from policy to production

Under Atagi’s leadership, NIHC’s goals are to further market development, assist members in entering the industry, and educate the consumer on industrial hemp and its applications. Educating consumers is of paramount importance for NIHC.

Atagi has served in executive positions in both the public and private sector. He previously served the public as both the Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and as the Confidential Assistant to the Under Secretary at the United States Department of Agriculture under President George W. Bush. In the private sector, Atagi previously worked for the US Apple Association, UnitedFresh, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), been the Secretariat for the World Chlorine Council, and the American Chemistry Council.

He remains President and CEO of his family’s farming operation DA Farms in Nyssa, Oregon. 

Atagi is a strong business development professional and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and University of Maryland MBA program.

Prior to this, he held positions of Vice President Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer with two publicly traded companies and served 13 years in financial leadership positions in Europe, Middle East, West Africa, and South America in the energy and professional services industries. His leadership in financial system implementation projects and related process enhancement and cost rationalization initiatives has netted savings in excess $11M per annum.

When Thomas is not working, he travels extensively and has visited approximately 40 countries, including living in five. He volunteers for a number of charitable organizations and most recently served a co-chair of the Ensemble Theater of Houston’s Founder’s Circle, which raised $250K.

Thomas is a graduate of the United Way of Greater Houston’s Project Blueprint, which prepares participants for board leadership positions of nonprofit companies. He also completed the Board Leadership Forum of Deloitte’s Center for Board Effectiveness in May 2018. Thomas is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). He holds an MBA in Management from the University of Texas, a BBA in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame and is a Licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois.

Hawks was the managing partner of Hawks Farming, which farmed approximately 12,000 acres of land in three counties in northern Mississippi. This operation consisted of soybeans, double-cropped winter wheat, corn, cotton, and cattle. In the late 1980s, Hawks was a part owner in a professional farm management company, Sunbelt Land and Timber Company, Incorporated.

In December 1994, Hawks was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, representing DeSoto County. During his five years as a state senator, he was a leader on the committees with jurisdiction over agriculture and the environment. In 1999, he was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi.

On May 24, 2001, during the George W. Bush administration, Hawks was sworn in as the Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs by United States Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman. Hawks served until 2005.

Throughout his career, he has been active in many agricultural boards and committees such as American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and many state and local organizations.

In addition to his public service, Lowell has extensive government affairs experience in the private sector. Prior to joining USDA, Lowell was Senior Associate for Meyers and Associates, a Washington based government relations firm. He also held the position of Assistant Legislative Director for AESOP Enterprises, an agriculture focused government relations firm in Washington. Lowell also has experience working in state government. He held the position of Coordinator of Trade and Federal Issues for the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).

Lowell holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and master’s degree in agricultural development, both from Texas A&M University. He also holds a law degree from George Mason University School of Law.

Specialties: Government relations, lobbying, agriculture, appropriations, regulations

As Deputy Administrator, Ms. Sheikh was in charge of the overall leadership of USDA’s global trade and development objectives and programs and oversaw all programming regarding the implementation of food assistance, trade capacity building, and agricultural development programs. Through her leadership, Ms. Sheikh helped developing countries around the world improve their agricultural systems thereby improving their standard of living and their capacity to engage in two-way trade. Prior to her work as Deputy Administrator of the Office of Capacity Building and Development, Ms. Sheikh was the Deputy Administrator of International Trade Policy, the World Cotton Coordinator, and a Trade Analyst at the Office of Foreign Economic Policy.

Ms. Sheikh holds a B.A. in History and Political Science with a minor in Economics from Notre Dame of Maryland University and an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She is a former member of the General Administration Board at the USDA Graduate School, served as an Advisory Board Member for the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Tuskegee University, The German Marshall Fund and Leadership Africa. Ms. Sheikh joined the Roots of Peace Board of Directors in October 2014. She currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Ms. Sheikh has numerous awards acknowledging her accomplishments, including the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award and the Presidential Rank Award.

Smith has nearly two decades of experience working in both the government and government-relations field representing various clients before Congress, the administration, and state and local governments. He has worked with major land grant universities, national scientific societies, agricultural policy professionals, national trade associations, a top 50 law firm, chambers of commerce, municipalities and private businesses. Walt Smith has the designation as the number 17 “Rising Star” on the 2013 by Capitol Insider.

Prior to leaving Washington, Mr. Smith worked on Capitol Hill for members of the Texas Delegation, Appropriations and Agriculture Committee Members from Texas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and served as a liaison between USDA and other federal water agencies and departments.

Walt Smith has his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Science Development and Masters of Agriculture, Agricultural Development and Public Policy from Texas A&M.

Starting out, Bob served a variety of roles in his seven years with the Farm Credit System, achieving professional status as a farm manager and rural appraiser with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

Early in his career, Bob participated in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program where he spent two years discussing agriculture and rural policy in the U.S. and abroad at the University of Krakow following the end of communist rule.  He joined Indiana Farm Bureau for the first time in 1996 as Director of Natural Resources where he gained experience in grassroots development at the local, state and national levels.

In 1998 Bob moved to Washington D.C. where he served as a senior policy staff member of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Then three years later, Senator Richard Lugar nominated, and President Bush appointed him to serve as the Indiana State Director of USDA Rural Development.  In that role Bob oversaw an $8 million annual budget and was responsible for a variety of loan and grant programs which invested nearly $4 billion in rural Indiana during his tenure.  During this time, Bob also spent time working in the EU on agricultural issues on detail from USDA.

Later in his career, Bob was founder and CEO of WRW & Associates, a consulting company who assisted rural communities and agriculture producers in changing their paradigm of rural economic business development. 

Bob rejoined Farm Bureau in 2012 and became Director of National Government Relations in 2016.

For his efforts in assisting agriculture and rural Hoosiers, Bob was honored with the Sagamore of the Wabash award, the highest honor given to an individual in the state of Indiana.

Bob still owns and manages his family farm. He and his wife, Melina reside in Greensburg, Indiana with their three rescued dogs.

For the past 21 years, Mr. Farquhar has directed the Environmental Health Program at the National Conference of State Legislatures. This program performs legislative analysis and outreach on state and federal environmental, health and trade laws; focusing on the delegation and authorization of federal and state laws; and provides legal and technical assistance to state legislators and agency staff on state, federal and international environmental, environmental health, and trade policies. He also provides testimony before state legislative committees and task forces; reviews and comments on legislation and regulations, drafts memos, articles and books on state environmental health policies; and represents state interests before federal and international bodies.

As director of Environmental Health he works closely with federal counterparts at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

Prior to coming to NCSL, Doug worked in the Texas House of Representatives for the Natural Resources and Appropriations Committees and for Congressman Schaefer on Capitol Hill in Washington. He received his law degree from the University of Denver (DU) and undergraduate from the University of Texas in Austin. He is adjunct professor in the DU graduate school of Environmental Policy and Management and at the Colorado School of Public Health.

Prior to joining NAMI, he served for nearly 15 years as the Deputy Administrator for the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) where he oversaw commodity checkoff programs. In that role, he also represented the United States on the United Nation’s Committee on Agriculture from 1990 until 2006. He’s received Presidential Rank awards from both Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush which honors career government employees service and was inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of the University of Florida.