Who We Are
AGRI-SEARCH is committed to serving the agricultural industry with integrity, passion, and excellence by assisting our candidates to reach their career goals and helping our client companies build successful teams.
Professional Agricultural Recruiters You Can Trust
Dave Allen
dave@agri-search.com
Dave received his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education and Master’s degree in Agronomy from the University of Illinois. After participating for six months in the FFA Work Experience Abroad program in West Germany, Dave joined the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service Staff.
He served as Agricultural Extension Advisor for 3 ½ years in his home county of Shelby and 4 ½ years in Piatt County. Dave worked for eight years as a sales agronomist for two Illinois cooperatives, Grand Prairie Co-op and Effingham Equity, before joining AGRI-SEARCH in 1999 and purchasing the business in 2001. Dave is married with three grown children. He enjoys spending time with family, Illini basketball, Cardinal baseball, and being active in Promise Keepers. Dave specializes in placing personnel in the grain industry and working with agricultural companies and boards in management and leadership succession.
Jim Fleming
jim@agri-search.com
With nearly 35 years in the agribusiness industry, Jim is considered an expert in his field and has been interviewed on AGRI-TALK, Brownfield Network, RFD Network, Cromwell Ag Radio, Wisconsin Farm Network, Farmweek News, and both the Illinois and Indiana Agri-News. Jim supports the industry through his involvement in the American Seed Trade Association, Independent Professional Seed Association, Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, Wisconsin Agribusiness Association, and the Indiana Crop Improvement Association.
On the local level, Jim takes an active role in the FFA and 4-H organizations and volunteers in his community and church. His hobbies are collecting Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline, and JI Case tractors and farm implements and participating in antique farm shows throughout the country. He also enjoys gardening and working in the yard.
Vic Heinold
vic@agri-search.com
Vic was raised in Kouts, Indiana. He graduated from Kouts High School and attended Purdue University. In 1976, he assumed the responsibility for the family business, Heinold Elevator and Feeds. During his tenure from 1976 until 2004, Heinold Feeds became one of the top specialty feed manufacturers in the nation and a highly recognized pre-mix manufacturer specializing in Dairy.
In November of 2004, Vic was elected to the Indiana State Senate where he sponsored and authored numerous bills making Indiana a business-friendly state for agriculture, especially ethanol production. In May of 2007, he retired from the Senate and accepted a full-time position with Consolidated Grain & Barge as General Manager of the Feed Ingredient Division with a strong emphasis on Distillers Dried Grains. Vic left CGB in the fall of 2011, and in October 2011, he joined AGRI-SEARCH as a Professional Agricultural Recruiter specializing in the grain and feed and nutrition industries and a variety of management positions with state and national agriculture associations.
He is the father of five children and proud grandfather of 16. His civic activities, to name a few, include The Gideons International, Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, Florida Feed Association, American Feed Industry Association, and Indiana Grain and Feed Association of which he served as Chairman.
Chelbi Williams Alt
chelbi@agri-search.com
Chelbi Alt grew up in Assumption, Illinois. After graduating from Millikin University in 2006 with a Business Management degree, she began working in the Agricultural Industry with GSI. During her 13-year tenure with GSI, she held various management and process improvement positions.
Chelbi joined the AGRI-SEARCH team in 2019 as a Professional Recruiter specializing in Executive Searches. She also works alongside the AGRI-SEARCH team members to improve processes to better serve our clients and candidates.
Chelbi and her husband reside in Westville, Indiana with their three children. She travels back to Assumption as often as her family will allow and is happiest when her kids get to play alongside her nephew and nieces. Chelbi and her older sister founded the Casey Williams Foundation in memory of their younger sister. Partnering with five other Board members, they focus their efforts on promoting the need for organ and tissue donation while helping families on their organ and tissue donation journey. She has a true passion for helping others and working with people.
Brad Jansen
brad@agri-search.com
Brad and his wife are the owners of a Montessori Preschool located in Effingham, Illinois. They are the proud parents of four children. Brad’s interests include Fighting Illini Basketball, quail hunting, hiking, playing and coaching sports, and spending time with family. Brad joined AGRI-SEARCH in 2022 as a recruiter specializing in Grain.
Jill Bushue
jill@agri-search.com
Jill Bushue grew up in Southern Illinois on the family farm and graduated from SIUC with her MBA in 1998.
After graduation, she went to work for ADM and spent time in Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois where she gained a wide variety of grain industry knowledge and experience with barge, rail, and export trading.
Jill joined the AGRI-SEARCH team in 2024 and specializes in Grain Merchandising and Operations recruiting. She combines her extensive experience consulting with companies alongside the experience she gained at ADM to connect employers with top talent. Providing solutions to clients with candidates who are looking to grow their careers is her mission, all while deepening her connections throughout the agricultural industry.
Jill and her husband Josh have three children and reside near Sullivan, Illinois. She enjoys spending time playing golf, trail riding in Shawnee, and mentoring students in her local FFA and church youth groups.
Hope Wilburn
hope@agri-search.com
Hope was born and raised in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After graduating with an Animal Science- Agriculture Education degree in 2017 from Middle Tennessee State University, she began working for Rutherford County Schools as an agriculture teacher specializing in horticulture and agronomy sciences. She ran their school greenhouse operation and was an active FFA advisor, all while obtaining her Master’s degree in Agriculture Education from MTSU.
Hope left the teaching field in 2022 to begin recruiting in agriculture and gained valuable experience in all sectors. She joined AGRI-SEARCH in 2024 as a recruiter specializing in Grain. With her experiences in agriculture and recruitment, she aims to provide top talent and help organizations grow.
Hope and her husband reside in Lebanon, Tennessee with their daughter. Hope enjoys spending time with family, hiking, cooking, kayaking, and assisting the local FFA chapters in her community.
Rich Connell
Retired
Rich received his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Iowa State University and spent nine years on the family farm in northwest Iowa. The next 23 years he worked in sales and management with Farmland Industries.
Rich then joined the farmer-marketing program for a commodity brokerage firm where he established a personnel search division before forming his own company, Rich Connell AGRI-SEARCH, Inc. in 1995. Officially retired since December 31, 2001, Rich enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, University of Illinois football and basketball, and attending several trade shows and career fairs each year with the RCAS staff.