Sarah Frey
Sarah Frey, CEO of Frey Farms
Sarah Frey is the founder and CEO of Frey Farms, an Agribusiness headquartered in South Florida. Sarah oversees the diverse operations of the Frey family of companies, including land acquisition, regenerative agriculture initiatives, raw ingredient manufacturing, and a fully integrated beverage business. Spanning seven states, Frey Farms is a leading U.S. grower, shipper, and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables and is best known as America’s largest producer of fresh watermelons and pumpkins.
As a teenager, Sarah fearlessly expanded her mother’s summer produce delivery route from 12 independent grocery stores to over 150, saving her family’s struggling small farm. She defied rural poverty, running her full-time business while attending high school and college. At age 19, Sarah’s negotiation with Wal-Mart, securing fresh produce contracts, was a turning point that led to expansive growth into national retail. Her business negotiation strategies became the subject of a Harvard Business case study. Sarah’s four older brothers returned to the farm and joined her in growing the business. Today, the Frey Family proudly feeds America 200 million servings of fresh produce annually. Distributed across the U.S. from over 200 cold-chain distribution centers and 35,000 retail grocery and food service locations. Her entrepreneurial ventures led to the development and production of Tsamma, America’s first bottled, nationally distributed watermelon juice. Penguin Random House published Sarah’s best-selling book, The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life and Saved an American Farm. Sarah also serves as co-executive producer of the optioned film rights to The Growing Season. Frey serves on the board of FMI, The Food Industry Association, which advocates for the retail grocery industry to advance a safer, healthier, and more efficient consumer food supply chain. Frey has held industry appointments by both Democratic and Republican administrations. As one of the most influential women in agriculture, serving in bipartisan Ag Advisory roles for multiple members of the US Congress. Sarah is a highly skilled and persuasive communicator who has provided congressional testimony on key issues affecting the US food supply, including the Ag guest worker program reform.
Frey is an appointed Advisor of the NCAC, U.S. Representative and House Committee on Agriculture Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson’s National Agriculture Advisory Council. Sarah provides the Committee with fruit and vegetable commodity-specific expertise to inform agriculture policy and strategy on the upcoming Farm Bill. In 2025, Sarah was appointed Senior Advisor on Rural Policy to the America First Policy Institute. AFPI was Founded by Brooke Rollins, USDA Secretary of Agriculture. Sarah passionately advocates for better health initiatives, nutrition policies, and economic opportunities for underserved rural communities. Frey Farms proudly partners with Feeding America® and actively works to improve the lives of those in rural poverty. Her companies provide financial support, professional college advisory assistance, and internships to students interested in pursuing higher education in business and agriculture, demonstrating their commitment to the future of these communities. Sarah attributes her American success story to humble beginnings, hard work, and strong family bonds.
Todd Doehring
Todd Doehring, Director Centrec Consulting Group
Todd Doehring is Director at Centrec Consulting Group, a management consulting firm working exclusively in the food and agriculture sector. With expertise in agricultural finance, Todd collaborates and trains lenders, analysts, and underwriters, and serves in a part-time, quasi-CFO role for a few large farming operations. His work spans economic assessment, financial analysis, succession planning, financial management, and strategic planning for agribusinesses and producer groups across the country.
Todd has been a member of the Farm Financial Standards Council for over 25 years, is a past president, and currently co-chairs its Technical Committee, where he contributes to shaping financial reporting standards for agriculture. He holds degrees from the University of Illinois and brings practical insight and leadership to the landscape of ag finance.
Paul Neiffer
Paul Neiffer, CPA
Paul Neiffer, CPA is a thought leader on income and estate tax planning services and FSA planning related to farmers and their families. Paul is past president of the Farm Financial Standards Council and past chairperson of the AICPA Ag Conference. He writes the “FarmCPA” column for Top Producer magazine along with their Top Producer Podcast and is also the primary author of the “FarmCPAReport.com” blog. Paul is a nationally recognized speaker on many subjects related to farmers and processors including (1) tax planning, (2) estate tax and succession planning, (3) farm management accounting, (4) farm bill, (5) farm economics and many other related topics.
Dr. Edmond J. Seifried
Dr. Edmond J. Seifried, Executive Director of the Sheshunoff Affiliation Program
Dr. Ed Seifried is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Business at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He also serves as Executive Consultant and Chief Economist for the Sheshunoff CEO Affiliation Programs.
Dr. Seifried serves as the dean of the Virginia and West Virginia Banking Schools and has served on the faculty of numerous banking schools including: Stonier Graduate School of Banking, and the Graduate School of Banking of the South.
He frequently appears as a guest speaker at regional and national conferences and has delivered over 2500 economic presentation to various groups both in the United States and abroad. Dr. Seifried is the author of the book “The Art of Strategic Planning for Community Banks.” In addition to his academic and consulting experience, Dr. Seifried serves as a director of a community bank.
Jeff Ruby
Jeff Ruby, Author of RedRock Leadership: Transform Your Company and Unleash the Potential for Exponential Growth
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to help others. At the age of 10, I was building soda can lamps and selling them to my neighbors for a profit.
After graduating from The University of Akron, I was named head of sales for a national lighting contractor where I helped grow revenue from $700k to $5.8m in less than four years.
At 30, I started my first company and learned firsthand how poor planning and lack of leadership can bring a company to its knees. It was during that time that I learned the value of being surrounded by solid mentors. Under their guidance I set some lofty goals. Then, once those goals were accomplished, I sold the company and relocated my family from Northeast Ohio to Florida.
Shortly thereafter, I packaged what I learned while building that business and I started RedRock Leadership.
In 2020 I published RedRock Leadership: Transform Your Company Culture and Unleash the Potential for Exponential Growth, which outlines best practices that’s helped strengthen 1,000’s of business leaders around the world.
Today, I’m a Certified EOS Implementer® and I help emerging growth companies establish vision, get traction, and stay healthy.
REMAINING SPEAKERS COMING SOON!