Jon Kerrigan currently works as an Agricultural Trade Representative for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, where he looks to promote agricultural products abroad. Prior to joining NDA, Kerrigan worked in global affairs for nearly ten years at the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in Lincoln.
Kerrigan has worked in mainland China employed at several universities and institutions of higher education throughout the country, teaching both intercultural understanding and English language acquisition for nearly five years.
He also pursued an M.A. in International Political Economy from the University of Kent’s School of International Studies in Brussels, Belgium, where he worked as the Asia-Pacific desk officer at a human rights organization. Kerrigan has also worked as an advisor with the immigrant and refugee community at the International Education Center in Minneapolis.
Jordan Schlake is an Agricultural Trade Representative with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with degrees in Economics and International Studies, Schlake joined NDA in 2012 working on livestock development before transitioning to his current role in 2019. Through his former and current positions, he has several years of experience promoting Nebraska’s wide array of agricultural products in the international marketplace, including beef, pork, corn, soybeans, along with several other commodities and products.
Schlake is particularly passionate about livestock genetics having grown up in a cattle breeding family in rural Nebraska and having a grandfather who made frequent sales trips to South America to develop a customer base for his beef genetics. Schlake enjoys connecting with cattlemen from all over the world to help them improve their own herds with U.S. genetics to enhance their profitability and increase the worldwide quality of beef that supports our shared livelihoods. He speaks business-level Japanese and is conversant in Spanish. Schlake lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, with his wife and son.