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ARA Celebrates 2024 Rising Stars

Dec 04 2024

Today, ARA recognized a group of top performers and emerging leaders as part of its Rising Stars award program at the 2024 ARA Conference & Expo.

Through participation in ARA Conference educational sessions and networking events, ARA Rising Stars expanded their network to include industry thought leaders such as ARA board members and learned new approaches to apply to their work. 

“Each year we look forward to recognizing a new class of Rising Stars for their impactful work in the ag retail industry,” says ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock. “We hope these top performers will remain engaged with ARA as we work together to advance our industry for years to come.”

The Rising Stars program, sponsored by Atticus, is a meaningful way for ARA retailer member companies to nominate emerging leaders to be recognized for their work in front of hundreds of industry professionals and to explore new ways to hone their leadership skills. 

"We remain consistently impressed by the level of professionalism and enthusiasm demonstrated by the Rising Stars," shares Randy Canady, Atticus Founder and CEO. "It is with great pride that we acknowledge these emerging leaders for their passion, dedication, and steadfast commitment to advancing the agriculture industry."

The theme of this year’s Rising Stars award program was “Empowering Leadership through the Next Frontier.” As part of the award application process, many nominees submitted videos to Atticus, sharing their unique stories and explaining what this year's theme meant to them. Eric Winans, PhD, Research Farm Manager and Technical Agronomist with Brandt, was named this year's grand-prize winning Rising Star! Watch Eric's winning video.

New this year was the Atticus Fan Favorite Video Contest, which empowered our Rising Star nominees to share their application videos on social media, encouraging friends and family to vote for them. Chase Porter with Southern States Cooperative was named the 2024 Fan Favorite winner, totaling the most votes. 

As part of the program, each Rising Star also completed the ARA NAVIGATOR 360° online leadership assessment to identify their own strengths and areas to improve as it relates to their company’s unique needs. Developed specifically for agricultural leaders by NuVue, LLC, this ARA tool empowers organizations to thrive in challenging times through developing effective leadership. 

ARA knows that when employees are challenged and engaged in their own professional development, companies are more likely to retain a higher number of high achieving employees to tackle the challenges facing our industry. Nominations are accepted annually from late spring until early fall and are open exclusively to ARA members.

Learn more about the Rising Stars Award program in this video. View each of the videos submitted by this class of Rising Stars. See a list of this year's ARA Rising Stars.