CEOs, 4-H Young Alum Elected to National 4‑H Council Board

CHEVY CHASE, Md., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National 4‑H Council has announced the election of three new Trustees to its Board – James C. Collins, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Corteva Agriscience; Wade Miquelon, Chief Executive Officer, JOANN; and Tennessee 4-H alumnus Justin Cross, Young Alumni Advisory Committee (YAAC) Representative.

The new Trustees will be important partners in the Board's work to support the 4-H system's ambitious goal of growing 4-H to reach 10 million young people by 2025, as well as to continue to engage alumni. The organization wants to ensure that millions more young people have access to the life-changing programs delivered by the nation's public universities and Cooperative Extension System.

Collins and Miquelon bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience in the agriculture and retail industries respectively and will play an integral role in supporting the implementation of National 4-H Council's strategic plan, which was created to support the Cooperative Extension System's growth plans. Cross, a senior at the University of Tennessee, will bring a fresh perspective given his many years as a 4-H'er, his role on the YAAC and his passion for both business and agriculture.

"The combined and varied expertise of our new Trustees will be invaluable as we strive to grow more young people ready for life and career," said Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO, National 4‑H Council. "They will be important partners in the Board's work to support the 4‑H system's goal of significantly increasing investment and participation in Cooperative Extension's 4‑H program."

James C. Collins, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Corteva Agriscience
Jim Collins is the Chief Executive Officer of Corteva Agriscience, an independent pure-play agriculture company after its successful spinoff from DowDuPont in June 2019.  Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer for the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. Collins worked with the division's leadership to build the foundation to drive Corteva's top and bottom-line performance into the future, while delivering cost synergies. This includes introducing a variety of new products from its innovation pipeline, successfully launching its new multi-channel, multi-brand growth strategy, and establishing a best-in-class cost structure.

Collins joined DuPont in 1984 and has served in a variety of roles supporting and leading DuPont businesses. His work in the Agriculture segment began over 35 years ago, as a sales representative and product manager, and he subsequently served in a variety of roles supporting DuPont's seed and crop protection businesses around the world. Collins has a bachelor's degree of science in Chemical Engineering from Christian Brothers College and an MBA from the University of Delaware.

Wade Miquelon: Chief Executive Officer, JOANN
Wade Miquelon was named President & CEO of JOANN in February 2019, having joined the company as Executive Vice President & CFO in 2016. Miquelon has helped drive a strategic growth plan including revitalized branding, refreshed merchandising, expanded digital capabilities, and customer-focused storefront innovation.

Prior to JOANN, Wade was Executive Vice President, CFO and President of International at The Walgreen Company. He was previously CFO and Executive Vice President of Tyson Foods, Inc., and prior to that spent 17 years at The Procter & Gamble Company, where his last two roles were as CFO of Western Europe based out of Geneva, and the CFO for AAI (ASEAN, Australasia and Switzerland), based out of Singapore.  Miquelon has served on various for profit and not-for-profit boards, including Acadia Healthcare (Nashville, TN), Alliance Boots (Bern, Switzerland), the Lyric Opera (Chicago, Illinois), and the Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, Illinois).

Justin Cross, Student, University of Tennessee
Justin Cross is a Tennessee 4-H alumnus with eight years of 4-H involvement. He is a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he is studying Finance and Agricultural Economics. In his state, Justin serves on the Tennessee 4-H Foundation Board of Directors.

Justin aims to combine his love for business with his passion for agriculture. As a 4-H'er, Justin was heavily involved in Agriculture and Citizenship Programs and is passionate about public service.

About 4‑H
4‑H, the nation's largest youth development organization, grows confident young people who are empowered for life today and prepared for career tomorrow. 4‑H programs empower nearly six million young people across the U.S. through experiences that develop critical life skills. 4‑H is the youth development program of our nation's Cooperative Extension System and USDA and serves every county and parish in the U.S. through a network of 110 public universities and more than 3,000 local Extension offices. Globally, 4‑H collaborates with independent programs to empower one million youth in 50 countries.

Learn more about 4‑H at HTTPS://4-H.ORG, find us on Facebook at WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/4‑H and on Twitter at HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/4H.

SOURCE National 4-H Council