Shawn Hackett

Agriculture Economist

A frequent contributor to Barron’s, Futures Magazine, Reuters, Bloomberg, US Farm Report, Ag-TV, Market to Market-IPTV as well as a regular radio show contributor for the likes of Chip Flory-AgriTalk After The Bell, Susan Littlefield Fontanelle After the Bell-Michell Rook-Ag Day and Linda Brekke-The Linda Network, ag commodities expert Shawn Hackett has dedicated his life to educating Ag industry leaders and farmers about financial risk management, hedging and the utility of indicator-based ag commodity price forecasting tools.

His extensive research on long-term cycles and statistics on climate, currencies, geopolitics, and global capital flows have long been a key differentiating factor for Shawn’s price forecasting skills.

Shawn takes complicated concepts and presents them in an easily digestible framework to a wide audience and discusses them regularly in his subscriber-based Hackett Agricultural Report and Hackett Dairy Report.

Vicki Schmidt

Kansas Insurance Commissioner

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, a lifelong Kansan, was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. She and her high school sweetheart, Mike, both attended Wichita South High School. Commissioner Vicki Schmidt graduated from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and began work as a pharmacist.

Schmidt has served Kansas families and seniors as a local pharmacist for more than 40 years. It was her professional work experience and her commitment to helping Kansans that motivated her to run for the Legislature. As a pharmacist, Schmidt found errors in the Kansas Medical Assistance Program, errors that were costing the state millions of dollars. She became a voice for reform—speaking up and pushing for cost-effective practices in Medicaid’s drug rebate program, which ultimately resulted in more than $391 million in recouped dollars for the state and taxpayers.

In 2005, Schmidt brought her expertise to the Legislature, where she served for 14 years representing Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties. On November 6, 2018, she was elected Kansas Insurance Commissioner, and was reelected on November 8, 2022—during both elections she received the largest vote count statewide. She became the first pharmacist to serve as Kansas Insurance Commissioner and is the only pharmacist in America currently holding elected statewide office.

Currently, Commissioner Schmidt serves as the vice chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Midwest Zone. She serves as a member of the Property And Casualty Insurance (C) Committee, Financial Condition (E) Committee, and International Insurance Relations (G) Committee of the NAIC. She also serves on the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) Board of Directors and the Consumer Participation Board of Trustees.