Filipe Masetti is a world-renowned Long Rider, award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author.
The Brazilian-Canadian cowboy is the youngest person in the world to cross the Americas on horseback. An 8-year journey of 27,000 kms, across 12 nations from Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Two statues have been erected in Brazil to celebrate his feat.
Executive Vice President – Dennis Laycraft
Leading the staff of the Canadian Cattle Association and its various divisions since 1990, Dennis serves as a spokesperson for the beef cattle industry on trade, product safety, sustainability, and animal disease issues.
A senior policy analyst and lobbyist for the CCA, Dennis addresses issues at the national and international levels which impact Canada’s beef cattle industry. He manages any legal actions that the CCA undertakes to defend Canada's beef cattle sector from trade actions or unfair trade practices and represents the beef cattle industry in trade negotiations.
Participating on several government and industry task forces and committees, Dennis has chaired or sat in an advisory capacity on many initiatives including the Regulations and Standards working group on the Agri-Food Competitiveness task force; Chairman of the external advisory panel of the 1992 regulatory review conducted by Agriculture Canada, advisor to Canada’s Auditor General’s department on a number of food inspection and research matters; Past President of the Global Round Table for Sustainable Beef,
Chair of the Beef Value Chain Roundtable which brought together industry leaders throughout the value chain to provide strategic direction. Dennis is a founding member of the Canadian Beef Grading Agency and the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Beef.
Dr. Jessica Sperber was raised on her family’s 4th generation cow-calf and grain operation located in Alberta, CAN.
Sperber attained her MS specialized in meat science and beef carcass quality from West Texas A&M University and Ph.D. in feedlot nutrition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Sperber joined the Department of Animal Science at UNL in November of
2022 as an Assistant Professor and Feedlot Extension Specialist. Her research areas of interest include feedyard nutritional management strategies, technologies that improve cattle production efficiency, and carcass quality and yield outcomes.
Nevil Speer works as an industry consultant based in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
He has experience in both academia and private industry. His career includes working with several start-ups along with various service and consultation projects spanning a wide variety of topics. In addition, he currently serves as a regular contributor for Feedstuffs and BEEF Magazine.
Dr. Speer holds a PhD in Animal Sciences from Colorado State University and an MBA from Western Kentucky University.
Jarrod began his Cargill career at our Schuyler, Nebraska, plant in 1998, where he held harvest floor and supervisor positions and discovered a passion for operations and connecting with people.
Jarrod relocated to our Friona, Texas plant in 2000, holding various operations positions before becoming general manager.
In 2011, Jarrod accepted a position leading the foodservice beef operations in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, before returning to Texas to become general manager in the Plainview plant. Jarrod became the general manager in the Schuyler plant in 2013. In 2017, he had the opportunity of leading operations for the ground beef, turkey and continuous cooked businesses before becoming the Vice President of operations for North America Protein. In 2020, he took on the role to oversee the operations and supply chain across 10 protein segments spanning 46 facilities with 28,000 employees.
Jarrod gained the opportunity to lead the Beef team in North America in 2024. In this role he has the end-to-end responsibility across the boxed beef, case ready, grind and by-product segments with customers spanning retail, food service and food manufacturing.
In addition to his responsibilities at Cargill, Jarrod also serves as a board member for Agriculture Future of America and First Commerce Bank.
A 1998 graduate of Oklahoma State University, Jarrod earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Agricultural Economics.
Jarrod lives in Blue Rapids, Kansas with his wife of 24 years, Jami. They have two children, Dakota and Kinsley. As a family they are active in 4-H, FFA and their local fair association, which empowers youth participation in agriculture. The family also enjoys showing Hereford cattle on the national level.