Karen Gefvert has been promoted by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation to its executive director of governmental relations.
As the leader of the WFBF’s governmental relations team, Gefvert is responsible for managing the responsibilities of the division, overseeing lobbying efforts on state and national levels and working with county Farm Bureau members on policy and governmental initiatives.
“Karen is a proven performer and a dynamic leader,” said Dale Beaty, Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s Chief Administrative Officer. “She has extensive experience working with our members, Farm Bureau leaders at the county, state, and national levels, those in state and national government and many of our friends in agriculture. She is the right person to lead our governmental relations team.”
Growing up in the country, Karen got her first taste of agriculture raising rabbits and poultry as 4-H projects in Burlington, Wisconsin. After college, Karen spent a few years working in the poultry industry in Arkansas and then returned to Wisconsin where she taught high school agriculture at Janesville Parker High School for two years before joining Farm Bureau in 2011. In her former role as director of governmental relations, she managed all national lobbying efforts.
Gefvert and her husband, Brad, live near Fort Atkinson with their five children.
Gefvert began her duties on January 21. She succeeds Paul Zimmerman as executive director of governmental relations.
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