As CoBank’s president and chief executive officer, Bob Engel is responsible for implementing the bank’s strategic and business direction as set by the Board of Directors. Previously, he served as CoBank’s president and chief operating officer for six years. Mr. Engel is a member of CoBank’s Senior Leadership Team and the Management Executive Committee.

Prior to joining CoBank in 2000, Mr. Engel was chief banking officer at HSBC Bank USA in New York. He has 24 years of banking experience, primarily with HSBC Bank USA, and eight years of accounting experience, including an agribusiness specialization, with the firms of KPMG and Deloitte & Touche. During his 14-year tenure at HSBC, he served in a variety of management and credit positions, including chief credit officer, before being named chief banking officer.

Mr. Engel earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York, where he was designated Magna Cum Laude and later received an honorary doctorate. He is a member of the board of directors for the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation (Vice Chairman) and Farm Credit Leasing (Chairman). Mr. Engel is also a member of the Farm Credit System Presidents Planning Committee (Chairman). In addition, he serves on the board of trustees for Regis University, the board of directors of New Ventures in Higher Education, Inc., the Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership, Mile High United Way, Buffalo Sabres Alumni Association and as trustee emeritus at Niagara University. He also serves on the Executive Council of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

A Democratic politician from North Dakota, Byron Dorgan was first elected in 1980 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for six terms. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate, where he went on to serve three terms. During his time in the Congress, Mr. Dorgan held several Senate leadership roles and served as chairman of numerous committees, including appropriations, energy, and commerce.

Mr. Dorgan grew up in North Dakota, where his family worked in the farm equipment and petroleum businesses and raised cattle and horses. He has been a life-long advocate for the interests of rural America and most recently has taken up the cause of aggressively moving the country toward renewable fuels and domestic energy sources.

Mr. Dorgan’s most recent book is Reckless: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It). He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota and an MBA from the University of Denver.

Archie Manning may be best known for his football career and his famous football-playing sons, but he’s also a philanthropist who has been active in charitable organizations for more than a quarter of a century.

After a brilliant career as quarterback at the University of Mississippi, where he remains the only player to ever have his jersey number retired, Mr. Manning was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1971. He set Saints’ passing records, played in two Pro Bowls and was the NFL MVP in 1978. He played 15 years of professional football.

Mr. Manning now works in public relations and consulting for several companies, including Reebok, Gatorade, Direct TV and CBS Sports. He also is involved with the Louisiana Special Olympics, the New Orleans Area Boy Scout Council, the Salvation Army, and recently was named chairman of the board of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

He has been honored with numerous humanitarian awards over the years and recently was selected Father of the Year by the National Father’s Day Council. Two of his sons, Eli and Peyton, are Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterbacks.

Erik Peterson is a director at A.T. Kearny’s Global Business Policy Council and a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is a world-renown thinker who advises CEOs and business leaders on how to address global trends and identify market opportunities.

Mr. Peterson specializes in identifying long-term shifts in demography, resources and the environment and in using that information to inform both tactical and strategic business decisions. He has been widely published and is currently working on a book about global strategic trends and their effects on governance structures in societies across the world.

Previously, Mr. Peterson has served as a senior vice president for CSIS and director of research for Kissinger Associates. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Colby College.

Economist Marci Rossell has a unique ability to take complex financial issues and make them relevant to people’s lives, families and careers.

Ms. Rossell is best known for the time she spent in broadcast television as as chief economist for CNBC. She has also served as a corporate economist and investment spokesperson for Oppenheimer Funds, one of the nation’s largest mutual fund companies. She began her career as an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Ms. Rossell earned a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Methodist University, where she was also named Young Alumni of the Year in 2002.