The 2018-2019 American Agri-Women officer team is in place and ready to get to work. Jeanette Lombardo, Immediate Past President of the California Women for Agriculture will lead the team as President of American Agri-Women (AAW) for 2018-2019.
Lombardo belongs to and serves on numerous agricultural association boards. She was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. The board is one of nine regional boards statewide that has jurisdiction to protect the ground and surface water quality in the Los Angeles and Ventura County Regions. Additionally, Lombardo has completed a federal appointment to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Ag Services Division. This appointment was made to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in fruits and vegetables. The committee is a private sector body that provides technical advice on US agricultural trade issues to the Secretary of Agriculture and the US Trade Representative Ambassador.
Lombardo is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategic Officer for Global Water Innovations. This company is a project developer of cost-effective brackish groundwater desalination solutions for agriculture. Additionally, they assist farmers with finding new water sources by treating oil produced water and irrigation water runoff as well as satisfying regulatory compliance for containments. Lombardo is a single mother of two daughters. Lauren, is 24 and is a Data Scientist currently working in New York City. Younger daughter, Nicole is 21 and a junior at Washington State University, Pullman were she is working on her double major in Psychiatry and Criminal Justice.
Karolyn Zurn from Minnesota Agri Women was elected First Vice President. Zurn farms with her husband, Bill, and 2 sons in North Western Minnesota where they raise corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and wheat. The Zurn’s have five grown children and 12 grandchildren that all presently work in some sort of agriculture position.
Zurn is Immediate Past President of Minnesota Agri-Women and served four years as AAW Chair of Government Issues. She has served on many agriculture boards including Minnesota Ag in the Classroom, Northern Crops Institute Council, Minnesota Soybean Growers, and Becker County Corn & Soybean Growers serving as treasurer and government affairs representative. She coordinated North Dakota Common Ground program for 4 years.
Jenny Stelmach from Kentucky Women in Agriculture was elected Vice President of Communications. Stelmach’s involvement in agriculture began in 1999 when the first Kentucky Women in Agriculture meetings were held. Having completed her bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business at Western Kentucky University in December 1994 and going immediately to a horticultural internship at the Land Pavilion in Epcot Center she had finally found a group of like-minded women. She served on the group formally incorporating KWIA in 2003. Since then she has served as District Representative, Vice-President, President, Past President, and currently serves as Secretary. She became involved in AAW in 2009. Since then she has served as Commodities Chair, Commodity Marketing Chair, Foundation Representative, and Foundation Secretary. Stelmach has been a commodities broker and grain marketing consultant for Commodity Marketing Services in Owensboro, Kentucky for 18 years helping farm operations market their grain. She is passionate about agriculture, especially as it relates to educating the consumer.
Jean Goslin from Kansas Agri-Women serves as Vice President of Education. Goslin started out in the United Farm Wives, a precursor to Kansas Agri-Women. She took some time to raise 3 kids and work full time. Since getting involved again, she has served as President, Vice President, and chairman of the decorations committee for the 2011 AAW convention held in Kansas. Goslin, her husband and son have a small herd of commercial Herefords and put up hay for sale. She has served as President of her childrens’ elementary school and has been 4-H club leader for more than 25 years. Goslin currently serves on the Morris County Farm Bureau Board.
Katie Yost from Montana Agri-Women was elected Treasurer. Growing up in Montana, Yost has been involved in agriculture throughout her life. Her family comes from a ranching background, and she now works for her family owned livestock liquid feed company, Nutra-Lix, Inc. Since 2007, she continues to share her passion for agriculture by actively participating in American Agri-Women and more recently as the treasurer for the AAW Foundation. On the state level she proudly served as the Montana Agri-Women secretary and heads up their youth outreach program each year through their “Ag Sprouts Barn” at the Montana Fair. In Yost’s downtime she loves to travel.
Natalina Sents from Iowa Agri Women was elected as Secretary. Immediately after graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in Agricultural Business, Sents pitched, planned, and partnered with Beck’s Hybrids on a year-long, nationwide road trip, honoring farmers through blogs and photography in all 50 states. After completing the Why I Farm road trip and returning to the Midwest, she finished several freelance projects and began speaking about her traveling experiences around the country. In October 2017, Sents joined the Successful Farming staff as the Digital Content Editor of Agriculture.com. In that role, she coordinates the back end of the website, sends a daily newsletter and manages the brand’s social media accounts. While new machinery is her area of focus, Sents enjoys writing about a variety of news and information in a way that serves farmers. Those responsibilities allow her to travel several times a month. Outside her full-time job, she still speaks at conferences around the country and does consulting work on the side. As a hobby, Sents works in the restaurant industry and enjoys learning about other perspectives of food and agriculture through that lens.
Doris Mold from Minnesota Agri-Women moved into the role of Past President. Farmer, agriculture advocate, ag consultant, educator, volunteer, Mold is passionate about developing the next generation of ag leaders, advocating for agriculture, and empowering all agriculturalists, particularly women.
