Meet the Women in Ag Tech Ambassadors!

Amy Asmus is a respected and successful owner/agronomist of Asmus Farm Supply, Inc., a family-owned Agricultural retailer selling to growers who apply crop inputs. Amy is involved in her family’s farming operation. She also is a partner in SecureTracs, a business helping retailers comply with EPA repackaging and tank tracking requirements. 

Amy is currently vice chair on the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Retailers Association. She is past chair of International Certified Crop Adviser (ICCA) and currently serves as the liaison between ICCC and the American Society of Agronomy Executive boards. Since 2012, she has served on a Weed Science Society of America national task force to find more effective private and public approaches to manage herbicide resistance. Amy and her husband Harlan founded and support the “Into the Field” initiative, a program created to strengthen the partnership among the agricultural industry, ISU faculty, and ISU students to cultivate strong agronomists for the future.  

Amy is passionate about her beliefs and is fearless when it comes to getting results. She is also proud to be a mother of 3 children and enjoying time with her 6 grandchildren. 

Julia Eberhart is Director of Public Relations & Communications at Bushel, an agricultural software company based in Fargo, ND. Julia is responsible for all media relations, news release distribution, and submissions for speaker panels and awards. A high school job at the local newspaper led her into a career in public relations and marketing for a variety of industries including college sports, architectural & engineering, manufacturing, and software. She’s a mom to two kids and enjoys yoga and running to support her love of baking and cooking. 

Vonnie’s role as VP of Innovation at International Fresh Produce Association is to bring technology to the produce industry across the supply chain, bridging the gap between technology innovators and producers to identify and solve pressing needs. Her career has been driven by a passion for agriculture, technology, and sustainability. She has held leadership roles with some of the largest multinational organizations along with start-ups.  

Vonnie is a sought-after voice in the ag industry, speaking and publishing frequently. She produces an insightful weekly Podcast “Fresh Takes on Tech” on technology and solutions in the Produce Industry and manages the Fresh Field Catalyst Accelerator bringing new technologies into the industry.  She also chairs the Technology and CEA Councils for IFPA pulling the industry together on important topics to those sectors. She sits on three start-up company boards of directors (Creatus Bio, Kula Bio and Stony Creek Colors) in addition to advisory and government boards. 

Vonnie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in horticulture from New Mexico State University and a Master of Science degree in plant pathology from University of California, Davis. The Biotechnology Innovation Organization awarded her with the fourth annual Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology in 2017, an award recognizing women who make lasting contributions in the field of biotechnology. 

Jaymie Forrest leads Activ Technologies to help companies and their trading partners enable digital supply chains. With over 30 years of experience, Jaymie specializes in supply chain operations and logistics technologies in a variety of industries and applications.  

As CSCO, prior to Activ, she delivered the first high-speed produce handling conveyance with integrated cross-border operations, world-class food safety, and full case-level traceability. While serving as Managing Director of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, she founded the Integrated Food Chain Research Center working with governments and industries to improve logistics performance and developing cold chain programs designed to reduce food waste. Also, founder of The Logistics Council for the Republic of Panama, and Logistics Innovation Centers in Singapore, China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Brazil—all focused on operational strategies and logistics efficiencies. 

As Vice President of Marketing for AquaSpy, Kathleen is helping farmers embrace intelligent below-ground technology to make their farms more profitable. Kathleen has over two decades of sales and marketing experience in SaaS and managed services for emerging technologies including IoT, CyberSecurity, Privacy, and AI.  

Kathleen is mentor and volunteer for a number of industry organizations including CompTIA IoT Advisory Council, San Diego Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) KnowledgeNet, San Diego Chapter of the Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) as well as past member of the AA-ISP National Advisory Board.

Jennifer works with our clients to align communications strategies with business goals to attract investors and scale a formidable commercial business. She brings more than 25 years of experience in agriculture and food communications after leading global public affairs and corporate communications while at DuPont Pioneer, Campbell Soup Company, Ocean Spray Cranberries and Fleishman-Hillard. She also served as VP-Marketing at FarmLink and MachineryLink, early leaders in agtech.

With deep connections across the media and influencer landscape, Jennifer helps carve out thought leadership opportunities for our clients. She earned a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Washington State University. Now based in Kansas City, Jennifer has maintained a green thumb even as a first-generation urban dweller. 

 Carolyn Gunkel is a litigator who represents and advises clients on critical legal and business issues. She represents businesses in product liability, agribusiness and toxic tort matters in state and federal courts. Carolyn is experienced in all aspects of litigation. 

Robyn Heine is Vice President of Communications for Indianapolis-based Intelinair. In this role, she leads all communications areas for the agtech start up.

Prior to joining Intelinair in 2021, Robyn served as the Enterprise Change Communications Director for Corteva Agriscience where she led the change management and communications strategy. She also served as Communications Lead for the Transformation Office dedicated to the merger of the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. Prior to that she served as director of the Global Public Affairs function for Dow AgroSciences.

Earlier in her career, she worked for food and agriculture global public relations agencies and the South Dakota corn checkoff board.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural journalism from South Dakota State University and master’s degree from Indiana University. She earned PRSA’s APR certification and is a graduate of the Thunderbird School of Management’s executive education program.

Robyn currently serves as treasurer and board member of the Indiana 4-H Foundation. Robyn grew up on fifth generation diversified family farm in South Dakota.

Joyce Hunter is the Executive Director at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT), a nonprofit think tank providing education, outreach and research at the nexus of cybersecurity, national security and critical infrastructure. Prior to her engagement with ICIT, she was the Deputy CIO for Policy and Planning and the Acting CIO at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Joyce is also the creator and President of Data Science Camp Inc. (DSCI) and Science Technology Engineering Agriculture and Math (STEAM), an intensive, design thinking, project-based effort to use data to address important issues of public policy related to agriculture. 

Hylon is an agriculture marketing and sales professional with over 35 years of experience specializing in technology applications, multi-channel marketing, regulatory compliance, and segmentation intelligence.  Precision agriculture technology, grower programs, customer relations, regulatory affairs, and distribution channel matrix are a few of the sectors of expertise.   She is an experienced leadership team member contributing to delivery of products, solutions, and services and business development efforts focused on helping agriculture and environmental businesses.

Aurea L. Rivera is a highly accomplished professional with extensive experience in engineering, project management, and intelligence. She is a certified Project Manager Professional (PMP), Agile Professional (PMI-ACP), and Professional Engineer with an Ohio Engineering Certificate of Authorization. Aurea is taking a sabbatical to retool and prepare for the emerging challenges in the Climate Smart Commodity and Intelligence Community sectors. 

 With a 34-year career as an Air Force civilian, Aurea retired with the grade of Defense Intelligence Senior Leader (DISL) and has become a national expert in areas such as Measurement and Signature Intelligence, Signals Intelligence, Open Source, Geospatial Intelligence, Foreign Avionics, and Foreign Material Exploitation. Before her sabbatical, Aurea held the position of Chief Scientist at Epsilon C5I in Dayton. She also served as Senior Advisor at the Riverside Research Institute in an Advice and Assist support capacity and as a consultant for Applied Research Associates (ARA), Dayton. 

Aurea has also held prominent roles on various national committees, including Chairperson for the Foreign Instrumentation Signals Committee (National Security Agency), Air Force Representative to the Scientific and Technical Intelligence Committee, and Air Force Alternate to the Weapons and Space Systems Intelligence Committee. In her leadership role, she spearheaded a multi-discipline team responsible for developing strategies for Space Signatures. 

Committed to empowering the next generation of STEM professionals, Aurea serves as a mentor for women and minority students. She is the State of Ohio Chairperson for the MATHCOUNTS competition, which fosters math skills among 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Additionally, she is the Chairperson for the NASIC Association Larry Benson Scholarship Committee and President of the Engineers Foundation of Ohio.  

Lara L. Sowinski joined Meister Media Worldwide in 2022 as Group Editor for the CropLife Media Group. Previously, she was the Editorial Director for AC Business Media’s Supply Chain Network, whose brands include Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive. Sowinski started her career in international trade working with Fritz Companies (acquired by U.P.S. in 2001) and Sony Corporation of America, then transitioned into the B2B media sector where she helped grow global trade and supply chain brands with compelling content across diverse channels. 

Dr. Patricia Stock earned her B.S. in Biology (emphasis in Zoology) and her Ph.D. in Natural Sciences at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. Early in her career she served as an extension agent for the Division of Agricultural Education in the Ministry of Education and Culture of the province of Buenos Aires in Argentina. In this role, she provided knowledge on new agricultural technologies and practices to enhance the livelihoods of farmers. She worked with growers, farmers, and community leaders to enable action-oriented partnerships and collaborations to improve food production and consumption in the province of Buenos Aires. She did her postdoctoral training at the Department of Nematology at the University of California, Davis, where she also held the assistant curator position at the U.C. Davis Nematode Collection. 

Dr. Stock served as faculty member at the University of Arizona for 20 years. From 2018 to August 2021, she served as the director of the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences (ACBS) housed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at the University of Arizona. During her tenure at the University of Arizona, she successfully established a well-funded and internationally recognized research program that focuses on the study of insect pathogens and parasites and their development as alternatives for the management of agricultural pests.  

Dr. Stock joined California State University, Chico in August of 2021. As a Latina immigrant who has lived in California and Arizona over the past 28 years, she understands the challenges that minorities face in academia. As the dean of the College of Agriculture, her overarching goal is to create an environment that is inviting towards underrepresented minorities and socioeconomically underprivileged students, faculty, and staff. 

Carolyne Vowell is a member of the Soiltech Wireless team, serving as Product Manager and Sustainability Lead. In these roles, she looks at everything from the basic functionality of the Soiltech Beacon and its plug-and-play capabilities, to the big-picture potential of the data outputs and the various actions growers can take based on that data. She’s also helping define Soiltech’s place within the evolving landscape of agriculture as the push for sustainable and regenerative farming practices increases and farmers have to manage their finite resources to a higher degree.

Prior to joining Soiltech, Carolyne held multiple roles within Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, worked as a GIS Technician and UAV remote pilot for Renewable Resources Group, and was a Wildfire Tech Specialist for Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.