For Dave Allen, AGRI-SEARCH was never “just a career”. The company has always been and continues to be a part of his family’s story.
“It’s been a true blessing to be a part of the recruiting side of the industry,” Dave says. “It’s really the people side, when you think about it. It’s getting to know people, helping people, learning about people and encouraging people.”
The “people side” has been the focus and passion of the folks who have manned the wheel of the AGRI-SEARCH ship since the company was founded.
As the second generation of the company’s leadership, Dave shares that his greatest mentor in business has been Rich Connell, the company’s founder, and an Iowa farm kid who built his life around agriculture and relationships.
The Foundation
After years spent helping agricultural businesses develop leadership teams and succession plans, Rich grew frustrated with the corporate hiring decisions that prioritized business 
relationships over finding the best people for the job. So, in 1995, at 65 years old, he walked away from a steady paycheck and benefits to make a difference. That decision and drive laid the groundwork for what AGRI-SEARCH would become over the course of the next three decades.
In the late 90’s, Dave crossed paths with Rich at the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Trade Show in Peoria. At the time, Dave was working in retail fertilizer, building a career in agronomy while raising a young family with his wife, Cathy. He loved agriculture and he loved the farmers he worked with, but the schedule he was maintaining pulled him away from the life he wanted to build with his growing family.
“I’d been telling my wife, ‘I love the people more than the plants,’” Dave recalls. “I loved agronomy, but I realized what energized me most was helping people and seeing their success.”
His conversation with Rich never left his mind, and after a long conversation with his wife over their anniversary dinner, Dave picked up the phone and set the wheels in motion.
Over two years after their initial conversation and nearly nine months after that phone call, the stars aligned and Dave made the leap to join Rich at AGRI-SEARCH. The year was 1999, and, as they say, the rest is history.
With no recruiting experience, Dave jumped in with both feet. He discovered quickly that he had known the secret all along: recruiting wasn’t…isn’t…about resumes or hiring gaps, it’s about relationships, trust and putting people first.
“Technology has changed the way we do things, but the core value of recruiting hasn’t changed at all. It’s always been about relationships, and it always will be. You still have to understand people,” Dave says. “This business is built on integrity and doing the right thing every day. Rich taught me that, and we’ve continued to cultivate that.”
When the company was founded, the landscape for recruiting looked a little different than it does today. With computers helping to speed some data recall, the internet was still a whisper. There were no LinkedIn profiles, online applications and certainly no AI-driven hiring tools. The fax machine and U.S. Postal Service kept the company in day-to-day business.
“Cleaning out a box, I found a handwritten job description a client in northern Illinois had sent us,” Dave shares. “Back then, we’d run to the mailbox every day waiting for resumes, references and job descriptions to come in.”
Building a Legacy
Over the next 25 years, AGRI-SEARCH grew through word-of-mouth referrals and good old fashioned relationship building. Dave will tell you that the connections he’s made aren’t just industry colleagues, they’re friends. He focused on leadership recruiting, succession planning and helping agricultural businesses find the next generation of leaders that could move their companies into the future.
Recruiting isn’t a word he likes to use. He’s worked over two decades to grow teams, including his own. It is a people-based service that goes far beyond “recruiting”.
“You have to listen to what people want and what they need,” he says. “Then you figure out how you can serve them and connect them to the right opportunity. That goes for companies and for the talent they are looking for. Finding the person who will carry a company’s legacy forward is never transactional.”
At AGRI-SEARCH, there’s a clear understanding: Every candidate has a family. Every company has a mission. Every hire carries the weight of impact that stretches far beyond the office.
“It’s hard to look back now and not realize how blessed we’ve been. The relationships, the people and the opportunities this business has brought into our lives have been incredible for Cathy and me,” he shares.
That blessing is exactly why the next chapter of AGRI-SEARCH mattered so much to him.
The Next Chapter for AGRI-SEARCH
Dave and Cathy Allen
“The saddest thing in my earthly life would’ve been if on a given day I would have had to say, AGRI-SEARCH is closing the doors. You invest your life in people. And to see that collapse, that would’ve been tragic to me,” Dave confides.
Like many small business owners, Dave and Cathy were concerned about what would happen to the company after Dave stepped away. For a company founded on decades—sometimes multigenerational—relationships and trust, the thought of not answering the phone didn’t seem plausible.
“Rich has been my greatest cheerleader. He’ll be 96 years old in July, and he’s still an inspiration to me; he still answers the phone and sends notes. I couldn’t imagine turning what we’ve built over to someone who wouldn’t care as much as both Rich and I still do,” Dave explains.
Chelbi Alt joined AGRI-SEARCH seven years ago. Brad Jansen has been with the team for the past four years. Both feel as though they have found their “home”.
“I told my wife, if I ever work for another person again, it would have to be the perfect situation; a person that I trust, with high integrity. I found that working for Dave and the AGRI-SEARCH team,” Brad says. “Where else could I work for a group of people that does a morning devotional as a group every day? That is so rare in today’s world. I feel very blessed to be a part of such a neat organization.”
The passion and complementarity both Chelbi and Brad brought to the team was something Dave began recognizing a couple of years ago. The transition conversations began and in January 2026, Chelbi and Brad officially became the owners of AGRI-SEARCH.
Together, they are the ying and yang for the business and the answer to Dave and Cathy’s prayers.
“For Brad and I, our strengths are opposite of one another, and that works so well for what we do day-to-day,” Chelbi says.
For Dave, watching Chelbi and Brad step into leadership has brought a sense of peace he wasn’t sure he would ever find.
“I couldn’t have dreamed this up in my lifetime,” Dave says. “Brad and Chelbi weren’t hires. They were provided from God.”
Today, Dave remains actively involved in AGRI-SEARCH, focusing on succession planning, leadership development and client relationships while supporting the next generation of growth within the company.
And as AGRI-SEARCH enters its next chapter, that mission remains the same:
“We don’t have a product to sell,” Chelbi says. “We have our word, we have our integrity, and that’s what we want to be known for first within the industry.”
