The Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, an annual educational event for the global swine industry, will be held on Sept. 20-23 in St. Paul, Minn. Registration is open now.
Keynote speakers include:
Bill Moore, Compeer Financial
Risks and Opportunities for Pork Production in the Changing Economic LandscapeBill Moore is the chief risk officer at Compeer Financial, overseeing all credit underwriting and enterprise risk functions. His leadership skills were acknowledged when he became the youngest partner at Founders Financial Group – a holding company for Forum Capital and its asset management arm. Immediately prior to Compeer, Moore spent 15 years as a hedge fund portfolio manager with specialties in convertible and high-yield bonds for three different funds, including one that brought him to Minnesota. At Compeer Financial, Moore has been instrumental in leading initiatives that foster a risk/reward culture, creating a new auto-decisioning tool, and managing third-party capital relationships. He chairs multiple management committees and serves as a voting member of the asset liability committee (ALCO), and as a liaison to both the Board’s enterprise risk committee and Compeer’s regulator, the Farm Credit Administration.
- Luke Minion, Wholestone Farms
From Supply Focused to Demand Obsessed – Morrison Lectureship
Luke Minion grew up in southwestern Minnesota and began his career with the Pipestone Veterinary Services in 2000 after graduating from the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Minion’s areas of interest include production animal medicine, management, and serving as the CEO for the clinic and Pipestone System. - Jürgen Richt, Kansas State University
Emerging Viral Threats and Mitigation Strategies in the Swine Industry
Jürgen Richt has been the Regents and University Distinguished Professor and Kansas Bioscience Eminent Scholar at Kansas State University since 2008. In 2010, he became Director of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases (CEEZAD) and in 2020 Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Richt is a pioneer in veterinary science, most notably in the “One Health” field. His work on high-consequence pathogens with zoonotic and transboundary potential led to strategies to identify, control and/or eradicate such agents. His basic and applied research includes studies on animal influenza viruses (swine, cattle, bat and avian), animal prion diseases, African Swine fever virus (ASFV), Mpox virus (MPXV), SARS-CoV-2 and Borna Disease virus (BDV). - Pedro Urriola, University of Minnesota
Blind Men and the Pig: Challenging our understanding of sustainable pork systems
Pedro Urriola is an sssistant professor in sustainable livestock systems at the University of Minnesota, with appointments in animal science and veterinary population medicine. His research program integrates swine nutrition, health, and data-driven systems to promote environmental stewardship and production resilience. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications and more than $8 million in collaborative research funding, Urriola’s work addresses practical challenges such as precision nutrition, decreasing the burden of disease, supply chain recovery of nutrients, and feed biosecurity. He applies systems thinking, life cycle assessment, and social science tools to evaluate feeding programs and health interventions within pork production. Through strong partnerships with veterinarians, producers, and feed companies, Urriola advances solutions that align with One Health principles and the evolving demands of responsible pork production.
Editor’s Note: Allen D. Leman understood how a university could influence practitioners and empower them to be leaders for the swine industry. Working with Dr. Jim Hanson, director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s continuing education program, Leman initiated this conference in 1974. What began in a small lecture hall on the Saint Paul campus has now evolved into the multisession, international meeting it is today—attracting nearly 1,000 attendees annually to present new information and discuss issues important to the swine industry. Leman’s vision of excellence continues to inspire the swine faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine to provide thought leadership, research, and teaching that shape the development of this conference program. After his death in 1992, the conference was named in his honor.
