Speakers

Mike Downey, UnCommon Farms	Mike leads the Succession Planning program for UnCommon Farms, a farmer-owned organization based in Brighton, Illinois. UnCommon Farms consults with farm businesses on 6 key areas: strategic planning, management/leadership, human resources/labor, financials, succession & risk management. Every farm is assigned a business coach and financial consultant, and they have access to a number of peer groups and other resources within the community. Prior to joining UnCommon Farms, Mike was one of the founding owners of Next Gen Ag Advocates. Next Gen was founded based on a matching and mentoring program to help connect young and beginning producers to retiring farmers without a successor. During this time, Mike worked with over 500 estates & farm transitions, both in-the-family and across families.
Ronald Hanson, Harlan Agribusiness Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln	Ron is the Harlan Agribusiness Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska. His 46 year college teaching career earned 31universtiy and national award recognitions. These honors included being the first Nebraska professor to receive the USDA Excellence in University Teaching Award, being named the Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation, and selected as the University Educator of the Year. Ron was raised on an Illinois family farm. He earned his graduate degrees from the University of Illinois. Ron has counseled with family farming operations for more than 40 years to help them build stronger family relationships through better communications. He has been recognized by the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council, Nebraska Ag Youth Council and the Nebraska FFA Foundation for his dedicated service to both rural ag youth and farm families. Through his publications and professional travels, Ron is recognized as a keynote program speaker on the importance of transition planning for farm ownership succession and the successful transfer of management control between generations. His mission is to help keep farms in the family and young family members on their farms to continue farming legacies for future generations.
Laura Ingram, Belin McCormick	Laura joined the tax department at Belin McCormick in 2015 after graduating from New York University School of Law with a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in taxation. In her time at Belin McCormick, Laura has helped clients with a variety of tax matters from corporate restructuring to executive compensation to federal and state tax audits. Prior to law school, she spent two years working for the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel.
Ame Mapes, Belin McCormick	Ame is a committed problem solver who combines her background in finance with common sense solutions to counsel family members, fiduciaries, and beneficiaries through probate and trust administration, and various questions and concerns that arise along the way. In her practice, Ame assists to identify estate assets, manage the administration process, determine tax obligations and debts of the estate, and transfer assets to the appropriate beneficiaries.
Robert Moore, OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program	Robert Moore is an attorney and research specialist with the Agriculture and Resource Law Program at the Ohio State University. Prior to joining OSU, Robert and his wife, Kelly, owned Wright & Moore Law Co. LPA, a law firm in Delaware, Ohio, focusing on legal services for farmers and landowners. Robert continues to provide legal services to clients on a part-time basis. Robert was raised on a dairy farm in Coshocton County, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University, receiving a B.S. in Dairy Science and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics. He received his J.D. from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated cum laude. Robert’s area of focus is farm succession planning, business entities, and taxation. Over the years, Robert has worked with many farm families in designing and implementing succession plans for their family farming operations. He is excited to bring his experience to the Agriculture and Resources Program and looks forward to providing information and resources to farm families
Phil Newendyke, Farm Program Services, Pinion	With a foundation in agriculture, Phil grew up on a family farm in Northwest Illinois that raised row crops and livestock. His early experiences showing club lambs and steers fostered a lifelong passion and dedication to agriculture. After earning his degree in 2004, Phil began his career as an agricultural loan officer before joining the USDA Farm Service Agency’s farm loan division. He later served as the Director of the Ogle County, Illinois, FSA office for 13 years, managing production and conservation programs at the county level.
Austin Peiffer, Ag & Business Legal Strategies	Austin earned his Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo., with a certification in Business & Corporate Law. Following a year of clerking for the chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, he joined Joe in practice at Ag & Business Legal Strategies in 2020. While in law school, he was the American College of Bankruptcy’s 2019 Distinguished Law Student for the 8th Circuit, served as a judicial extern for a bankruptcy judge, and worked with the school’s Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.
Joe Peiffer, Ag & Business Legal Strategies	Iowa native Joe Peiffer grew up on a farm in Delaware County, then earned a degree in Dairy Science and Public Service and Administration from Iowa State University. He went on to complete his Juris Doctor degree, with distinction, at the University of Iowa. Following a clerkship with an Iowa bankruptcy judge in the 1980s, he began representing family farmers with financial struggles and helping federal legislators review and craft bankruptcy laws. He earned his certification in business bankruptcy from the American Board of Certification in 1994. He established Ag & Business Legal Strategies in 2016.
David Repp, Shareholder, Dickinson Bradshaw	David practices primarily in the area of taxation. He provides a broad range of tax counsel to small businesses on topics including federal and state income tax planning, taxation of employee benefits, equity structure and mergers, and succession planning. He also counsels and advises clients with respect to the management of their wealth to minimize estate and inheritance taxes through the use of asset protection trusts, grantor trusts, powers of appointment, lifetime gifts, QTIP trusts and generation skipping trusts. As part owner of a family farm operation, David provides income tax, FICA tax and succession planning counsel to many farm clients.
Travis Schroeder, Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman, PLC	Travis Schroeder represents business owners, farmers and their families. He is engaged in estate and wealth transfer planning, wills, trusts, probate law, taxation, general business and corporate law and agricultural law. Mr. Schroeder is involved in the Iowa State Bar Association and the Linn and Johnson County Bar Associations. He is a graduate of the Heart of America Fellows Institute Class of 2019 and is a member of the Cedar Rapids Area Estate Planning Council and the Iowa Academy of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Kristine Tidgren, ISU Center for Ag Law & Taxation	Kristine is an adjunct associate professor in the Agricultural Education & Studies Department and the director for the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation. Kristine’s work focuses on studying and interpreting laws impacting the agricultural industry. In particular, she focuses on agricultural taxation.