Dr. Les Anderson was raised on a livestock and crop farm in Missouri, graduated with honors from the University of Missouri, received his MS at Iowa State University and doctorate in Reproductive Physiology from The Ohio State University. He joined the Animal and Food Sciences Department at the University of Kentucky in 1997 and holds the title of Extension Professor. Dr. Anderson has an extensive county-based educational program and chairs the UK Beef IRM committee. He provides leadership for several intensive educational programs and has secured over $6M in Extension funding. Dr. Anderson was the first Extension educator to be awarded the Southern Region ASAS Young Scientist Award for Education and in 2014 he was awarded the Southern Region ASAS Extension Award. Dr. Anderson and wife Cindy have 5 children and two grandkids.

Dr. Justin Rhinehart is a Professor of Animal Science in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Science. He serves as an Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, and his office is located at the Middle TN AgResearch & Education Center in Spring Hill. He grew up working on his family’s diversified farming operation in east Tennessee, growing livestock, tobacco, and nursery crops. Dr. Rhinehart earned his B.S. in Agriculture and Extension Education from the University of Tennessee (1999), M.S. in Reproductive Physiology from the University of Kentucky (2003), and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Reproductive Physiology at West Virginia University (2007). After completing his graduate degrees, Justin worked for the Mississippi State University Department of Animal & Dairy Sciences as an Assistant Professor and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist. He joined the faculty at UT in April of 2010. As an Extension Specialist, Justin’s primary goal has been to translate research findings into management practices that improve the profitability of beef cattle production and the quality of life for beef cattle farmers. His focus has been on training Extension Agents and farmers on applying reproductive management technologies such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, pregnancy diagnosis, in vitro embryo production, and early pregnancy diagnosis. Dr. Rhinehart coordinates the Tennessee Master Beef Producer program that annually trains more than 2,000 beef cattle farmers on improving the health and wellbeing of their livestock, economic and environmental sustainability of their farming operation, and quality and safety of the food they produce. He also provides leadership for the TN Beef Heifer Development, TN Bull Development & Evaluation, and Bovine Reproductive Management Training programs. These programs provide education and service to beef cattle farmers and ranchers across Tennessee, as well as others across the U.S. and in other countries.