On Monday afternoon, October 3, the Fresh Impact Panel at United’s Advocacy & Grassroots seminar features four leaders—all under the age of 35—at the forefront of agricultural policy in Washington. USDA’s Anne Cannon MacMillan, Matt Perin of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture, Russell & Barron’s Tyson Redpath, and Jacqlyn Schneider of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will join United Fresh members for a fresh and unconventional look at the process of connecting with members of Congress and conveying produce industry priorities.

"These four leaders represent the new guard and next generation of policy rainmakers in Washington and, even with their youth, they have a seasoned ability to artfully communicate complex agricultural policy issues up the chain to the highest levels of government," said United Fresh Senior Vice President of Public Policy Robert Guenther. "Our members will benefit tremendously as Anne, Matt, Tyson and Jacqlyn sit down to share their fresh take on how best to approach and work with lawmakers with the goal of getting real results and building industry success."

MacMillan serves as a senior advisor to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, assisting the secretary in developing and implementing policy priorities in the areas of nutrition, specialty crops, food safety, livestock markets and animal health.  Prior to joining USDA, MacMillan was the senior policy advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and legislative director for Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.)

Before joining the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture as staff director, Perin served on the personal office staff of Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), and managed the successful reelection campaign of Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) in 2004.

Now senior vice president, Redpath joined Russell & Barron after twice serving on the legislative staff of Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio). Prior to joining Speaker Boehner’s office, Redpath directed state delegation outreach operations at the 2004 Republican National Convention, and specialized in issues concerning food safety, child nutrition and generic drug applications for the law firm of Olsson, Frank and Weeda.

Schneider serves as senior professional staff on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where she manages specialty crops, organics, FDA food safety and nutrition issues for Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Prior to joining the committee, Schneider was legislative director for Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) handling legislative issues including healthcare, trade, education and immigration. Before serving in Rep. Costa’s office, she worked in government relations for a biotech trade association.

"With the fresh, youthful insight of these four policy pros, our members will come away from this year’s Advocacy & Grassroots Seminar with real, tangible strategies and tools for connecting with their elected officials," added Guenther.

The Fresh Impact Panel and Advocacy & Grassroots Seminar add to a busy schedule of events for the annual Washington Public Policy Conference, including the Wednesday keynote address from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), discussions with federal regulators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration, market segment-specific education sessions and the popular Fresh Festival on Capitol Hill. Additionally, this year’s event includes the most visits to congressional offices by conference attendees in the event’s history.