Josh Rimmert (chair)
Seat: Processing, marketing or retailing business
| Alsum Farms & Produce: Josh is the food safety coordinator at Alsum Farms & Produce, where he has worked for 15 years and led the food safety program for Alsum Companies for the last 12 years. He works closely with suppliers and packers, while keeping abreast of the latest food safety trends and practices. While attending Cambria-Friesland High School, Josh was an active member of the Randolph Cambria-Friesland FFA and served as a chapter officer. He earned his American FFA Degree in 2004 and got his start in agriculture working at local dairy farms in central Wisconsin. Josh attended Western Technical College in La Crosse, earning an associate's degree in firefighting. He currently serves as the fire chief for the Friesland Volunteer Fire Department.
| 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Steve Louis (vice chair)
Seat: Produce farmer
| Oakwood Fruit Farm: Steve grew up on an apple orchard and dairy farm in southwest Wisconsin. He attended UW-Madison and received a degree in horticulture and dairy science. Steve has run the packing operations and food safety program for Oakwood Fruit farm for 15 years. The farm packs nearly 100,000 bushel of apples each year. He works closely with other large apple packers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan while keeping up on the latest food safety trends and practices.
| 2/2023 to 2/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Dan Cornelius
Seat: Tribal nation
| Intertribal Agriculture Council
| 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Sara Ecker
Seat: Produce farmer
| Ecker's Apples: Sara is the orchard manager of a 40-acre family farm in western Wisconsin. The farm is fairly vertically integrated – growing, harvesting, packing, wholesaling, processing, baking and making hard cider. The farm underwent the On-Farm Readiness Review in 2019 and had its FSMA inspection in 2020. Sara is a member of the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association (WAGA) and currently serves on its board.
| 2/2023 to 2/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Jay Ellingson
Seat: Processing, marketing or retailing business
| Kwik Trip: Jay is responsible for the development and execution of Kwik Trip's food protection system, which includes food safety, food science, food regulations, and food security/fraud. He received his Ph.D. in molecular microbiology from Marquette University before completing his postdoctoral fellowship training with the USDA, Agriculture Research Service, National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, where he developed and patented a molecular diagnostic method for the detection of Johne’s disease in dairy cattle. Dr. Ellingson is a member of the CRBC Board and served on the YMCA Board from 2010-20.
| 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Chris Fasching
Seat: Produce farmer
| Wescott Agri Products: Chris is the food safety manager at Westcott Agri Products. He also is a grower, packer, shipper and importer. Chris has worked with Food Safety Modernization Act regulation implementation over several years.
| 5/2021 to 5/2023; eligible for reappointment
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Wayne Geist
Seat: Produce farmer | Bushel and a Peck Market: Wayne and Lisa Geist own and operate Bushel and a Peck Market as well as Geist Electric. The farm is located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and is fully covered under the Produce Safety Rule. The farm produces more than 36 varieties of apples, as well as currents, raspberries and blackberries while practicing ecology-based growing, promoting soil and tree health, nurturing pollinators, and protecting biodiversity. The market offers wholesale, pick-your-own and prepicked orchard selections as well as baked goods, fall produce, school tours, wagon rides and more. Wayne also is a member of Wisconsin Apple Growers Association, is an Army veteran and master electrician, and has a bachelor's degree in industrial management. | 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment |
Brandi Grayson
Seat: At-large
| Urban Triage: Brandi is the founder, CEO, and president of Urban Triage and Grayson Consulting. Many know Brandi's work with the Young Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB), which she co-founded in 2014 in response to the murder of Mike Brown and, most recently, her leadership as CEO of Urban Triage following the murder of George Floyd. She embodies what she stands for: Supporting healthy Black families, transformative justice & education, integrity, breakthroughs, and Black liberation, bringing decades of experience working with Black families and children and program development and implementation while simultaneously experiencing the intersectionality of Black vulnerability. Leading her to found and ground her work in creating a better world and understanding that a better world starts with self: self-awareness, accountability, integrity, self-discovery, and the will to heal. Brandi can be reached at info@urbantriage.org.
| 8/2022 to 8/2024; eligible for reappointment |
Hsing-Yi Hsieh
Seat: Processing, marketing or retailing business
| Festival Foods: Hsing-Yi serves as the director of food protection and regulatory affairs for Festival Foods. In this role, she is responsible for leading the execution of the company’s food safety, quality and regulatory compliance programs across 40 retail locations. Under her leadership, Festival Foods was the recipient of the 2019 Food Industry Association’s Food Safety Innovation Award. She holds a M.S. degree in food microbiology from Iowa State University and has more than15 years of food safety experience in both public and private sectors. She serves as a member of the Wisconsin Food Safety Advisory Committee, Wisconsin Produce Safety Advisory Council, FMI Food Protection Committee, and Conference for Food Protection.
| 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Jenna LaChance
Seat: Consumer advocate
| Organic Valley: Jenna is the produce member and production manager for Organic Valley, where she coordinates the seasonal production of the produce members, supports them in production practices and disease and insect management, and performs on-farm food safety education. She also is a Produce Safety Alliance trainer. She has a bachelor's degree in horticulture and a master's degree in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jenna can be reached at jenna.lachance@organicvalley.coop.
| 8/2022 to 8/2024; eligible for reappointment |
Jeff Mears
Seat: At-large
| Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council: Jeff is executive director of WTCAC, a nonprofit established in 2001 that provides a forum for the 11 federally recognized tribal nations in Wisconsin on natural resource and agricultural issues. Jeff is a member of the Oneida Nation, with a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and chemistry from Northern Illinois University, and master's of public administration from UW-Oshkosh. Jeff has more than 25 years of natural resources management experience with the Oneida Nation and now WTCAC.
| 2/2023 to 2/2025; eligible for reappointment |
Susan Quam
Seat: Processing, marketing or retailing business
| Wisconsin Restaurant Association
| 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment
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Lavern Zeiset
Seat: Produce farmer | Lavern Zeiset Farm; Plain Communities: Lavern has been a produce farmer for 23 years at Lavern Zeiset Farm. He is regularly and heavily involved in the Central Wisconsin Produce Auction. This facility is open for public and serves over 150 producers and sells wholesale to buyers. Lavern is also a member of the national Plain Communities Food Safety Education Team (FSET) out of Ohio, representing the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the northern part of Iowa. Lavern can be contacted by phone at (715) 229-4123. | 11/2022 to 11/2025; eligible for reappointment |