Leadership Team at Heartland Plant Innovations

Dusti Gallagher, President/CEO

Dusti Gallagher, who has owned and operated Fritz Consulting, an agricultural marketing consulting company, since 2010, became President/CEO in February 2018. As the founder of Fritz Consulting, Gallagher provided leadership and management services to agricultural companies including organization leadership and management, employee recruitment, staff and board development, strategic and financial planning, and goal initiation and execution. She previously served as the Strategic Lead for Sorghum and Co-Director for Developing Sorghum Doubled Haploid Technology with HPI. Prior to founding Fritz Consulting, Gallagher was the Chief Executive Officer of Kansas Wheat, a producer led organization. She led the restructuring of Kansas Wheat Commission and Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. In this capacity, she participated in several national industry committees. Gallagher has also served three years as Western States Regional Director of the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, developing and carrying out producer outreach and marketing programs across a five-state region. Gallagher began her agricultural career as the wheat analyst for the Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture. She was responsible for global wheat situation and prepared the wheat outlook for FAS’s monthly publication covering global trade in grain. Gallagher, a native of Oklahoma, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University. She currently resides in Wamego, Kansas, with her husband, Paul, and two children, Maya and Nathanael.

Rob Berard, Chief Financial Officer

Rob Berard has been working with HPI as the CFO since 2011. He also served as HPI’s Interim President/CEO from 2014-2018. Prior to joining HPI, Berard spent more than 20 years in leadership positions with a focus in accounting and finance. As a financial leader, he has core competencies in budgeting and planning, banking relationships, software implementation, internal controls and project leadership. Berard earned a B.S. in Accounting from Kansas State University and is a certified public accountant. He also owns and operates Premier CFO, a consulting company specializing in financial services.

Mohammad Asif, Chief Scientist

Mohammad Asif is HPI’s Chief Scientist. He joined the company in 2014 and leads and manages HPI’s Advanced Plant Breeding Services and research staff. Previously, Asif was employed with Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan, as a research scientist since 1996 where he was involved in the development of high-yielding, drought tolerant and disease resistant wheat cultivars through conventional breeding. He completed his B.S. (honors) and M.S. (honors) degrees in Agriculture with specialization in Plant Breeding and Genetics from University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He studied at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he completed his PhD degree in Plant Science and also worked as Postdoctoral Fellow. During his stay at University of Alberta, he focused on the improvement of doubled haploid production technology in wheat and triticale along with QTL mapping and marker assisted breeding for various agronomic, quality, disease resistance and competitive ability traits in wheat. He has written more than 40 research/review articles and 12 book chapters. He has also edited/authored four books including 1) Progress and Opportunities of Doubled Haploid Production and 2) Managing and Breeding Wheat for Organic Systems: Enhancing Competitive Ability Against Weeds, published by Springer, USA.

Justin Gilpin, Board Chairman

Justin Gilpin became Kansas Wheat CEO September 1, 2009. Gilpin is a graduate of Kansas State University’s Milling Science program within the Department of Grain Science and Industry. Before joining Kansas Wheat, Gilpin worked at General Mills, Inc., where he was a wheat buyer for three flour mills. He executed daily wheat market orders on the floor of the Kansas City Board of Trade, worked with flour sales, elevator and mill management and sourcing wheat from various classes. He has been involved in a number of U.S. Wheat Associates committees, is past chair of the Kansas City Board of Trade Cash Basis committee, Wheat Quality Council Board Member, and is an adjunct research scientist for Kansas State University’s Department of Grain Science and Industry. He currently serves as Chairman of Heartland Plant Innovations and works daily leading efforts at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center on the KSU campus.