Speaker Information

Norma Diaz
Talent Management at Land O’ Frost.

Dr. Robert Durborow
Dr. Durborow has been serving as Interim Associate Research Director for the Kentucky State University College of Agriculture, Community, and the Sciences for the past year and a half. Before that, he served as Interim Assistant Research Director from October 2016. Dr. Durborow is also a Professor in the College’s School of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, mentoring graduate students in their research, serving as State Extension Specialist for Aquaculture, and teaching Fish Diseases lecture and laboratory courses. He is an American Fisheries Society Certified Fish Pathologist and has been diagnosing diseases of aquatic organisms since 1984. Dr. Durborow earned a Ph.D. from Auburn University in Fisheries and Aquaculture, a M.S. degree in Fisheries from Louisiana State University, and a B.A. in Biology from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. He has been married for 40 years to Beverly Brown Durborow, has a daughter (34) who works as an engineer and administrator for NASA, a son (31) who is attorney/director of the Laurel County, KY Office of Public Advocacy, and four grandchildren.

Cindy Fury
Cindy Fury is a Wildlife Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) Migratory Bird and Science Applications Program, stationed in Tallahassee, Florida. She is Project Leader of the Florida/Caribbean Migratory Bird Field Office and an active member of the USFWS National Climate Team. She also serves on the Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (JEDIA) Team in the Southeast Region, focusing on increasing paid student intern opportunities. Prior to her current position, she worked for the Ecological Services Program focusing on endangered species related to Everglades Restoration, served as Senior Biologist at the USFWS Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and worked for the state’s Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) managing the 670,000-acre Francis S Taylor Wildlife Management Area. These positions in different ways have all been associated with agriculture and urban areas. Cindy has also worked as a Biology/Environmental Science Adjunct Professor and, prior to her biological career, served in the US Air Force as head of Communications and Quality Control for Ramstein Air Force Base in Europe during the first Gulf War. She completed B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Biology with a Wildlife Conservation Focus at Florida International University studying “Autumn Raptor Migration through the Florida Keys”. Cindy is married to a FFWCC Fisheries Biologist, has 2 cats, and is originally from Kentucky.

Antoinette Hargrove Duke
Antoinette Hargrove Duke serves as the Director of the Career Development Center at Tennessee State University. A native of Huntsville, Alabama she currently resides in Lavergne Tennessee with her beautiful daughter Jamyla Antoinette.
Ms. Duke has over 26 years of human resource experience. She has a MBA and MSO from Cumberland University and is currently a doctoral student at Tennessee State University.
She is the author of The Sisters has their Say and the Founder and Visionary of “…But God Ministry” Nette Working For You a 501 c 3 non-profit organization
She has a strong passion for volunteering and giving back to her community. Antoinette has served in many community roles, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Davidson County, Vice President of the Davidson County Foster Care Association, a member of Big Brother /Big Sister organization and as a certified training of Darkest to Light (Stewards of Children).
One of Ms. Duke’s favorite quotes is by Oprah Winfrey “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” Antoinette frequently shares how she learned to turn her pain, to passion, which has led to a better understanding of her purpose.

Hottel photo Dr. Ben Hottel
Dr. Hottel is a Technical Services Manager for Rollins. He has a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Florida and is a Board Certified Entomologist. Before coming to Rollins, he was an Assistant Professor in Urban Entomology at Florida A&M University.

Tami Jones-Jefferson
Tami Jones-Jefferson is the North America Regulatory and Stewardship Leader for Corteva Agriscience and her contributions to agricultural science and strategy have led to her being recognized as an R&D Corteva Laureate. With a degree in chemistry from Jackson State University, she has over 30 years of experience in analytical science, method development, project leadership, information technology, product stewardship and regulatory strategy. She is currently responsible for developing and implementing regulatory strategies to support the use of agricultural products by direct product receivers.

Dr. Comfort Manyame
Corteva Agriscience’s Strategy & Portfolio Lead for Digital Ag in Farming Solutions and Digital R&D. In his role, Comfort manages a portfolio of Data Science and Informatics initiatives, programs, and projects to deliver engineering, software development, data engineering, and data science components. He is also involved with Corteva's Ag development team where he has an interest in smallholder farming systems and Corteva's growing influence and impacts in this all-important space. Prior to his current role, Comfort also led the Geospatial Data Engineering team in R&D. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Soil Physics from Texas A&M University (College Station) in 2006.

Dr. Ayanna Shoulds
Analytical chemist and the R&D Group Lead Corteva Agriscience’s Regulatory and Stewardship group.
A native of Maryland, Dr. Ayanna U. Shoulds has always had an interest in the well-being of others. She initially went to Xavier University of Louisiana with the desire of becoming a pediatrician but realized during her freshman year that her true interest was in research. After earning her BS in Chemistry from Xavier University, Ayanna earned her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University. While at Purdue, she authored 14 peer reviewed publications, and participated in 14 conferences and invited talks. Upon graduating from Purdue in 2010, Ayanna joined Dow AgroSciences (DAS), now Corteva Agriscience, as an analytical chemist.
Within Corteva, she solves complex analytical problems in support of crop protection products geared to improving crop productivity for the global challenge of feeding a growing world population. During her time in industry, she has contributed to the registration of over five actives, providing global solutions to farmers. In 2015, Ayanna worked abroad in Italy as a part of a special Dow Chemical Company CEO Exchange Program. Ayanna has contributed to over 6 technical presentations and/or invited talks and received several recognitions and honors including 40 Under 40 awards from both the Indianapolis Business Journal and Xavier University of Louisiana and the ACS Women in Chemistry Rising Star Award (2020).
Ayanna is very active within her community and serves on the executive boards of three Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) organizations. Ayanna thrives in new and changing environments. She enjoys leadership roles, learning about new areas, and understanding the ‘big picture’ to impact positive change. In her personal time, Ayanna enjoys time with family, walking her dogs and jigsaw puzzles.

Dr. Andrew J. Ray
Dr. Andrew J. Ray holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi, a M.S. degree from the University of Charleston, South Carolina, and a B.S. degree from the University of Central Missouri. He is an Associate Professor of Aquaculture Production in the School of Aquaculture at Kentucky State University. His research laboratory focuses on topics such as systems design, mineral dynamics, water quality, denitrification, brackish water aquaponics, biofloc and recirculating systems, and marine shrimp husbandry. Dr. Ray teaches Water Quality Management at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and works with industry partners in the US and globally. He has secured over $2 million in grant funding during his seven years at KSU.