Remembering Secretary Rod Nilsestuen

2009 Wisconsin State Fair, Cheryl O’Brien (left) with Sec. Nilsestuen (center) among others.

This is not first blog post that I envisioned writing here at Bader Rutter (I just started here at the end of June). But it is one I feel compelled to write.

Wednesday night, the agriculture industry lost a dear friend, Rod Nilsestuen. He served as the Secretary for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) here in Wisconsin since his appointment in 2003. Nilsestuen drowned in Lake Superior near Marquette, Mich. A statement from his family indicated he had gone swimming after a hard day’s work volunteering with his church group on a Habitat for Humanity project. Nilsestuen was 62.

During his tenure as secretary, Nilsestuen’s leadership led to more diversification and growth throughout Wisconsin agriculture. I believe he was such an accomplished leader because of his upbringing, not only on a farm but in cooperation. Before Nilsestuen accepted the appointment to DATCP, he worked for more than 20 years in cooperatives including serving as president and CEO of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives to get people to work together to accomplish goals.

That is something I saw first hand. Nilsestuen had a great team of people working with him at DATCP to accomplish several goals while growing Wisconsin agriculture. I was a member of that team for one year while I served as Alice in Dairyland, Wisconsin’s agricultural ambassador. I was on the road much of that year and saw him mostly in passing. I’ll always remember one day last December I was in the office after being on the road for nearly a month straight. It would’ve been so easy for him to pass right by, but he stopped to make sure I knew I wasn’t alone out there.

That passion for agriculture and for cooperation is something I had already planned to carry with me here at Bader Rutter, but will now do even more so in honor of Nilsestuen. Thank you Sec. Nilsestuen.

Nilsestuen touched so many people throughout his years of work in agriculture. Many of those people have been sharing their stories about working with him: http://cheeseunderground.blogspot.com/.