Bio:

Donnie’s enthusiasm for Tyson Foods and his self-effacing humor are contagious. Appointed to his role as president and CEO in 2009, his passion is the hallmark of his tenure at the company, which he joined in 1980. Daily, he guides Tyson Foods to be a company with a conscience, focused on feeding the world great, affordable food, while also making a positive difference in people’s lives.

Through his career, Donnie has worked to learn every angle of the Tyson Food business. He joined Tyson, working in poultry operations for seven years in Tennessee before moving the company’s headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, where he started as a commodity buyer. He was named director of commodity purchasing in 1991 and during the next several years added complementary responsibilities to his management portfolio. He was named senior vice president of logistics, purchasing and information systems in 2006. In 2007 Donnie was named group vice president of operation services, which included oversight of engineering, food safety and quality assurance, as well as environmental health and safety. He moved into the company’s consumer products division in 2008 and was named senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods in early 2009, the same year he was appointed as president and CEO.

Life:

A native of Tennessee, Donnie graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

Links: 

• LinkedIn

Founder and Chairman | Radical

David Platt serves as Lead Pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and chairman of Radical.

Books by David Platt include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Before You Vote, as well as the following volumes in the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series: Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Exalting Jesus in James, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, and Exalting Jesus in Galatians.

David Platt received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.

Partner | roam

On the same day of his graduation from the University of Georgia, David Salyers took his first job at Chick-fil-A where he was one of two original marketing executives. He spent 37 years in the Marketing Department, eventually serving as Vice President before his retirement in 2018.

Salyers was instrumental in the growth and development of the iconic ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ cow campaign at Chick-fil-A and helped champion a marketing department that rose to international prominence. At Roam, Salyers acts as Partner and has been integral in establishing Roam’s culture of servant leadership, generosity and hospitality. He is passionate about Roam’s purpose-driven mission and finding new ways to create remarkable experiences for customers.

 Links:

• LinkedIn

Managing Partner and Founder | Talanton

Bio:

David Simms is Managing Partner and Founder of Talanton, a Kingdom-impact investment firm. He focuses on opportunities to create jobs, bring hope, and transform lives for people living in poverty in the developing world, with a special focus on East Africa. Talanton mobilizes purpose-driven and generally tax-deductible investment capital through a unique model into a pooled Kingdom impact fund where the investments generate scalable, sustainable and transformational impact by being invested in growth-stage companies creating good jobs in the developing world.  Investment returns then flow back into  the donor-investors’ donor advised fund, family foundation, or source of origin thereby preserving and growing the donor’s capital for future giving or other investing.

Prior to founding Talanton, David served as a Managing Director at Impact Foundation. Previously he served as president of Opportunity U.S., a global microfinance organization serving 12 million clients. He has chaired the U.S., Global, and MicroEnsure boards over decades of involvement with Opportunity—from when it served fewer than 1,000 families.

David’s career spans executive roles in financial services, management consulting, government, and nonprofits. He has served as a Partner with Bridgespan, S.E.V.P. at MBNA America, CEO of the American Red Cross Washington/Baltimore Blood Services Region, and was a White House Fellow. David started his career at Bain.

He holds an MBA and a JD from Harvard and has earned two bachelor’s degrees in economics and applied science from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude).

 Life:

David and Kim celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in October. They live in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and have two wonderful adult sons, Stephen and Ryan.

 Links:

• LinkedIn

Founder and CEO | Continental Realty Group

Bio:

David Snyder’s expertise comes from more than 30 years of commercial real estate investment experience. During that time, he has overseen and managed a wide variety of real estate investment transactions.

Over the course of his career, David has directed real estate investment activities for pension fund, insurance, syndication, and private clients. He has also helped to liquidate and/or restructure the classified assets of syndication groups and financial and government institutions. He has purchased in excess of $2 billion in investments of commercial and multifamily real estate for his clients and sponsored investment funds. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Multi-Housing Council and serves of the board of several non-profit organizations.

Life:

David attended Colorado State University, where he studied Construction Management, Solar/Chemical Engineering, and Business Administration. He previously served in various capacities with Van Schaak and Company, Commonwealth Mortgage Company, Worldwide Exchange Group, and Snyder Investment Corporation, a real estate investment company he founded in 1979. He has two adult children and he and his wife currently reside in Littleton, Colorado.