animal science and meat science, along with coaching the livestock judging team. In addition, he serves as a U.S. Pork Center of Excellence board member and is a state executive and member of the board of directors for Wyoming Pork Producers Council.

Chad Herring — North Carolina

Chad Herring, a third-generation contract nursery producer, raises 90,000-100,000 feeder pigs annually for Smithfield Foods. The company also harvests 45 acres of coastal Bermuda hay.

Chad, a 2018 Pork Leadership Institute graduate, represented the National Pork Board at the UniPro Protein Solutions Symposium and at a lunch-and-learn with School Food Rocks, which focused on developing recipes for mass distribution in school lunch programs. He also addressed caring for pigs and the planet with key retail brands at a recent Retail Advisory committee meeting. Finally, he is the executive director of NC Farm Families, a nonprofit organization dedicated to standing up and speaking out in defense of North Carolina farm families.

Alayne Johnson — Indiana

Alayne Johnson has been a part-owner of Shady Grove Farms for more than 20 years. The Johnson family has been raising hogs for more than five generations in northeastern Indiana. Currently, they are transitioning their independent, 1,000 sow, farrow-to-finish operation to a contract, wean-to-finish model while working to make plans to bring in the next generation.

Alayne served on the NPB Board of Directors for one term (2022-2025). During this time, she held the treasurer position and chaired the Finance committee. She has been involved in the Pork Leadership Institute (2018) and has served as a board member for Indiana Pork.

She is currently a board member for the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) as a representative for National Pork Board. She also serves as Whitley County Farm Bureau president as well as her district’s representative on the State Oversight committee for Indiana Farm Bureau.

Dr. Seth Krantz — Tennessee

Seth Krantz, DVM, has held a leadership position at Tosh Pork for 12 years, while he has been in production for about 17 years. Tosh Pork has approximately 38,000 sows, producing more than 1 million market hogs yearly. His commitment to helping pig farmers is evident as a Pork Quality Assurance® Plus and Transport Quality Assurance® advisor.

Dr. Krantz is a licensed veterinarian in select states and a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. He most recently graduated from a master’s program in veterinary science from the University of Illinois, a program designed for lifelong learning of business, critical thinking and scientific skills specific to food-producing animals.

Dwight Mogler — Iowa

Dwight Mogler is a senior partner in his family’s diversified livestock and crop farm. The family harvests 3,000 acres of row crops, markets 200,000 head of hogs from their farrow-to-finish operation, manages 3,000 head of market beef cattle from their feedlot operation and handles more than 4 million bushels of grain through their county grain elevator. Their latest business venture is Iowa Craft Meats, a coordinated supply chain that directly brings pork products from their farm to foodservice and retail customers.

Mogler is a member of several Iowa and Lyon County pork, cattle, corn and soybean farmer organizations, and notably served a three-year term on the National Pork Producers Council. He is a current board member of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and an active member of his church.

Kevin Rasmussen — Iowa

Kevin Rasmussen raised pigs for 45 years and farmed 1,100 acres of row crops for 41 years. After shifting several operational styles, he most recently managed an 1,100 head farrow-to-finish and now consults finishing for a management company. Rasmussen’s respected experience in the industry includes being the immediate past president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association; National Pork Producer’s Council PorkPac, which is a political action committee; and NPB’s International Market Development Sustainability Differentiation task force.

John Rauser — Montana

John Rauser has been involved in farming all his life. He currently cares for 25 purebred Duroc females, sells market hogs, weaned pigs, and seed stock, and cooks whole hogs for special events. He has been involved with the Montana Pork Producers Council for 31 years, including serving as president (2014-2023), vice president (2024) and interim state executive director. Nationally, he served as a member of the Pork Industry Visioning task force (2023), was a member of the NPB Nominating committee (2013-2014) and demonstrated leadership on the Pork Industry State/National Relations task force (2010). 

Rauser has executive-level and management business and banking experience at Farm Credit Services (2 years), his local state bank (19 years), McDonald’s Restaurant (7 ½ years) and Graymont Western US, Inc. mine. His volunteer experience includes 4-H (24 years), his church (41 years, including serving as finance council chairman (8 years), his rural fire district board (23 years) and county fair board (17 years).  

Jessica Stevens — Ohio

Jessica Stevens is the owner of Carroll Creek Farms, LLC, based in Waynesville, Ohio.

The farm markets 300 pigs per year directly to consumers through a community-supported agriculture program, wholesale freezer meats, their on-farm store and the local farmer’s market. Jessica raises cattle, sheep, broilers, turkeys and layers as well. Professionally, Jessica is the vice president of food and agribusiness for Farm Credit Mid-America. In this role, she supports large commercial swine operators.

Terry Wolters — South Dakota

With 27 years of experience, Terry Wolters owns multiple sow farms in South Dakota and Minnesota, marketing 35,000 pigs annually, and a 2,400-head research finisher managed by Pipestone System. Terry and his family own shares in Wholestone Farms co-op packing plant and operates more than 120 acres of crop and pastureland.

His leadership service in the industry includes the South Dakota Pork Producers Council and the Minnesota Pork Producers Association (10 years each, including presidential terms for each), Operation Main Street (10 years) and the county association (20 years), where he led community outreach and promotion. Nationally, he has served on the National Pork Producers Council board of directors, including a term as president (2022), and committees (10 years). Finally, he is a past chair of the National Pork Board’s marketing committee (2017-2018).