Outstanding Volunteer of the Year
The Outstanding Volunteer of the Year is provided to an individual whose leadership has inspired the Council and its membership to promote, educate and build important relationships with business and community leaders and outside publics. Founder of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City in 2003, Gina Bowman is the 2009 inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer’s award.
Gina Bowman
A native of Savannah, MO where she grew up on a farm, Bowman is vice president of government relations for CVR Energy, Inc., a mid-continent energy company. As founder and visionary for the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City, Bowman served as the volunteer chair for two years providing untold hours of service to an organization in which she continues to inspiration, guidance and leadership. Her contributions to Kansas City are wide-ranging. She serves on several Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Committees responsible for state and federal policymaking and is chair of the Chamber of Commerce’s Environmental Committee; advisor and member of the Energy Policy Task Force and chair of the Missouri Animal Health Corridor Initiative Legislative Committee. She also serves on the Kansas, Missouri and Federal Affairs Committees. A graduate of William Jewell College, Bowman served nearly 24 years with Farmland Industries, Inc., where she developed and directed the government relations division. She is an award-winning public affairs practitioner receiving national first place honors for the best government relations “grassroots communications” program by the Public Affairs Council. Her work and her leadership have been recognized by the Public Relations Society, the National Agri-Marketing Association, the National Association of State Cooperative Councils, the Kansas Cooperative Council, Farmland Industries, Kansas and Missouri Governors and the Missouri Department of Agriculture.