WPI's uniqueness is in its composition of people. The professional staff of WPI and affiliated consultants average nearly 25 years of experience in the agri-food sector. The firm joins together professionals with extensive industry background, high-level government trade policy and export program management experience, and producer-supported export market development organization experience, all in a concerted effort to provide broad-based services for our clients.


GARY BLUMENTHAL, President and Chief Executive Officer, provides policy and market analysis, as well as coverage on the impact of food safety/environment issues.  He serves on numerous boards including service as a member of the joint USDA-USTR Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Grains, Feed and Oilseeds, the USDA Emerging Markets Program Advisory Committee, the World Agricultural Forum, the American Council for United Nations University, and Chair of the Ag Roundtable.

From June 1991 through January 1993, he served as Deputy Assistant for Cabinet Liaison to former President George Bush, and as Special Assistant to the President for Agriculture Trade and Food Assistance. From May 1989 to June 1991, Mr. Blumenthal served as Executive Assistant and then as Chief of Staff to then Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter, providing oversight of all operations in this large federal agency (110,000 employees) and exercising continuous scrutiny over $65 billion worth of programs including research, education, production, domestic and international marketing, food safety and inspection, nutrition, environment, public affairs, economic analysis, legal counsel and administration matters related to USDA's mission in the U.S. and in 60 countries around the world. He also served with the Foreign Agricultural Service as Legislative Director, and as a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Larry J. Hopkins (R-KY).


ROBERT KOHLMEYER is President Emeritus of World Perspectives, Inc. He retired as President of World Perspectives in February 2000 but continues as a consultant to the company and as a member of the Board of Directors. During his 40-year career, he worked in nearly every aspect of agribusiness including grain trading, handling and transportation. He has hands-on experience managing grain handling facilities ranging from small sub-terminals to huge facilities in major terminal markets. He is familiar with all end-uses of grain and oilseeds.

Prior to joining WPI in 1991, he spent 36 years in operations and management with Cargill, Inc. His career with Cargill involved domestic and international grain merchandising with an emphasis on export trade and markets. He managed merchandising and elevator facilities in Ohio and Illinois and was Export Marketing Manager in New York and Minneapolis. Mr. Kohlmeyer also managed Cargill's worldwide winter wheat merchandising and the Cargill Futures Department, responsible for corporate hedging of agricultural commodities. From 1976 until 1990, as an adjunct to his operating responsibilities, he was a regular participant in corporate public and government relations activities as a "hands-on" grain trade expert who could analyze and advocate policies from a pragmatic standpoint.

Mr. Kohlmeyer has been directly involved with Soviet/Russian agriculture since the USSR entered world grain markets in 1972. He helped negotiate those first contracts and many more thereafter. He has traveled to Russia on numerous occasions on business and fact-finding missions. He supervised an important study of Egyptian livestock, meat and grain industries to determine whether feed grain imports were an appropriate use of resources. He has studied, written and spoken about a variety of agricultural policy issues in the U.S. and abroad from the viewpoint of a pragmatic agribusiness participant. Mr. Kohlmeyer has served as an advisor to various U.S. government agencies on agricultural trade, policy and infrastructure matters. Currently, he owns and manages a corn and soybean farm in eastern South Dakota. He holds a Bachelor's degree in History from Princeton University.


DAVE JUDAY brings an extensive background in both international business and public policy to WPI's Sweetener Perspectives. Mr. Juday also provides political and policy analysis to WPI's Ag Perspectives. He also has expertise in dairy and livestock issues, and his private sector experience includes successfully exporting confection, bakery and snack food products to markets in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Previously, he served in the White House as Deputy Director of Domestic Policy in the Office of the Vice President, where he was Vice President Dan Quayle's chief agricultural advisor. Mr. Juday also served as an aide in the U.S. Senate where he was appointed Task Force Investigator to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget.

Mr. Juday holds an appointment as an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues and previously he served as the Director of the Focus on Agricultural Regulation and Markets (FARM) Project of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution. His writing on agricultural, trade and environmental issues has been published by such national newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of Commerce and The Washington Times, as well as industry magazines such as Top Producer, Farm Journal and Feedstuffs.

KAREN MARDELLI , Consulting Projects Manager, joins the World Perspective team after having worked in fundraising and communications at the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome, Italy. She has further writing and communications experience from her three years working at Habitat for Humanity in Baltimore, Maryland.

She speaks fluent Italian and French and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations. Karen grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. However, she has lived in Atlanta, Georgia where she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Emory University. She has also lived in Italy, Germany and France. She is an enthusiast of languages, travel and all things international.

PHOEBE CONNELL, Associate, brings prior experience writing and publishing to our nightly and monthly publications. She is responsible for our information products and supports our consultants and subscribers in many capacities.

Prior to joining WPI, Phoebe served as production manager at Computer Law Reporter, a publisher of legal journals. She earned a BA in History and Political Science from Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland and is a native of Cleveland, Ohio.


Contributors

JOHN C. BAIZE concurrently provides WPI with international expertise in oilseeds. He has chaired and participated in conferences on oilseeds and oilseed products in Europe, Asia, and Latin America as well as in the U.S. He was actively involved on behalf of U.S. oilseed organizations and companies during negotiations on both the Uruguay Round and the NAFTA. He has been an advisor to the United Soybean Board's Marketing, Trade Analysis, and Audit and Evaluation Committee for 5 years.

Mr. Baize also serves as President of John C. Baize and Associates, an international agricultural trade and policy consulting firm specializing in the oilseeds sector.

Prior to establishing his own firm in 1989, Baize served for over 10 years as a Staff Vice President in the American Soybean Association's Washington office, where his duties included overall domestic and international policy development and implementation. Prior to joining the American Soybean Association, Baize served as a member of the staff of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) where he was involved in several aspects in the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations. Baize also served for four years on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture where he was responsible for domestic livestock and grains policy, as well as international trade and export policy.

Baize has served as Chairman of the USDA/USTR Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for trade in oilseeds and oilseed products. Raised on a Texas grain and livestock farm, Baize earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from Texas Tech University and a Master of Science degree in agriculture from Colorado State University.


MIKE KRUEGER serves as a senior analyst for World Perspectives, Inc. specializing in industry and market developments. He also works as a consultant to WPI on projects related to merchandising and storage.

Michael Krueger is the founder and President of The Money Farm. The Money Farm is a grain marketing advisory service located near Fargo, North Dakota, that works with individual farmers, country elevators and others associated with agriculture. Mr. Krueger also hosts a daily syndicated radio and television program called The Money Farm that is carried on 35 radio stations across the upper Midwest and six television stations across North Dakota. He is a licensed commodity broker clearing through ADM Investor Services.

Prior to starting The Money Farm, Mr. Krueger co-founded Agri-Mark, a grain marketing consulting company located in Fargo, North Dakota. Mr. Krueger was Vice President from 1982 until he left in 2002. Mr. Krueger held various management positions with Cargill, Inc., from 1974 to 1982, including country elevator management and spring wheat and durum merchandising.

Mr. Krueger has traveled extensively internationally as a speaker at various farm and grain industry meetings and seminars. Mr. Krueger has also worked on numerous consulting projects in the U.S. as well as overseas. He has been a frequent guest on the nationally syndicated television programs Ag Day and Weekend Update. Mr. Krueger was recently named to the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.


Special Consultants


DANIEL B. CONABLE serves as a senior member of WPI's consulting team, specializing in North American trade relations, agricultural policy development and public sector management issues. During a twenty-year career in USDA, he served as the senior U.S. agricultural official in several Asian countries and Mexico, and held Washington assignments that included Deputy Administrator for Foreign Agricultural Affairs and several other management-level assignments in the Foreign Agricultural Service. In 1997, he directed an interagency team tasked to redesigned information technology services for USDA's three county-based agencies.

As a private consultant, Mr. Conable has developed business relationships and conducted feasibility studies in the Far East and Mexico for U.S. companies. He has been International Advisor to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture with responsibility for liaison with senior state and provincial officials in Canada and Mexico since 1998. Since 1999, he has advised the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets on management and domestic farm policy issues and headed projects on farmland protection and food recovery. As a consultant to the U.S. Meat Export Federation, he has developed and led a USDA and industry-funded pilot project designed to streamline border procedures for meat product trade between the United States and Mexico.

Mr. Conable brings his considerable knowledge of Mexican government policies and agricultural politics to the WPI team, as well as expertise in both the execution and evaluation of foreign market development programs. He holds an M.S. degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Vermont and a B.A. in Asian Studies from Cornell University. He is fluent in Spanish, Indonesian and Hindi.


STEPHEN B. DEWHURST is an affiliated consultant with WPI who has completed several recent high profile evaluations with the firm including budgeting/financial framework evaluations for both for USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility. Steve retired from the Federal Government in April, 2005 after more than 39 years of service including 26 years as Director of the Office of Budget and Program Analysis and Budget Officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

During his Federal career, Mr. Dewhurst:
• Served as a key advisor to 12 cabinet officers in developing, presenting, and executing the $110+ billion annual budget of the Department of Agriculture;
• Reformed the processes by which the USDA develops, analyzes, and presents legislative and regulatory proposals;
• Represented the Department as a main or supporting witness at over 500 Congressional hearings;
• Became a charter member of the Federal Senior Executive Service in 1979 and received Presidential recognition as an outstanding senior executive on five occasions from President Carter (1980), President Reagan (1986), President Bush (1991), and President Clinton (1996 & 1999);
• Served as a national board member and president of the American Association for Program and Budget Analysis--he received this organization's award for distinguished national service in 1991;
• Served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Army during 1968-1970 and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his outstanding service.

Mr. Dewhurst is a native of New York City. In 1964, he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the George Washington University and in 1967 he received a Juris Doctor Degree from the same University.


HAROLD HANDLEY is a senior consultant with World Perspectives, Inc. with more than 35 years experience in corporations involved in the production, sales and marketing of food and consumer products. He most recently completed a market research assignment for WPI on the agriculture and agribusiness sectors in Azerbaijan and Georgia. He is also currently working on an assignment for WPI on milk products (milk, soy milk, yogurt), juice fruits and carbonated beverages in Cameroon for the Central African market. In this capacity he has provided oversight for a market research study on prospects for the companies product categories in eight countries in the region.

Mr. Handley began career as marketing research analyst in advertising agencies and worked up to the senior position on accounts - Kraft, Kellogg International and Parker Pen. At age 40, was asked to join Kraft as head of marketing for all non-cheese lines. Products involved - Miracle Whip, Mayonnaise, Pourable Salad Dressing, Pasta Dinners, Parkay Margarine, Confections, Citrus products, Fruit Spreads and BBQ Sauce. (Sales Volume: $700 million plus.) He then was assigned as Head of Research and Marketing Development at Kraft for all products, domestic and international. Following that assignment he served as Marketing Head for all Kraft U.S. retail products, including the entire Cheese line. (Sales Volume: $1.8 billion.)

Mr. Handley moved to Beatrice to head corporate Sales & Marketing. With acquisition of Hunt-Wesson and Swift-Eckridge, moved to Food Group as head of Sales & Marketing. Products involved: Tomato products, Wesson Cooking Oils, Dairy products, BBQ Sauce, Processed Meats, Orange Juice, Popcorn, Stiffle lamps (volume: $7.6 billion). After the take over of Beatrice in 1986 by KKR, he moved to McCormick as V.P. Sales & Marketing for U.S. Retail Operation. Products Involved: herbs, spices, food flavors and seasonings. Mr. Handley advanced to General Manager of McCormick-Schilling Division, Director of McCormick Board and member of the Executive Committee. His last assignment with the company before retirement was Senior Vice President, Manager of European Division with headquarters in England.


JOOST HAZELHOFF has recently reaffiliated with World Perspectives, Inc. as Director for Europe for the company. Mr. Hazelhoff is located in the Netherlands and will be providing World Perspectives and its clients with international expertise in the farm inputs industries, including the fertilizer, the crop protection and seed industry.
 
Prior to setting up his own firm in affiliation with World Perspectives, Joost was a Director at Rabobank International, a Dutch cooperative bank specialized in food and agribusiness (F&A) financing. In this role he was responsible for research coverage of the farm inputs business, providing oversight to the firm’s analysts based in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. He supported credit applications and closely worked together with product groups such as leveraged finance and M&A on buy and sell mandates. The consultant’s responsibilities included strategic advisory projects for corporate clients, and publications and presentations at conferences to profile Rabobank’s F&A expertise.

Prior to this, Mr. Hazelhoff worked for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality on European agricultural policy and multilateral trade agreements. Joost started his career at World Perspectives as a junior policy analyst. Joost holds a master’s from Wageningen University in International Trade Administration and Policies.


GEORGE J. POPE is a senior member of the WPI consulting team. He brings extensive knowledge and experience in assisting U.S. agricultural organizations in maximizing international trade opportunities. Mr. Pope has performed extensive government service over the past 25 years including his most recent posting in Brussels as the Senior Representative of the Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. government's principal agricultural trade/marketing advisor. He has also managed international offices in Paris, Seoul, Jakarta and Lagos, providing trade/marketing services on behalf of U.S. agricultural organizations.

His international experience includes organizing and managing successful trade shows and supermarket promotions, introducing new-to-market products into Europe, Africa and Asia, and resolving numerous importer/exporter problems. Mr. Pope was responsible for developing and managing a five billion-dollar portfolio of USDA export programs. He has cultivated extensive working relationships with Government and private sector contacts throughout the international agricultural community.

Mr. Pope received both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in Economic History from Mississippi State University. He also undertook coursework in Spanish and Sociology at the University of Notre Dame.


FRITZ SCHWARZ is a senior member of the WPI consulting team with extensive experience in developing and managing new and existing U.S. and international businesses. Over the last 30 years, Dr. Schwarz has been instrumental in identifying new international markets, sources of supply and foreign direct investment opportunities and quantifying their feasibility.

Prior to forming his own consulting practice, Dr. Schwarz served as Vice President, Global Sourcing for McCormick & Company, Inc. His responsibilities included the procurement, processing and marketing of raw materials and finished goods processed at source to McCormick units worldwide, including the development of corporate procurement strategies, the development and management of joint ventures and strategic alliances, cost reduction programs, foreign operations, vendor certification, and trade and joint venture financing.

Dr. Schwarz has also held positions with responsibility for providing financing for and development of foreign sources of supply of produce, marketing this product in the United States, developing financial feasibility studies with local entrepreneurs to assist them in securing project financing, as well as assisting clients in the development of international markets and foreign sources of supply and in the development and financing of foreign investment projects.

In Memoriam

It is with great sadness that we share with you the loss we have suffered. Our friend and colleague Anita Chomsky passed away suddenly in her sleep on January 25th. She was just 49 years old, the mother of two girls, ages 11 and 12, and a major support for her husband Britt.

She was also the main operations manager for WPI. Anita was the longest tenured employee of World Perspectives, having joined the company in 1985—just a few years after it was started by Carole Brookins. Anita has been WPI’s Executive Vice President, which means she ran the joint.

She has been our switchboard, marketing director, financial advisor, project manager, company historian and equipment repairman all rolled into one. Clark Fauver, an intern for WPI back in the 1990’s referred to her as the “oracle.” All questions and issues went to Anita—she was the very fabric of the company. We will be challenged to fill the huge gap left by her passing—both in our personal lives and in the functions of the company. Please forgive us if we struggle for a while.

We dearly love the daily calculation of markets and politicians but our human hearts have been wrenched. We are making sure that Anita’s immediate family knows how much she meant to all of us, and that we are there to support them.