Now the U.S. Grains Council’s director of finance and administration, Margaret Warn Haberman’s 15-year career with the Council is a study in evolution for both Margaret and the Council itself.

Originally hired as a program secretary to support the Council’s international staff, she later left the Council, earned a business degree and her certified public accountant license, came back to the Council as a part-time human resources manager and took on information technology tasks before moving into her full-time director’s position.

“Margaret was my first boss when I came to the Council as a coordinator,” remembers USGC CEO and President Tom Sleight. “She was one of my first trainers.”

Over the years, Haberman has played “an incredibly diverse role,” according to Sleight, who says, “I’m not sure many people could wear all those hats so efficiently and so well.”

Working with Darwin Stolte, Ken Hobbie, Tom Dorr, and now Tom Sleight as CEO, she’s also seen the Council evolve.

“When I first hired, trade servicing was more focused on working with members to build contacts,” Haberman says. “Now the whole trade policy arena has exploded, and everyone is focused on free trade agreements.

“Some activities are similar. We still do consultants and foreign teams, but it’s much more sophisticated than 30 years ago. It has to be, when our third-party cooperators can get on the internet to access all kinds of data.”

The biggest change, however, is the change in the Council itself that came as states established the grower checkoffs, according to Haberman.

“When I started, we were just 13 people, but when the checkoffs began investing, the Council started to grow,” Haberman concludes.