Farmer and rancher, with decades spent in corporate and industry relations, communications, and association management for agricultural organizations.
Hugh Whaley is a farmer and rancher first. That firsthand operating experience sits alongside a career spent inside agricultural organizations — corporate and industry relations, communications, public relations, media relations, and association management, largely on behalf of agricultural non-profits and businesses.
His background includes leadership roles with the American Soybean Association, the American Association of Orthodontists, OsbornBarr, and the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, along with independent consulting for the National Association of Wheat Growers and National Wheat Foundation. He has also worked for decades as an agricultural radio broadcaster, reporting farm news and hosting agriculture programming.
He has extensive experience working with, and serving on, volunteer boards and committees, and has consulted on strategic communications, volunteer development, PR, and industry relations across both the non-profit and for-profit sides of agriculture.
Alongside Whaleyco, Hugh also serves as Advisor and Board Secretary at Beck Ag, Inc., a separate firm — building on a Purdue University education and a career-long focus on agricultural organizations and rural business. That combination — working the land himself, and understanding the organizations that support it — is the foundation Whaleyco is built on.
Hugh works personally with a limited number of clients at a time, rather than handing engagements off to junior staff.
Advice grounded in real farm and ranch operations and agricultural organizations, not generic consulting frameworks.
Recommendations weigh what a property or operation needs beyond the current season or fiscal year.