Julia Kloehn to serve as GEAPS interim executive director

TheGrain Elevator and Processing Societyinformed its members today that Julia Kloehn will step up as GEAPS’ interim executive director. Kloehn, who has been an integral part of GEAPS since she came on board as manager of chapter services in 2007, and whose fulltime role is director of operations, will assume duties on April 1.

Kloehn’s roots are in agriculture. She grew up on a family farm in rural, central Minnesota and earned degrees in English and Psychology from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Steve Records, who has served as the executive director ofGEAPSsince August 2019 and as CEO of GEAPS Media Group since last year, will leave GEAPS on March 31, moving on to lead a global engineering association.

“Julia has been the GEAPS backbone for more than a decade; she knows our history and understands our Vision for the Future,” said GEAPS Board Chair Barb Grove. “Julia is the epitome of our Values – Membership Matters, Inclusion Matters, Responsibility, Intelligence, Relationships, & Agriculture Matters. The GEAPS Board of Directors is confident that Julia will keep us focused and future thinking as we navigate the execution of a long-term plan.”

Chris Blair, GEAPS board president, echoed Grove’s sentiments. “The whole GEAPS board of directors is confident in Julia’s abilities to lead the GEAPS staff and ability/knowledge of the organization to work with the board during this transition,” Blair said. “Julia’s understanding of GEAPS current operations, our history and the direction GEAPS is heading in the future will provide us a smooth transition. We all look forward to Julia’s leadership to help navigate us during transition period as we work through a long-term plan and then executing it.”

GEAPS board of directors will continue to work on a transition plan for the long term. The board knows the selection of an executive director is one of its most important duties—and one that has lasting impact on the organization.

—Feed & Grain Staff