A member of the US Exim Bank Advisory Council and Chairman of Cultivating New Frontiers for Agriculture (CNFA). He has served as the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture and is a former U.S. Representative from the 2nd District of Mississippi. He currently works as a private sector attorney, counselor, and agricultural advisor, having his own law and consulting firms: Mike Espy, PLLC, and AE Agritrade, Inc.He focuses his legal practice in the areas of government relations, public finance, agribusiness transactions, commercial law, international law, and mass tort litigation. His consulting practice includes advising agribusiness companies, food charities, and government entities on a wide range of agricultural and business concerns.Mr. Espy also keeps busy as a speaker and lecturer and is frequently asked to comment on current political, economic, legal, and social topics. He has appeared on Nightline, the ABC Nightly News, the Today Show, and various other television news programs. He has also been featured in a host of national magazines and periodicals.As the 25th Secretary of Agriculture, Mike is credited with reorganizing the $65 billion agency, negotiating multilateral treaties for the trade of American agricultural commodities, and instituting reforms in the national food inspection system to eradicate food-borne illnesses. He also brought new emphasis to the important nutrition and anti-hunger programs at the USDA and distinguished himself as an expert in rural business, economic development, and infrastructure policy.During his tenure at USDA, the Uruguay Round of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) was completed, and the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was signed. He made a significant contribution to the passage of both of these landmark treaties by personally negotiating bilateral agricultural access agreements with country ministers from throughout the world.In his capacity as an agricultural consultant and trade attorney, Mike has traveled widely across the globe. Since his days in the President’s Cabinet, Heads of State and government ministers in Africa, Haiti, China, Korea, and Brazil have utilized his talents. He has evaluated projects in Cuba, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and currently serves as the principal consultant for an international charity with outreach missions in 54 countries. He also serves as the investment advisor for public-private projects in Africa and is responsible for locating global investors in these projects.Prior to his appointment as USDA Secretary, Mike Espy served for seven years as a Member of Congress, becoming the first African-American Member of that body from the State of Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. While there, he served his bi-racial district as a member of the Budget and Agriculture Committees.
Jim Skinner is a Charismatic Executive Leader, and a Business Growth Strategist with Expertise in Start-Ups and Mergers and Acquisitions.Jim’s broad functional expertise in finance, purchasing, marketing, supply chain, and sales, along with my extensive cross-functional leadership of product management, operations, HR, IT, Legal, and other functions.He is the founder of Charis Advisory Services LLC, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that offers fractional, interim, and project-based advisory services, with a focus on strategy development and execution, executive general/commercial/operational management, organizational design & effectiveness, and nonprofit strategy/governance/fundraising.Jim Skinner has served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Ontex North America. Ontex is a global consumer goods company headquartered in Belgium. At Ontex, he exhibited cultural adaptability in collaborating with international manufacturing and distribution operations from Mexico, China, and several European countries.Jim was the President of Valor Brands LLC for over 13 years, where he transformed the company into a customer-centric business with a hard-earned $100 million revenue stream before the company was acquired by Ontex. Prior to joining Valor Brands, he was Vice President of Paragon Trade Brands, the largest private-brand disposable diaper company in North America.
Andy Thorson has served as the Vice President of Cardlytics. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA with additional offices in New York, Menlo Park, Los Angeles, Champaign and London, Cardlytics is an advertising platform in banks' digital channels which partners with financial institutions to run their banking rewards programs that promote customer loyalty and deepen banking relationships.Andy’s previous work experience is with Showtime Networks, the American entertainment company known for its premium cable channels including Paramount+. He also worked at TG Madison, an independent marketing and advertising agency and Ross Media, a full service communications company. Andrew Thorson is an alumnus of Michigan State University and Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Kofi Asmah is an international serial entrepreneur, who has built multiple businessesin food and beverage, marketing, and real estate services from start-up to exit stagein the last 30 years. Between September 1999 and June 2002, Kofi Asmah garnered experience in marketing by working within the Ogilvy Group, a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency, and Saatchi & Saatchi Group, a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. He also worked as a Brand Manager within the Diageo Group, which retails over 200 brands and has sales in nearly 180 countries. He considers his foray into marketing and organizational leadership as essential tools to help bring water retainer to every cotton farm in the US by 2030. Water retainer is already in use in 10 countries across 4 continents on a variety ofcrops.Kofi Asmah who has practiced as an attorney for twenty-two years is a member of the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Ghana Bar Association. Gyandoh Asmah and co, the law firm he co-founded, has offices in Atlanta (GA) and Accra (Ghana) and works for several Fortune 500 companies including Samsung, Toyota and Standard Chartered Bank.Kofi Asmah is director for the African Economic Development Center an organization deeply committed to narrowing the divide between developed countries and emerging nations, with a focus on promoting more foreign direct investment from the US into Africa and partner in the Crown Strategy Group, a business investment and development group, which is chaired by the civil rights leader and former Mayor of Atlanta, and former US ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young.
