Middle Managers Conference

Presented by Penn State Dairy Alliance, this one-day conference is designed to help middle managers in all agricultural fields develop their leadership skills and network with their peers. It will be held March 20, 2008, at theWildwood Conference Center, Harrisburg Area Community College, Cameron Street, Exit 67, Harrisburg, PA. Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Middle managers are critical to the success of dairy businesses. They put management decisions into practice and deal with the challenges of day-to-day operations. This conference helps middle managers develop the skills they need to make positive changes in the dairy while keeping front-line employees happy and productive. As one of our recent conference participants observed, “If you can’t keep people happy, you can’t keep cows happy.”

Conference topics are selected by a committee of agricultural middle managers to ensure that presentations are on timely subjects of importance to managers. Interaction with other middle managers is a key feature of this program.

The keynote speaker is Pete Gelber, herd manager for High Brighton and Barrington Dairies in Montezuma, GA. These two operations comprise 7,000 mature cows. Farming operations cover 3,000 acres and are triple-cropped. Pete is a 10% owner in the operations, which are part of Ron St. John's Alliance dairies. Pete's specialty is in building morale and keeping people "psyched up" about the dairy. He worked his way up through the organization as a middle manager, satellite dairy manager, and owner.

Register online with a credit card at www.dairyalliance.org. Phone registrations may be made at 888-373-7232. PA producers and their employees may attend for $50 per person, thanks to a grant from the PA Department of Labor and Industry. The non-discounted rate is $125 per person.