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Please join us as CoBank presents its

2012 Association Forum

An Outstanding Program

CoBank’s 2012 Association Forum will feature presentations from leading experts on the economy, national and global trends, business management and politics. Our program is designed to give directors and management valuable knowledge, insight and information they can use every day in both their business and personal lives.

Speakers

Bob Engel ~ President & Chief Executive Officer, CoBank
Howard Behar ~ Former president, Starbucks Coffee Company
Everett Dobrinski ~ Chairman of the Board, CoBank
Charles Krauthammer ~ Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, political commentator
Kent Moors ~ Scholar in Residence, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Duquesne University
Michael Rogers ~ Journalist, Novelist and Futurist
Marci Rossell ~ Former Chief Economist, CNBC
David Rowe ~ President, David M. Rowe Risk Advisory
Steve Young ~ Former Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers

What you will learn

Business insights from the former president of Starbucks
A timely look at the national political landscape from a renowned journalist and commentator
Key trends and dynamics that are shaping the U.S. and global economies
An expert’s view on national energy policy
Lessons on teamwork and communication from Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Steve Young
Risk management lessons from the global financial crisis
Trends in asset-liability management
Updates on CoBank’s business and financial performance

Registration

Register for the meeting and secure hotel reservations on or prior to Wednesday, February 15.

Please click on the registration tab to access our online registration site. There is no charge to attend the CoBank 2012 Association Forum beyond your travel and hotel expenses.

Be sure to make your hotel reservation as soon as possible to ensure availability. Please click on the hotel tab for additional information on making your hotel reservation.

Association Board Meetings

Should your Association be interested in scheduling meeting space for a board meeting or other function, please contact Peter Stocking, Convention Services Manager, Tel: 714-845-4895, Fax: 714-845-4670, or email: peter.stocking@hyatt.com. Limited meeting space has been reserved under CoBank's group block for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Please mention that your meeting is in conjunction with the CoBank Association Forum when reserving your space.

Spouse Program

There will be a program for spouses and guests on Wednesday, March 21. Please see the spouse program tab for more details. Spouses and guests are also invited to join us for receptions and dinner.

Attire

Attire for business meetings is resort casual. Jackets are appropriate for receptions and dinner but ties are not necessary. Attire for the spouse program is also resort casual.

Weather

Sunny days and cool balmy nights give Huntington Beach a nearly perfect climate. Year-round high temperatures average from the mid-60s to about 80 degrees.

Information

For information about Huntington Beach, visit www.surfcityusa.com.

For further information, contact CoBank’s Corporate Communications Division at 877-836-3829 or by email at corp.comm@cobank.com.

Speakers

Our speaker program is designed to provide management and directors with valuable insight and information they can use in their business and personal lives. Bios of speakers for the 2012 Association Forum are listed below. Following the meeting, the speaker presentations that we have permission to distribute will also be available on this page.

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Bob Engel

President & Chief Executive Officer, CoBank

As CoBank’s president and chief executive officer, Bob Engel is responsible for implementing the bank’s strategic and business direction as set by the Board of Directors. Previously, he served as CoBank’s president and chief operating officer for six years. Mr. Engel is a member of CoBank’s Senior Leadership Team and the Management Executive Committee.

Prior to joining CoBank in 2000, Mr. Engel was chief banking officer at HSBC Bank USA in New York. He has 24 years of banking experience, primarily with HSBC Bank USA, and eight years of accounting experience, including an agribusiness specialization, with the firms of KPMG and Deloitte & Touche. During his 14-year tenure at HSBC, he served in a variety of management and credit positions, including chief credit officer, before being named chief banking officer.

Mr. Engel earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York, where he was designated Magna Cum Laude and later received an honorary doctorate. He is a member of the board of directors for the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation (Vice Chairman) and Farm Credit Leasing (Chairman). Mr. Engel is also a member of the Farm Credit System Presidents Planning Committee (Chairman). In addition, he serves on the board of trustees for Regis University, the board of directors of New Ventures in Higher Education, Inc., the Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership, Mile High United Way, Buffalo Sabres Alumni Association and as trustee emeritus at Niagara University. He also serves on the Executive Council of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

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Howard Behar

Former president, Starbucks Coffee Company

Howard Behar is the former president of Starbucks North America and Starbucks International. He joined Starbucks in 1989 as vice president of sales and operations, and grew the retail business from 28 stores to more than 400. He was named president of Starbucks Coffee International in 1995.

Under Mr. Behar’s leadership, Starbucks opened its first location in Tokyo in 1996, and then introduced the Starbucks brand across Asia and the United Kingdom. He retired as president of Starbucks North America in January 2003, but continues to serve as an advisor to the company. Mr. Behar also served on the Starbucks board of directors from 1996 to 2008. He is the author of It's Not About the Coffee, a book about his leadership principles.

Mr. Behar serves on several boards, including Anna’s Linens, the University of Washington Foundation and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. He also sits on the advisory board of Anthos Capital.

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Everett Dobrinski

Chairman of the Board, CoBank

Everett Dobrinski is the owner and operator of Dobrinski Farm, a cereal grain and oilseed farm in Makoti, North Dakota. He joined CoBank’s board in 1999 and was elected board chairman in 2008. Mr. Dobrinski is chair of both the Executive and Compensation committees.

Mr. Dobrinski is also the board chairman of Verendrye Electric Cooperative, an electric distribution cooperative, and serves as a director for Dakota Pride Cooperative, a specialty crop marketing operation. He is a director for two trade associations, the North Dakota Coordinating Council for Cooperatives and the Farm Credit Council. Mr. Dobrinski also sits on the advisory board of the Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND.

Charles Krauthammer

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, political commentator

For three decades, Charles Krauthammer has helped frame the very shape of American foreign policy. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and named by The Financial Times as the most influential commentator in America, Krauthammer’s syndicated column in the Washington Post has run for more than a quarter century and is published in more than 240 newspapers worldwide.

A contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and The New Republic, Krauthammer also is a weekly panelist on Inside Washington and appears nightly on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier.

Born in New York City and raised in Montreal, Krauthammer earned a bachelor’s degree from McGill University, was a Commonwealth Scholar in Politics at Oxford University and then earned a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School. In 1978, he quit medicine and began contributing articles to The New Republic, where he later became a writer and editor.

He is president of The Krauthammer Foundation and chairman of Pro Musica Hebraica, an organization dedicated to the recovery and performance of lost classical Jewish music.

Kent Moors

Scholar in Residence, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Duquesne University

Kent F. Moors is an internationally recognized expert in oil and gas policy, and finance and global risk assessment. He also is a political science professor at Duquesne University, where he serves as Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

Mr. Moors is president of ASIDA, Inc, an international oil and gas consulting firm, and executive managing partner of Risk Management Associates, International, LLP, a global management advisory and training service. A featured television, radio and media commentator, he also is founder and editor of The Oil and Energy Investor, Energy Advantage, and The Energy Inner Circle.

He has advised nine world governments, Canadian premiers, state governors, private companies, financial institutions and law firms in 27 countries. He serves on the U.S. Department of State task force providing oil policy advisories to developing nations. His latest book, The Vega Factor: Oil Volatility and the Next Global Crisis, was released in 2011.

Michael Rogers

Journalist, Novelist and Futurist

Michael Rogers is an expert on how business and society adapts to the future. He also is a journalist, novelist and new media pioneer. Mr. Rogers is currently the futurist-in-residence for The New York Times, and writes The Practical Futurist column for MSNBC.

After a decade of writing for Rolling Stone, Mr. Rogers co-founded Outside magazine. He also served for 10 years as vice president of The Washington Post Company’s new media division.

He has developed interactive products for Newsweek, Prodigy and America Online. Today, Mr. Rogers runs a New-York-based consultancy that works with both startups and major media companies.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Rogers has studied and written about the key technologies driving this century; and he has interviewed or worked with major business figures worldwide. In 1989 he was founding chairperson of the European Technology Roundtable, an annual CEO gathering, which he continues to moderate along with the newer Asian Technology Roundtable.

Marci Rossell

Former Chief Economist, CNBC

Economist Marci Rossell has a unique ability to take complex financial issues and make them relevant to people’s lives, families and careers.

Ms. Rossell is best known for the time she spent in broadcast television as as chief economist for CNBC. She has also served as a corporate economist and investment spokesperson for Oppenheimer Funds, one of the nation’s largest mutual fund companies. She began her career as an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Ms. Rossell earned a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Methodist University, where she was also named Young Alumni of the Year in 2002.

David Rowe

President, David M. Rowe Risk Advisory

David M. Rowe is founder and president of David M. Rowe Risk Advisory, a risk management consulting firm focused on risk management support for boards and senior executives of financial institutions.

Prior to forming DMR Risk Advisory, Mr. Rowe was Executive Vice President for Risk Management at SunGard. He spent more than 25 years in the banking and economic forecasting industries with institutions such as Bank of America, Pacific Securities, Inc., and Townsend-Greenspan & Co.

He is a frequent contributor to Risk magazine, where he has written the monthly Risk Analysis column since late 1999 and currently serves as a board member of the International Association of Financial Engineers and a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Operational Risk.

Mr. Rowe holds a Ph.D. in econometrics and finance from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in finance with a concentration in money and banking from the Wharton Graduate School of Finance and Commerce, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College.

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Steve Young

Former Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers

Steve Young is one of the most successful quarterbacks in NFL history, collecting three Super Bowl rings, earning seven trips to the Pro Bowl and setting a myriad of passing and scoring records along the way. Though he played briefly in the U.S. Football League and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the left-handed quarterback made his mark wearing the No. 8 jersey during 13 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Today, Mr. Young splits his time between the broadcast booth – he’s an analyst on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown – and business ventures. He is a member of the board of directors for several business ventures and previously served as a managing director of Sorenson Capital, a private equity firm he co-founded. Mr. Young, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, also was a member of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Mr. Young is an active volunteer who supports numerous charities and foundations, including Forever Young Foundation, which he founded to support children’s charities nationwide. Mr. Young earned a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Brigham Young University.