Bloomquist Lectureship Series Speakers
Bill Patrie is the rural development director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives and the North Dakota Association of Telephone Cooperatives. He is also the director of the Dakotas Cooperative Development Center based in Mandan, ND. Bill has been involved in the start up of numerous value-added cooperatives in North Dakota including Dakota Growers Pasta in Carrington, North Ammerican Bison in New Rockford, the ProGold, LLC near Wahpeton and Central Dakota Growers (potatoe cooperative) in Jamestown. Patrie served one year as interim CEO of Northern Plains Premium Beef. Bill received a masters degree in public administration from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and a BA degree in political science with a minor in religion from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. Prior to working for the electric and telephone cooperatives, Bill was the economic development director for the state of North Dakota for five years. Earlier he directed the North Central Planning Council in Devils Lake, ND. He grew up on a north central North Dakota farm near Fessenden. Patrie is the past president of the board of directors for Technology Transfer, Inc., a corporation that commercializes technological innovations. He is currently the president of the Rural Development Finance Corporation, a statewide development corporation. He is also a trustee of the Renewable Resources Research Institute, a multi-state technology development corporation. Patrie wrote "Creating Co-op Fever" a ruraly developer's guide to forming cooperatives, published by the USDA, service report #54. His most recent opinions regarding "how to form a new generation co-op" are reflected in the Burdick Center's third educational module posted on this site. Bill and his wife Marcia have three children--Katie, Ben, and Rachel, and live in the Missouri River Valley north of Bismarck. To contact Patrie; e-mail: bpatrie@ndarec.com or phone: 1-800-234-0518. Video tape copies of his speech are available through the QBCC.
George Sinner, former Governor and native North Dakotan, was raised on a farm near Casselton, ND. He graduated from St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, and served as Governor of North Dakota from 1986-1994. Prior to retirement, he served as Vice-President of American Crystal Sugar Company based in Moorhead, MN. Throughout his career he has remained active in a six-family farming operation near Casselton.
Ralph Morris died suddenly in the early spring of 2000. The QBCC was honored to have him speak two years prior on the campus of North Dakota State University. At the time of his address, Ralph Morris was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the law firm of Doherty, Rumble, and Butler. The firm has approximately 120 lawyers in offices located in St. Paul, Denver, and Washington D.C. Morris was raised on a farm near Dassel, Minnesota. He was a graduate of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stanford University Law School, Palo Alto, California. Following graduation from law school, he returned to Minnesota and began a lifelong career of representing farmers, ranchers and cooperatives. Although the scope of his law practice was national and increasingly international, he gained a very special relationship with cooperatives in the Red River Valley. He was instrumental in the formation of United Sugars Corporation and Midwest Agri-Commodities Company, and in 1996, received the Hall of Fame Award from Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative. He also served as corporate secretary and general counsel to American Crystal Sugar Company at the time of his death. Morris maintained an active interest in national agricultural policy and educational issues. He served as a director and vice chairman of the American Farmland Trust, Washington, D.C. He also continued to own a farm in the Dassel-Cokato, Minnesota area.
Dennis Sexhus, a North Dakota native, was raised on a small grains farm in Leeds, North Dakota and is currently President and CEO of the North Dakota American Bison Cooperative. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural economics from NDSU in 1966 and 1968. He spent 28 years in senior management positions with several manufacturing companies in the United States, Canada and Europe before returning to North Dakota in 1994 to establish a bison ranch. Shortly thereafter, Sexhus became chief operating officer of the North Dakota American Bison Cooperative. The cooperative's bison processing plant in New Rockford is the only USDA facility dedicated to processing bison meat. Sexhus and his wife, Sue, along with two partners own the North Prairie Bison Ranch, which is a producer for the bison cooperative.
President of Freeh Enterprises, Vern Freeh is an internationally recognized authority on agriculture, cooperatives, international development and the social and economic forces that are shaping our world. Born on a depression era farm in North Dakota, Dr. Freeh has been an academician (University of Minnesota, 1965-1980), a business executive (Land O'Lakes 1980-1991, where he established and headed the international development and public affairs division), and an international development specialist. His career has taken him to 60 countries and involved him in business, education and development activities in 22 countries, including Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since 1992, he has been President of Freeh Enterprises, St. Paul, Minnesota, a management and consulting company. Dr. Freeh holds a B.S. degree from NDSU and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University. He was a 1991 inductee into NDSU's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Joseph Famalette was President and CEO of American Crystal Sugar at the time of his presentation. Famalette brought to the company his 23 years of experience in some of the nation's Fortune 500 companies. He had been President of the Frozen Foods division of International MultiFoods. During his ten years with MultiFoods, he held numerous positions, including the presidencies of two other domestic divisions of this international company. He received an undergraduate degree at King's College, Pennsylvania, and attended Emory Law School and the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.
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