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
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As the second generation of leadership at AGRI-SEARCH, Dave Allen has epitomized a people-first, relationship-driven business model for more than 25 years, carrying on the legacy of his mentor, friend and founder of AGRI-SEARCH, Rich Connell.
After beginning his career in agronomy, Dave joined AGRI-SEARCH in 1999 under Rich’s mentorship and quickly discovered a passion for connecting good people with good companies across agriculture.
Over the past twenty five years, Dave has helped grow AGRI-SEARCH through integrity and transparency. His passion for leadership recruiting, succession planning and long-term relationship building has helped position AGRI-SEARCH as a trusted partner throughout the agricultural industry.
Today, Dave continues to support AGRI-SEARCH while helping transition the business into its next chapter alongside Brad Jansen and Chelbi Alt. Dave believes Brad and Chelbi were brought into the business at exactly the right time and is excited to watch their complementary strengths take AGRI-SEARCH to a new level while continuing the people-first culture the company was built on.
Dave remains an important part of AGRI-SEARCH today, focusing on his passions for succession planning, leadership development and building lasting business relationships across agriculture.
Jim Fleming
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Jim Fleming has spent the last 25 years helping agricultural companies find the right people and helping candidates find opportunities where they can build lasting careers. Since joining AGRI-SEARCH in 2002, he has witnessed enormous changes in technology and communication, but his approach has remained rooted in relationships, trust and understanding people.
Raised near Arthur, Illinois, Jim expected his future would be on the family farm. The farm crisis of the 1980s changed that path, but his involvement in church, 4-H and FFA developed the communication skills that ultimately guided his career. A passion for agriculture and people led him into agricultural broadcasting, where he spent years covering markets, policy and the stories of rural America.
Those years behind the microphone built a network that stretched across every corner of the industry. Jim interviewed producers, agronomists, commodity leaders and agribusiness professionals, creating relationships that would later serve as the foundation for his work in recruiting.
His transition to AGRI-SEARCH came unexpectedly when Dave Allen encouraged him to consider recruiting during a period of change within agricultural media. What began as a new opportunity quickly became a career built on understanding both clients and candidates and identifying matches that would succeed for the long term.
Today, Jim continues to believe that successful recruiting is about far more than filling positions. It requires understanding company culture, recognizing potential and moving quickly when the right opportunity presents itself. After more than two decades, his commitment to connecting good people with good companies remains unchanged.
Vic Heinold
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Vic Heinold has spent nearly 50 years working across agriculture, building experience in grain, feed, agronomy, agricultural policy and international feed ingredient markets.
Raised in Kouts, Indiana, Vic attended Purdue University before taking responsibility for his family business, Heinold Elevator and Feeds, in 1979. During his tenure, the company grew into one of the nation’s top specialty feed manufacturers and a recognized dairy premix manufacturer.
Vic’s career later took him to the Indiana State Senate, where he worked on legislation supporting agriculture and ethanol production, and to Consolidated Grain & Barge, where he led the company’s Feed Ingredient Division and developed international markets.
In 2011, Vic joined AGRI-SEARCH, bringing decades of firsthand industry experience to our recruiting team. Today, he specializes in grain, feed and nutrition, as well as management positions with state and national agricultural associations.
For Vic, recruiting has become another way to serve an industry he loves. He especially enjoys building relationships and helping good people find opportunities with good companies where they can succeed.
Vic is the proud father of 5, grandfather of 16 and great-grandfather of 10.
Chelbi Williams Alt
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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
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As co-owner of AGRI-SEARCH, Brad is passionate about connecting great people with great companies. He thrives on solving problems, building relationships and helping organizations find the talent they need to succeed. His experience across multiple sectors of agriculture gives him a unique perspective on the challenges employers face and the opportunities available to agricultural professionals.
Brad also serves on the Board of Directors for Effingham Equity, providing valuable insight into cooperative leadership and agribusiness management. He and his wife live in central Illinois with their four children, where they remain actively involved in their community and agriculture.