FOUNDERS’ RESUMES
Tony Adams
Tony Adams started his career in professional sports. He is a former professional quarterback, having played for the San Diego Chargers, California Sun, Toronto Argonauts, Minnesota Vikings, and Kansas City Chiefs. After receiving High School All American status, he went on to a stellar career at Utah State University and was named an All American by the AP, UPI, and Sporting News. He then pursued a business career that included founding and operating several companies with a strong sports affiliation. These included Sportsfair America, a television program that sold sports memorabilia, and MyOutdoors.com, which is a website that serves as a source for professional hunting guides and outfitters as well as fishing captains and guides across North America. Tony is a licensed hunting guide in New Mexico, Kansas, and Saskatchewan Canada. He currently operates an exclusive hunting camp in the Kansas City area that attracts outdoorsmen from all over the country to hunt trophy deer and wild turkeys. Tony is recognized as one of the foremost hunting and fishing authorities in the Midwest. Tony is very active in charitable activities as a member of the Chiefs Ambassadors, an organization of former Kansas City Chiefs players who support local charities with personal appearances and fundraising. He founded the KC Crusaders, an organization that provides significant financial support for local charities through their annual golf tournament in Kansas City. Tony is a private pilot and former member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. His professional and civic activities have enabled him to develop close ties to major businesses that are potential end-users of the products produced by Golden Waves Grain.
Dave Owen
Dave Owen is the former owner and CEO of two banks in the Kansas City Area. He was also the founder and CEO of a public technology company that traded on the NASDAQ Exchange. Dave spent several years as Regional Manager for Stephens Inc., the largest off-Wall Street investment bank, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Stephens is thecompany that took Wal-Mart public and is responsible for financing some of America’s largest companies, including Tyson Foods and JB Hunt Trucking. Stephens also financed the New Orleans Superdome when it was first built. Dave is currently in the commercial real estate sales and investment business through his company Equivest, LLC. He has served as a Kansas State Senator and Lt. Governor of the State of Kansas. As Lt. Governor he was Chairman of the Kansas Economic Development Commission and was the founder, along with Governor Robert Docking, of the Kansas Cavalry, an organization of Kansas business leaders who traveled domestically and internationally to promote Kansas products and encourage major corporations to locate in our state. Dave also served as campaign chairman of US Senator Bob Dole’s campaigns for that office and for Dole’s bids for US President. Dave was very active in college sports at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He was later inducted into the Ottawa University Basketball Hall of Fame. After college, Dave continued his athletic career as a Professional Rodeo Cowboy, competing in PRCA rodeos all over the country, as a calf roper. Ottawa University established The David C. Owen Leadership Institute in his honor. This organization is focused on creating future leaders by instilling servant leadership qualities and a strong moral compass. Nationally recognized speakers are regularly invited to speak to the students on campus. The program also presents an Annual Leadership Award to individuals that have demonstrated exceptional leadership. The first recipient was Viktor Yuschenko, past president of Ukraine for his work in fighting corruption in his country during the Orange Revolution.
Alan Townsend
Alan Townsend is a fifth-generation farmer near Goodland, KS, approaching 50 years of ag production. His 15,000-acre farm is a diverse operation of both irrigated and dryland, wheat, grain sorghum, corn, multiple varieties of edible beans and cover crops. The operation is a partner of Topside Prime, LLC, which operates H.J. Stephens fed cattle, finish lot near Goodland. Alan has served as a director of Frontier Ag, Inc. since 1987 and was involved in early negotiations that led to the expansion of the company as one of the largest cooperatives in Kansas. He served as a director at Bankwest of Kansas for nearly 20 years and has extensive knowledge of ag finance and operational analysis. Alan was an originator and incorporator of 21st Century Bean Processing, LLC, Kansas’ only dry edible bean processing and packaging company, and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors. This farmer-owned company is celebrating its 25th year of business and has become a major supplier of dry beans to USDA Food Banks throughout the nation. 21st Century Bean Processing processes, packages, and delivers as many as 40 million pounds (2-pound packages) annually. The company has shipped over 1 billion servings of edible beans, nationwide, in the last 6 years.
Brian Linin
Brian Linin is an agricultural producer in Sherman County, where he manages and operates Butterfly Acres, a diversified dryland and irrigated wheat, corn, and dry edible bean farm with his father, Brent Linin, and they produce conventional crops and some organic crops. He also serves in several professional associations, including the Kansas Wheat Commission, the Kansas Grain & Feed Association, the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers’ Association, the Kansas Agricultural Marketing Advisory Board, the Goodland City Commission, the Goodland Ambassadors as past President, and the Oncology Advisory Board to The Children’s Hospital in Denver, CO. Brian has served on the Goodland Area Chamber of Commerce and is actively seeking a position on CoBank’s Board of Directors.He served as the Head Deacon and Chaired the Pastor Search Committee at First Baptist Church and enjoys playing the drums for the worship team. Brian and his wife, Jana, have three children: Annika (19), Mirari (16), and Blair (16), and they enjoy boating, biking, skiing, billiards, dancing, and movies. Brian has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University, where he graduated cum laude in 1993. Brian completed his MBA through Oklahoma State University in 2013, where he graduated with a 4.0gpa while working full-time. He continues his professional development through work, service, and professional educational offerings. Brian has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Frontier Ag, Inc., the largest diversified agricultural cooperative in Kansas, where he generated departmental and location P&L’s each month, managed administration, and prided himself on completing a draft P&L on the first business day of the month. He has a significant background in industry and agriculture, having worked for The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, ITW Dymon, Liquid Soap Products, the Wallace County Coop, and Frontier Equity Exchange. He grew up on a farm in Goodland and has been actively involved in production agriculture all his life. Brian’s heart is in leadership, where he is able to demonstrate his vision for an organization, while working with others to efficiently accomplish lofty goals to move an organization forward. He is ambitious and energetic, while demonstrating teamwork, integrity, and ethical leadership qualities that result in lasting business and personal results. This balance of ambition and integrity lands Brian in his sweet spot of leadership where he can thrive, and his organization can realize the benefit of the team’s work through Brian’s leadership. This sense of accomplishment is his true drive for more responsibility, and why he is actively working to build a wheat milling enterprise in western Kansas.