Samson joined AFTC/ATA in October of 2011 to oversee the AFTC board as their Executive Director. In 2020, Samson was selected to oversee all 5 of ATA’s Conferences, tasked with growing the department within ATA. Prior to joining ATA, Samson served as Director of Public Policy for the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA). Samson was responsible for lobbying on policy issues impacting agricultural retailers and distributors. His main focus was on transportation, Farm bill, and finance-related issues. Previously, Samson served as a legislative aide for Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), focusing on agriculture, transportation, and finance. He also served as assistant to the staff director on Senator Baucus’s Finance Committee staff. Before moving to D.C., Samson grew up on a family hog farm in southwest Montana. The family farm kept him busy on his off days during high school and through college at Montana State University. He also holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from George Mason University and resides in Huntsville, AL, with his wife, Patience, their daughter, Alena, and son, August.

Brian Gibson serves as the Wilson Family Professor of Supply Chain Management and Executive Director of the Center for Supply Chain Innovation at Auburn University. He recently completed a Fulbright Finland professorship at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. His 30-plus years of research and teaching are complimented by ten years of retail logistics management experience with Meijer and Dayton-Hudson (Target). Gibson is very active in association leadership, serving as an officer for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and on the supply chain steering committee for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Brian is responsible for sustainability strategy, support, and related engagements across Manulife Investment Management’s private markets business. In his role, he directs global sustainability programs for the firm’s timberland, agriculture, real estate, infrastructure, and private equity and credit asset classes. Brian is also accountable for developing policies and environmental compliance mechanisms as well as being responsible for government relations concerning business and environmental strategies specific to timber and agriculture. Previously, he was director of policy and environmental advocacy for Hancock Natural Resource Group. Prior to joining the firm, he was director of policy at Forest Capital Partners, where he was responsible for a variety of programs, including forest certification, forest policy, government affairs, public relations, conservation transactions, and ecology support. Brian is a director of Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and a member of the Board of Governors of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, and he holds the Certified Wildlife Biologist designation from The Wildlife Society.

Dan LaMontagne has been President and CEO of Seven Islands Land Company since June 2019. He also serves on the company’s board of directors. Previously, he served as the Senior Director of Land Asset Management for Weyerhaeuser, overseeing the retail real estate sales activities in the Gulf South Region of the U.S. LaMontagne began his career in 1998 as a resource forester for Sappi in Bingham, Maine. Following Sappi’s sale of its timberland assets to Plum Creek, he joined Plum Creek as a senior resource forester, and subsequently held positions of increasing responsibility, including director-level positions in forest inventory and planning, and business development. Prior to his last role, he was Director of Operations Support for Plum Creek, overseeing the company’s tree nursery, seed orchard, tree improvement, inventory and planning, and forest productivity functions. LaMontagne earned his MBA from Thomas College in Waterville, Maine and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Maine, Orono. He has also earned an executive leadership certificate from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He currently serves on the Board of the Forest Resources Association (FRA) and is a trustee on the Board of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine.