Howard Buffett, "Hunger & Conflict: Leadership Challenges," Lecture of Opportunity, Dec. 9, 2014
Howard G. Buffett grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has been active in agriculture, business, conservation, philanthropy, photography, and politics. He currently spends the majority of his time managing the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private charitable foundation. Mr. Buffett oversees a 1,500-acre family farm in central Illinois and farms in Nebraska with his son. He oversees three foundation-operated research farms: over 3,100 acres in Arizona, 4,400 acres in Illinois, and 9,200 acres in South Africa. Mr. Buffett has served in a number of public positions. In 1989, he was elected to the Douglas County Board of Commissioners in Nebraska, he has served on two Office of the United States Trade Representative committees, and as Chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Authority and Development Board. Mr. Buffett served in senior executive positions at Archer Daniels Midland Company and The GSI Group. Mr. Buffett currently serves on the Corporate Boards of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., an investment holding company, The Coca Cola Company, the world’s largest beverage company, Lindsay Corporation, a world-wide leader in the manufacturing of agricultural irrigation products, and Sloan Implement, a privately owned distributor of John Deere agricultural equipment. Mr. Buffett has served on the boards of Archer Daniels Midland, a leading global food processor, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world, ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s largest food service manufacturers and retail food suppliers and Agro Tech Foods, a publicly traded food manufacturing company in India. He serves or has served on numerous non-profit boards. In 1997, Mr. Buffett was appointed as a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates; he received the Aztec Eagle Award from the President of Mexico in 2000, the highest honor bestowed on a foreign citizen by the Government of Mexico; and in 2002, he was recognized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture as one of the most distinguished individuals in the field of agriculture. In 2005, he received the Will Owen Jones Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award, and in 2007, he was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Against Hunger on behalf of the World Food Programme. In 2011, Mr. Buffett was awarded the Triumph of Agriculture Exposition Agri Award, the World Ecology Award, and the George McGovern Leadership Award. In 2012, he was awarded the National Farmers Union Meritorious Service to Humanity Award, the Columbia University Global Leadership Award, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Buffett has traveled to 130 countries documenting the challenges of preserving our biodiversity while providing adequate resources to meet the needs of a growing global population. In the process, he has authored eight books on conservation, wildlife, and the human condition. His writing has been published in periodicals including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He is also the author of 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World.
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