Board of Directors 2007-2008 President 1st Vice President Scott Deardorff Leslie Leavens-Crowe P.O. Box 1188. P.O. Box 4278 Oxnard, CA 93032 Saticoy, CA 93007 487-7801 x112 656-1598 2nd Vice President Treasurer Josh Pinkerton David Murray P.O. Box 4099 4360 E. Main St. PMB 134 Ventura, CA 93001 Ventura, CA 93003 647-2121 797-2514 Secretary Director Will Pidduck Chris Sayer 340 S Brent St. 19867 E. Telegraph Road Ventura, CA  93003 Santa Paula, CA 93060 857-5686 320-2157 Director Director David Borchard Gus Gunderson 4250 Bradley Rd. 1141 Cummings R d. Somis, CA 93066 Santa Paula, CA 93060 444-3283 525-5541 ext. 259 Director Director Andy Hooper Ed McFadden 87 Berkeley Ave. P.O. Box 517 Ventura, CA  93004 Fillmore, CA 93016-0517 656-0310 524-0107 Director Director Steve Onstot David Schwabauer 120 No. 10th St. 12598 Broadway Santa Paula, CA 93060 Moorpark, CA 93021 525-7101 529-1608 Director Chief Executive Officer Fred Van Wingerden John Krist 3813 W. Doris Ave. 5156 McGrath St., Ste. 102 Oxnard, CA 93030 Ventura, CA 93003 382-8070 289-0155 Farm Bureau Director Biographies David Borchard David has been a Farm Bureau board member since 2000, and serves as the agricultural representative on the board of the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency. Raised in Oxnard and Somis, he is a member of a six-generation Ventura County farming family, producing lemons and avocados. He’s a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and serves as president of  the Mesa Education Foundation, a non-profit group that raises funds to support the arts, music, technology and science at Mesa Union School. He lives in Somis with wife Michele and children Kate and Ian. Scott Deardorff Scott was first elected to the Board of Directors in 1997. He is currently the organization’s president, having previously served as first vice president, second vice president, treasurer and secretary. He is a member of the management team for Deardorff Family Farms, which grows and packs tomatoes, celery and other vegetables. Gus Gunderson Gus has been a member of the Farm Bureau Board of Directors since 2002. He is a graduate of Santa Paula High School, Ventura College and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, where he received a bachelor of science degree in agronomy. He’s been director of Southern Operations for Limoneira Co. for 18 years. He is a member of the Ag Futures Alliance, the steering committee of the Ventura County Agricultural Irrigated Lands Group, and the boards of San Cayetano Water Co. and Associates Insectary. He lives in Ventura with wife Helen and sons Neil and Quinn. Top Andy Hooper Andy has been a member of the Farm Bureau Board of Directors since 2007. A Ventura County native, he has a bachelor's degree in agriculture business from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a master’s in business administration from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. He has spent 17 years in the vegetable industry, and for the past six years has been managing strawberry production for Terry Farms, Inc. He is married and has three children. He lives in Ventura. Leslie Leavens-Crowe Leslie is a partner and office manager for her family’s farming company, Leavens Ranches, growers of lemons and avocados in Ventura and Monterey counties. A member of the Farm Bureau Board of Directors since 2000, she is currently first vice president and has previously served as second vice president and treasurer. She is also on the board of Saticoy Lemon Association. As a member of the Ag Futures Alliance, she became involved in the critical issue of farm worker housing and is on the AFA Farm Worker Housing Task Force. Leslie is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program (Class 34) and the University of California, Los Angeles. She is married to Harry Crowe. They have a black Lab named Topper. Ed McFadden Ed was first elected to the Board of Directors in 1999. He grows citrus and avocados for Rancho Simpatica, a company he manages, and McFadden Ranch, a family-owned farm.  He was raised on a family orange and avocado grove in Orange County and moved his family to Ventura County in 1992.  Ed and his wife Viki have two children; a daughter who graduated from Pomona College in 2006, and a son who is currently a freshman at Stanford.  Both Viki and Ed are graduates of Pomona College.  Ed is a member of Class 25 of the California Agricultural Leadership program, serves on several local boards, and is an alternate director for the California Avocado Commission. David Murray A member of the Farm Bureau Board since 2005, David currently serves as the organization’s treasurer. He is the owner of Sundance Berry Farms, having previously worked as a division manager for Coastal Berry. He is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo with a degree in agriculture business management and finance, and received a master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University in 2003. Top Steve Onstot W. Stephen Onstot, a Farm Bureau board member since 2000, was born in Santa Paula and is a member of a five-generation Santa Clara Valley farming family. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with high honors, and is also a graduate of Loyola University Law School. He is a practicing attorney in the city of Santa Paula, whose clients include ranchers, farmers, water companies, railroads and other businesses. His area of legal practice is estate planning, probate, trust administration, real property agreements, land and water agreements and related matters. He is married and has five children. William L. Pidduck Will joined the Farm Bureau Board of Directors in 2003, and is currently the organization’s secretary, having served as treasurer from 2005 to 2007. A fifth-generation Ventura County farmer, he grew up in Santa Paula and graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with a bachelor’s degree in fruit science. He currently grows citrus, avocados and blueberries for Finch Farms L.L.C., and is a member of the Board of Directors of the California Avocado Society. He and his wife, Suzannah Underwood, live in Ventura with their son, Laird. Jonathan “Josh” Pinkerton Josh joined the board in 1999 and is currently second vice president, having previously served as secretary. He’s a member of a multi-generation Ventura County farming family, and grows lemons and avocados. He grew up in Ventura and Idaho, and is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in international relations. He was a member of Leadership Farm Bureau Class #1 and California Agricultural Leadership Program Class 32. He live in Ventura with his wife and daughter. Top Chris Sayer Chris joined the Farm Bureau Board of Directors in 2008. He was raised on a family farm in Saticoy, and is a graduate of Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. After college, he served as an officer in the Navy, and qualified as an aircraft commander in P3C patrol aircraft. He subsequently worked as an executive recruiter in Silicon Valley for four years, before returning to Ventura County and purchasing a 23-acre avocado ranch east of Santa Paula. Chris also is engaged in lemon and avocado operations at the family’s Saticoy home ranch, and is a partner in Petty Realty, specializing in agricultural properties. He is a member of the Ag Futures Alliance, and serves on the boards of UC Hansen Trust, Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors, Citrus Mutual Water Co. and the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife, Melissa, live in Santa Paula with their two sons. David Schwabauer David was elected to the Farm Bureau board in 1987 and has served as the organization’s treasurer, secretary, second vice president and first vice president. He served as president in 2003-2005, and has been a district director since 2004, representing Region 4 (Ventura and Santa Barbara counties) on the California Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors. David is a managing partner of Leavens Ranches, overseeing lemon and avocado operations in the Moorpark area. Fred Van Wingerden A native of the Netherlands who immigrated to Carpinteria with his family in 1967, Fred came to Ventura County in 1979 to grow flowers after graduating from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He is the president and chief executive officer of Pyramid Flowers, which grows greenhouse and field flowers for the wholesale trade as well as selling bouquets in the mass market. He began his current tenure on the Farm Bureau Board of Directors in 2002, his previous term on the board having ended in 1996. He and his wife, Edith, have been married since 1982 and have two children, Marcos and Silvia, who will both graduate from university in 2008. Top CEO’s Biography John Krist John Krist was hired in February 2008 to serve as the chief executive officer of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, the region’s oldest and largest agricultural association. As CEO, he is responsible for managing the nonprofit organization’s staff, daily operations and finances. He recommends policy to the organization’s Board of Directors, implements board directives, and represents the interests of the membership at legislative and regulatory hearings. He also serves as the organization’s liaison with the news media, as well as with numerous community organizations and groups. Before joining the Farm Bureau, Mr. Krist worked for 24 years as a reporter, editor and Opinion-page columnist at the Ventura County Star. During that time, his commentaries on land-use policy, natural resources and environmental issues were distributed by Scripps Howard News Service and published in newspapers throughout the United States. His work has also appeared in California Planning & Development Report, a statewide newsletter for land-use and public-policy experts, and Planning, the magazine of the American Planning Association. The winner of numerous writing awards and journalism fellowships, he is the author of three books about California’s parks and wilderness areas, as well as Voyage of Rediscovery, based on his experiences retracing the Lewis and Clark trail. He also has contributed to books on urban renewal and wildfire policy. His newest book is “Living Legacy: The Story of Ventura County Agriculture.” Top Past Presidents 1914-15 T. A. Rice 1916 E. S. Thacher 1917 Walter Sexton 1918 H. H. Neel 1919 C. E. Hawley 1920’s 1920-21 E. W. Gerry 1922 E. G. Laubacher 1923 D. Felsenthal 1924 J. P. Thille 1925 C. E. Kelsey 1926-27 G. E. Harlan 1928-29 J. N. Thille 1930’s 1930-31 C. A. Pope 1932-34 E. C. Kimball 1935-36 W. P. Daily 1937 P. M. Hendrickson 1938-39 B. D. Laubacher 1940’s 1940-41 R. W. Wright 1942-44 Robert Beardsley 1945-46 B. L. Hawley 1947-48 Ernest R. Nichols 1949 Robert Maulhardt 1950’s 1950 Robert Maulhardt 1951-52 F. R. Jewett 1953-54 Stewart Abercrombie 1955-56 Robert Hardison 1957-58 Frank McGrath 1959 Robert Pinkerton 1960’s 1960 Robert Pinkerton 1961-62 Kenneth Glenn 1963-64 Leonard Warren 1965-66 Robert Dudley 1967-68 Robert Miller 1969 Lawrence Everett 1970’s 1970 Lawrence Everett 1971-72 Paul Leavens 1973-74 Al Cavaletto 1975-76 Charles Schwabauer 1977-78 Donald E. Armstrong 1979 Joe Terry 1980’s 1980-81 Sam McIntyre 1982-83 Tom McGrath 1984-85 Darrell Nelson 1986-87 Link Leavens 1988-89 Randy Axell 1990’s 1990-91 Don Reeder 1992-93 Chris Taylor 1994-95 Tom Pecht 1996-97 Mike Mobley 1998-99 Richard Pidduck 2000’s 2000-01 Bob Pinkerton 2002-03 Edgar Terry 2003-05 David Schwabauer 2006-07 Henry Vega Top
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