JD Radakovich - Bass Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4229

jason.radakovich-at-students.tamuk.edu

JD Radakovich was raised on an internationally known multigenerational purebred and composite seed stock cattle operation in Iowa where he was exposed to cattle production from all over the world.  JD received a B.S. in Animal Science with a minor in Agricultural Economics from Colorado State University. While at Colorado State University, he walked on the football team and earned a scholarship and varsity letters.  After Colorado State University, JD worked for nine months for an internship/working experience on stations throughout eastern Australia.  Since then, he has spent ten years in northern Nevada working on ranches.  Most recently, JD has been managing the Squaw Valley Ranch for Barrick Gold Inc.  He was in charge of capital improvements on 380,000 acres of mixed private and BLM land ownership including 15,000 acres of flood irrigated meadows.  He helped organize and manage leases of 4,000 head of yearlings and 500 to 2,500 head of cows annually all done in a way to improve the ranches environmental qualities for mine mitigation. The first five years were spent as assistant to the manager of Ellison ranching company, a cattle and sheep range operation spreading over a million acres of private and BLM land.  JD was exposed to all aspects of a historic high desert ranch and spent time on the wagon with the buckaroo as well as developing grazing applications for federally grazed land.  JD believes that land managers today have an inherent obligation to maintain and create better choices for future generations of land managers.  He believes that coming to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management will expand his knowledge and improve his management ability so that this belief will become a reality.  JD and his wife Elizabeth have four children, two boys and two girls.  

Brent McCann - Hilliard Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4104
brent.mccann-at-students.tamuk.edu

Brent McCann was born and raised along the Milk River in northcentral Montana. As a teenager he helped his family with their commercial cattle operation, as well as their irrigated and dryland farming. He spent much of the '80s and '90s cross-fencing rangeland in coordination with BLM and state land agencies. Later, he attended the University of Montana where he studied history and literature. During his summer breaks, he worked on a Forest Service fire crew in the Yaak River drainage in the northwestern corner of Montana, where he helped fight fire, conduct prescribed burns and thinned forests. After completing his bachelor's degree in liberal studies, an interest in writing took him back to school and he earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Montana. During the late '90s, Brent took opportunities to write for two daily newspapers in Montana and then for Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic. He returned to central Montana and since 2000, Brent has been in the commercial cow-calf business. For the past six years, he has worked at the Flat Creek Ranch of the Dearborn Ranch Company, located between Wolf Creek and Bowman's Corner, Montana. Brent was responsible for the cattle allotted to Flat Creek each year, either 400 heifers or 500 mother cows, and maintaining the grazing system they required, anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 acres. He also was responsible for the ranch's irrigation system and flood irrigating about 400 acres. The rest of Brent's time was spent branding, trailing, doctoring and processing cattle throughout the Dearborn Ranch. Brent brings to Kingsville his wife, Wendy, also a native Montanan whom he met through journalism, and a one-year-old son, as well as two border collies, Rita and Izzy. He is a member of the AQHA as well as Society for Range Management. He appreciates this opportunity provided to him by all those involved with the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management and looks forward to the chance to learn more about successful resource management.

Conner Wilson - 6666 Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5409
conner.wilson@students.tamuk.edu

Conner Wilson grew up in northeast Texas where he became acquainted with land and developed a love for the outdoors.  He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science.  During college Conner was able to work for TAMU Extension, Padlock Ranch, and a number of central and east Texas ranches.  In his working career he has diversified his employment to encompass land improvement, cattle, and wildlife.  After college he started with Southern Brush SW, Inc. where he supervised right-of-way maintenance and reclamation across Texas.  Through Southern Brush he was able to learn land and employee management strategies.  From there he went on to own and operate a small contracting company where he expanded from ROW maintenance to include land improvement and development.  Needing more stability for the growing family he spent a year as a high school teacher and coach before transferring back to his ranching roots.  Conner has spent the last year working for the historic King Ranch.  At King Ranch he was able to use his brush management background to help implement an Individual Plant Treatment program.  Working for the range and wildlife department also allowed him to work with forage monitoring programs and wildlife management.  While at King Ranch he also worked for the King Ranch Feedyard.  There he broadened his cattle experience from cow/calf and stocker operations to a finished feeding program.  Conner looks forward to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management where he hopes to maximize his various experiences to implement specific management strategies for future ranching operations.  Conner and his wife Kristin have 2 girls, Alli (19 months) and Peyton (2 months).

Armando Caballero - Deseret Fellow

KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5408
armando.caballero-at-students.tamuk.edu

Armando Caballero was born and raised in Weslaco, Texas. Throughout his childhood, he spent his summers working for a farmer in Wharton, Texas. It was here that he gained a love for production agriculture, which inspired him to be the first in his family to attend college. In December 2002, Armando graduated from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with a Bachelor of Science in animal science. While attending TAMUK, he worked at the King Ranch feedlot, then on the quarter horse unit. In January 2003, Armando moved to southern Utah to work for Circle Four Farms, a large hog operation. During the five years he spent with Circle Four Farms, he had the opportunity to work in many different areas of swine production. However, most of his time was spent in sow production, where he managed a 5,000 head sow unit. Armando spent his last year with Circle Four Farms as the senior recruiter, which allowed him to travel to many different places from American Samoa to Veracruz, Mexico. In the fall of 2007 Armando decided to pursue a career path in cattle and began working for AgReserves, Inc. at Elberta Valley Ag, a 5,000 head dairy in central Utah. His responsibilities included managing human resources and the milking parlor. Working for the dairy has introduced Armando to a new field of agriculture production that he has truly enjoyed. Armando has come to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management to acquire the tools and skills needed to become a greater asset to the field of production agriculture.  Armando married Ann Genho on December 27, 2002, just a few weeks after graduation. They now have three children: Paul (3½ ), Joseph (2), and Isabelle (5 months).

Tommy Gilmore 
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4104
gilmoreranch@earthlink.net


Colonel Tommy L. Gilmore is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Gilmore Ranch, L.L.C.  Gilmore Ranch is a Hereford cattle seed stock and cow/calf operation located approximately 50 miles south of San Antonio, Texas.  He has managed over 250 head of cattle and was involved in an extensive embryo program.  There were in excess of 500 embryos implanted in recipient cattle on calf raiser operations in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma.  He started working with cattle as an adult in 1997 when he and his family returned to the USA from the country of Panama.  Colonel Gilmore had an extensive military career serving over 26 years in the United States Air Force.  He served in Strategic Air Command, Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Materiel Command, Secretary of the Air Force Staff (Pentagon), and Secretary of Defense Staff (Pentagon). Colonel Gilmore had and extensive military education attending Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, Defense Systems Management College, Armed Forces Staff College, and  Air War College.  Due to the breadth of his experience, education, and training, he earned the highest professional certification (level III) in both contracting and logistics, and level II certification in program management.  He also earned a Master’s Degree in Management and Supervision with a Concentration in Logistics from Central Michigan University.  Colonel Gilmore entered the Air Force through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. He was commissioned upon graduation as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1978. In his military career, he held positions in the nuclear/missile operations, code controller, acquisitions, logistics, contracting, investigations, and held command twice.  A native of Houston, Texas, Colonel Gilmore is married to the former Sheila Cone of Punkin Center, Louisiana.  They have one son, Shawn, who graduated at Texas A&M University in the College of Animal Science and has entered Texas A&M School of Veterinarian Medicine in 2009.

John Hay 
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5409
john.hay@students.tamuk.edu

 John Hay was born and raised in Bakersfield, California.  He grew up working on his family’s commercial cow-calf, stocker, farming and sheep operation.  John then attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business.  He also attended Bakersfield College where he received an AA degree in animal science.  While at Cal Poly, John worked at the King Ranch (Norias, division) during a summer internship, which is where he was first learned about the King Ranch Institute.  Since graduation John has worked on and managed various cow calf and stocker operations in California, as well as, starting his own cow calf operation located in San Luis Obispo.

Jen Johnson 
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4229
jjohnson@students.tamuk.edu

Jen Johnson grew up on the Flying Diamond Ranch, her family's fifth generation commercial cow-calf operation near Kit Carson, Colorado. Reflecting deep ties to a rich heritage and tradition, the ranch still uses horses for cattle work but also strives to be innovative and adaptive in order to ensure continued success on the arid Great Plains. She has been fortunate to be integrally involved in the ranch since childhood and has developed a passion for ranching as a challenging but rewarding combination of family, business, and land management. She attended Princeton University, where she wrote her senior thesis in Anthropology on multigenerational ranch women and was a member of the cross country and track teams. Upon graduating in 2007, Jen worked in Colorado Springs as a Fellow at the El Pomar Foundation, one of the state's largest charitable foundations. As a Fellow, Jen oversaw rural grant-making and a council of community leaders in eastern Colorado, taught finance and investment class to her coworkers, and managed El Pomar's college leadership and high school philanthropy programs. In January 2009 she was hired by The Nature Conservancy to develop the Colorado Ranching Legacy Program, which is designed to equip young and beginning ranchers to better manage for economic and ecological success. Jen chose to attend KRIRM because she appreciates the Institute's systems thinking approach to ranch management and believes it will improve her ability to manage her family's ranch as well as effectively represent and impact ranching on a large scale.