James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture

Schedule of Events*

• 1:30 pm - 3 pm, Pfendler Hall, Dean’s Auditorium, Room 241
  • Snyder Lecture
• 3 pm - 4:00 pm, Leopold’s Landing
  • Department reception

*Additional details for the day will be added as the event gets closer. 

About Mary Kay Thatcher

Growing up on a 500-acre Iowa farm, Mary Kay Thatcher was bound for a life and career in agriculture. After graduating from Iowa State University with degrees in animal science and agricultural economics, Mary Kay began her career as a legislative assistant for agriculture and trade to Iowa Senator Roger Jepsen. She then served in the first Bush Administration as a political appointee, as the Director of Congressional and Public Affairs of the Farm Credit Administration, where she was responsible for the policy direction and management of the Agency’s congressional and public affairs activities.

As a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation for 31 years, she lobbied primarily on issues covering farm programs, crop insurance, conservation and credit. During her tenure at the American Farm Bureau, Mary Kay also spearheaded the organization’s participation in farm data, security and privacy. She served as President of the Ag Data Transparency Evaluator, a tool developed by ag tech providers and farm/commodity groups to help farmers understand the contracts they sign to share their farm data. Mary Kay also served as Secretary of the Ag Data Coalition, a group of 14 members consisting of farm groups, land grant universities, ag equipment manufacturers and technology companies and providers.

Mary Kay spent seven years as Sr. Manager of Federal Government and Industry Relations for Syngenta. She now serves as President of MK Thatcher Consulting, a business specializing in guidance on ag policy or regulations, as well as speaking on how national policy affects agriculture.

A fifth-generation farmer, Mary Kay helps operate her family farm, which produces corn, soybeans and a cow/calf operation.

Jason P.H. Brantley (MBA '02, Business administration and management)

Jason Brantley is Vice President, Production Systems, Small Agriculture & Turf, for John Deere. He is responsible for leading John Deere’s agricultural machinery and technology business focused on utility and mid tractors, high-value crop solutions and dairy and livestock solutions globally.

Jason is a proven marketing, business and innovation leader who thrives on developing strategies and solutions to equip farmers with tools to help them work more efficiently, profitably and sustainably. With extensive experience in sales, product development, marketing and channel management, Jason brings a solutions-oriented mindset that is grounded in the customer experience to everything he does. 

From 2018 to 2023, Jason served as Vice President, Sales, Asia, Africa & Middle East, successfully leading his team through a challenging period of growth and change. For the three years prior to that, Jason served as Managing Director of the John Deere Sub-Saharan Africa Sales Branch, where he and his leadership team built a solid foundation to support the innovation strategy and leveraged John Deere’s unique strengths to transform agriculture across the continent for both large and smallholder farmers.

Jason began his career with John Deere in 1993 and has held leadership positions in sales, marketing, product development, product support, innovation, strategy and general management in both the Ag & Turf and Construction & Forestry divisions. Jason also serves as a board director for Amadas Industries, the leading manufacturer of peanut-harvesting equipment globally, as well as a board director for the Farm Foundation. He previously served two terms on the United States President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he chaired the subcommittee for Agribusiness and Food-Water policy. 

Jason received his BS in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University and his MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.  

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Casey Zeller (B.S. ’10, Agricultural Economics)

Casey Zeller is the Director of Turf & Ornamental at SePRO Corporation, where he leads a team responsible for sales and marketing initiatives that support product innovation, brand development, and business growth. Since joining SePRO in 2021, Casey has played a key role in strengthening the company’s turf and ornamental portfolio.

Prior to SePRO, Casey spent more than a decade in the agricultural seed industry with AgReliant Genetics, where he held several marketing leadership roles and helped develop and grow their national seed brands.

Casey graduated from Purdue University in 2010 with a B.S. in agricultural economics. During his time at Purdue, he was involved with the Purdue Foundation Student Board, Ag Econ Envoys and the Agribusiness Club.

Outside of work, Casey and his wife, Jill, enjoy raising their children, Briley and Bodie, on their family’s grain and livestock farm. Their family is also actively involved in their church community. Casey is passionate about helping others grow, supporting the next generation of agricultural leaders and cheering on the Purdue Boilermakers.

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Jill Zeller (B.S. '09, agricultural economics and Agricultural Communications)

Jill Zeller is a dynamic marketing leader who’s built her career in agriculture by combining strategic thinking with a deep understanding of the people and markets she serves. As the Portfolio Marketing Leader for Land Management at Corteva Agriscience, Jill helps drive growth by managing complex product portfolios and bringing cross-functional teams together around a shared vision.

Throughout her time with Corteva and its predecessor, Dow AgroSciences, Jill has played a key role in shaping strategy and launching major brands, from the Enlist Weed Control System to specialty Crops, corn herbicides and row-crop fungicides.

Jill’s leadership is defined by her ability to unite and inspire people toward a common goal. She believes in transparency, trust and teamwork, creating an environment where people feel empowered to do their best work. She’s passionate about mentoring others and takes pride in helping teams and customers succeed together.

Outside of work, Jill and her husband, Casey, are raising their two kids on their family farm in Noblesville, Indiana. A proud Purdue alumna and former student representative on the Purdue Board of Trustees, Jill stays active in her community through volunteering with FFA, her church, and her children’s school.

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See previous Apex Award winners

History of the Lecture

The James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture is the Department of Agricultural Economics’ signature event at Purdue University. The lectures were established in February 1975 as an appropriate memorial to a distinguished member of the faculty. Funds are contributed by friends and corporations who wish to encourage the continuation of Jim Snyder’s professional efforts during his brief but brilliant career. As a highlight, a top professional in agricultural business and economics, or related areas, is brought to the campus to give a lecture and interact with staff and students. The Memorial Lecture, of general interest to all Department professional staff and students, is the high point of the visit. The lecture is open to the public with selected professionals invited as special guests.​

Purpose

• • Stimulate the intellectual environment of the Department for more creative research, teaching, Extension, and international activities.
  • Recognize the professional contributions of Professor James Snyder in pioneering undergraduate curriculum in agricultural business management, and in the development and application of quantitative techniques for agribusiness research and training of graduates
  • Contribute to the Department’s efforts to enhance and motivate excellence in all of its mission areas by bringing to the Purdue campus individuals who can offer unique contributions
  • Broaden the perspective of students by exposing them to outstanding professionals from other institutions, and close interaction both within structured situations and informal settings.
  • Assist the faculty on specific assignments.

About James C. Snyder

This lecture series is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Dr. James C. Snyder, a Purdue Agricultural Economics graduate (M.S., 1956; Ph.D. 1962) and member of the faculty until his passing in 1974 at the age of 44 – much, much too soon.  Although his time with us was brief, James' brilliant career exemplified the very best of a land-grant faculty member.

Professor Snyder was a gifted researcher and his talent was recognized early on when he became the first Purdue student to receive the Ph.D. thesis award from the American Farm Economic Association (now Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).¹ He is primarily known for his work bringing sophisticated tools of quantitative analysis, especially operations research techniques, to the managerial problems of food and agribusiness firms. This work was wide-ranging and included applications from feed manufacturing (least cost formulation and inventory management) to ice cream and sausage production (cost and quality production control). 

In a 1958 review paper published in Operations Research, Snyder and his co-authors were prescient in their discussion of the growing size and complexity of management problems in rapidly expanding food and agribusiness firms and the equally dramatic expansion of data available to help solve such problems – perhaps even foreshadowing uses of artificial intelligence.²  These many contributions in the application of computing to address management problems led Purdue to name one of its high-performance computing clusters ‘Snyder’ in 2015 (the cluster was retired in 2021).

His work was not limited to research applications of quantitative tools and he had a robust Extension program.  Professor Snyder’s applied research and Extension publications encompassed such topics as cost analysis for small commercial banks, surveys on seed corn marketing practices, and in one extension publication, an important problem of food retailers at the time: what to do with empty bottles.³  Another dimension of his industry engagement was the consulting firm, Snyder Associates, that he owned and operated.  While deep relationships with industry were a hallmark of his research and Extension activities, Professor Snyder also made disciplinary and methodological contributions to the field with multiple Journal of Farm Economics/American Journal of Agricultural Economics articles and a contribution to Econometrica in 1970: “A Decomposition Algorithm for Solving the Multi-Facility Production Transportation Problem with Non-Linear Production Costs”.⁴  

Professor Snyder was widely recognized for his exceptional teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.  At the graduate level, under his personalized and rigorous mentorship, students revered him, excelled, and took leading positions in business, education, and government.¹  He was recognized as ‘teacher of the year’ for his outstanding undergraduate instruction in business management¹ and was deeply involved in developing the undergraduate curriculum in agribusiness management.  In a 1969 proceedings paper published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, “Trials, Errors, and Successes in Agribusiness Education at Purdue”, he defined the Department’s overall goals for an undergraduate curriculum in agribusiness:⁵ 

• A broad and liberal education in the social and natural sciences.
• Adequate professional emphasis to enhance student placement and performance with business firms upon graduation.
• Adequate academic emphasis to provide the foundation for graduate work in business management and/or economics.
• Adequate agribusiness emphasis to provide the student with special insights into the unique problems of agribusiness without becoming involved in specific trade practices and problems of any one activity.

One can easily argue these four goals should be the foundation for a curriculum in food and agribusiness management today.

Professor Snyder was an accomplished researcher, deeply involved with industry, a master teacher, and someone who fully leveraged his engagement in all three land-grant mission areas. He will always be remembered as a brilliant colleague whose work, standards and style are an inspiration to those following in his footsteps at Purdue University. We hope to encourage the legacy of farming, the importance of research and emerging technologies, as well as the networking of ideas and strategies with future James C. Snyder Memorial Lectures.

References

1. Snyder Biography: J.C. Snyder, snyder-james-c.pdf (purdue.edu).
2. French, C.E., M.M. Snodgrass, and J.C. Snyder. Application of Operations Research in Farm Operations and Agricultural Marketing. Operations Research, Vol. 6, No.5 (Sep-Oct 1958) pp. 766-77. https://www.jstor.org/stable/166901?sid=primo&seq=7.
3. Baker, G.L and J.C. Snyder, Bottle Returns. Mimeo EC, no. 187 (Aug. 1959) - Extension Mimeo EC (Purdue University. Agricultural Extension Service) - Purdue e-Archives.
4. Sharp, J. F.; Snyder, J.C.; and J.H. Greene. Econometrica, 1970, Vol.38 (3), p.490-506, A Decomposition Algorithm for Solving the Multifacility Production-Transportation Problem with Nonlinear Production Costs.
5. Snyder, J.C. Trials, Errors, and Successes in Agribusiness Education at Purdue. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol.51, No. 5 (Dec. 1969), pp 1218-1221. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1237991?sid=primo%3Fsid%3Dprimo.