Magazines

David Cooper

David Cooper is a native of Pocatello, Idaho, but was raised by his mother in Sandy, Utah. He was a newspaper reporter and editor for 16 years in Utah, Alabama and Idaho, before joining Progressive Publishing in 2010 as the first editor for Progressive Cattle. He and his wife have five kids. He enjoys all sports, most dogs, reads only non-fiction, enjoys pineapple on his pizza, but thinks it should be illegal to put fried egg on a burger.

Jenn Coyne

Jenn Coyne’s start in the dairy industry began with a 4-H dairy steer and a dairy farmer willing to hire a young middle schooler. As they say, the rest is history. She spent early mornings and late afternoons in the tiestall barn, tending to the animals and fostering a deep appreciation for the people of the dairy industry. Coyne furthered her passion with a degree in animal science with a dairy production emphasis at the University of Minnesota before curating a career in communications tailored to dairy. She took an internship with Progressive Publishing in 2014 before returning full time in 2022.

Kimmi Devaney

Kimmi Devaney is an editor for Progressive Dairy magazine and a co-host of the Progressive Dairy Podcast. She covers business management, farm safety, mental health, cow comfort, facilities, grazing, organic, niche market and policy topics for the magazine and a variety of dairy-related topics on the podcast. Before joining the Progressive Dairy editorial team in 2022, she spent 12 years working in communications and producer relations roles for multiple state and regional dairy checkoff organizations, a major milk marketing cooperative and a state Department of Agriculture. She grew up on her grandparents’ retired dairy farm in Washington state where she was active in 4-H and served as a dairy princess. Devaney graduated from Washington State University (WSU) with degrees in animal sciences and agricultural communications and later received the WSU Dairy Programs Alumni of the Year award in 2013. She continues her involvement with WSU’s dairy programs by serving on the Cooperative University Dairy Students (CUDS) advisory board.

Jenna Hurty-Person

Jenna Hurty-Person currently lives in northern New York with her husband and daughter. Jenna grew up in Connecticut where she spent every free waking moment at the barn riding horses and mucking stalls. However, it wasn’t until she went to college in Missouri that she developed a passion for production agriculture. In particular, she enjoys hearing about and sharing the stories and insights of farmers from around the country. In addition, she likes sifting through information, research and hearing from those in the industry. This feeds her quest to find the most useful and practical answers to questions or challenges farmers face today and in the future.

When Jenna isn’t working, she’s probably gardening, hiking, searching for beautiful waterfalls or on the hunt for amazing local ice cream.

Alan Leavitt

Alan Leavitt grew up in Jerome, Idaho and enjoys being part of the Progressive Publishing team, interacting most closely with editorial and production. He and his wife Staci have raised their family in Jerome and are “nearly” empty-nesters and enjoying the next stage of life — being grandparents. They enjoy time spent with family and outdoor activities including gardening, biking and hiking.

Karen Lee

Karen Lee has been writing about cows for most of her life. She learned about hard work, discipline, stewardship and teamwork while milking cows, feeding calves, unloading hay and picking rocks on her family’s farm in southern Wisconsin and through 4-H and FFA. Lee has a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural journalism and dairy science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has been a member of the team at Progressive Publishing for more than 15 years, covering the dairy industry in the U.S. and Canada. She resides on a small hobby farm with her husband and three children.

Tyrell Marchant

Tyrell Marchant’s youth was largely spent learning to dribble a basketball on hard-packed dirt, moving hand lines across the hay field, and trailing cattle across some pretty rough country in southern Idaho’s high desert. For the record, he never once complained (though in a candid, off-the-record moment, you may hear a different truth). These days, he and his wife, Krista, have their hands full chasing their two kids around and trying to convince them that ketchup doesn’t count as a vegetable.

Tyrell is an avid fan of fancy show cattle, Winston Churchill and well-written literature. He is tragically afflicted with a chronic habit of always pulling for teams that end up breaking his heart (see Jazz, Utah). Tyrell considers one of his best attributes to be the ability to be at peace with not being the smartest guy in the room – a skill that comes in handy alarmingly often.

Matti McBride

Feeding bottle calves in the summer heat and frigid northern Utah winters, moving irrigation pipe among seas of mosquitoes, hauling hay in a dusty haze, and chasing the purple ribbons of a show ring taught Matti McBride how to work hard and love the dairy industry. If she isn’t chasing her husband and little boy around the mountains hunting, snowmobiling or camping, they’re working beef or dairy cows — depends on the day. She’s one who attempts to cook on a frequent basis but probably should stay out of the kitchen. She considers herself a professional but uses “lol” way too frequently in emails. A Holstein enthusiast and someone extremely passionate about the industry, McBride truly enjoys her work and is excited to work with you.

Audrey Schmitz

Audrey Schmitz is from Axtell, Kansas, where she grew up on her family’s 90-cow registered Holstein dairy farm. She feels blessed to have spent her childhood helping with chores, milking cows and caring for livestock. Her upbringing inspired her to choose a career in agriculture, and her involvement in 4-H and FFA led her to become an ag communicator. She served as the Progressive Dairy intern in 2017. After graduating from Kansas State University with majors in agricultural communications/journalism and animal sciences with a dairy emphasis, she returned to Progressive Publishing full time to start her career as an editor. Schmitz enjoys building meaningful industry relationships and delivering impactful storytelling dedicated to dairy producers through feature articles.

Karine Vézina

Karine Vézina is a dedicated agrimarketing and agricultural communications professional with a deep passion for the dairy sector and strong respect for producers. She serves as the editor for Progressive Dairy en français, where she contributes to both editorial and sales development to support the magazine’s impact in the Canadian francophone market. Vézina is also the founder of Puzzle Agrimarketing, a firm focused on business-to-farm commercialization. Prior to that, she held marketing roles – mainly in dairy – at La Coop fédérée and Shur-Gain, where she built solid expertise in market strategy and producer communications, in collaboration with on-farm advisers. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong commitment to bridging agribusinesses and producers, ensuring that the needs, perspectives and realities of the dairy sector remain at the heart of her work.

Carrie Veselka

Carrie Veselka grew up on a small commercial beef operation in Adams County, Idaho. After completing an internship with the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, where she got her first taste of ag journalism, she graduated from Brigham Young University – Idaho with a degree in English and started working for Progressive Publishing. Her favorite way to describe her job is, “I basically geek out about cows all day.”

When she’s not at work, Carrie enjoys singing in her church and local community choirs, reading her hoard of books (English major, remember?) and, at least as long as her landlord says, “no pets allowed,” inflicting her repressed animal-loving urges on a flock of houseplants. When she makes it home to the “promised land,” Carrie serves as shot-giver, baby/calf wrangler and general go-fer when working cattle. And if she asks nicely, she usually gets a turn riding a horse.

Marian Viney

Marian Viney is excited to bring her passion for agriculture and publishing full circle as the managing editor of Progressive Forage. Raised on dairy farms in Illinois and Wisconsin, Marian’s upbringing instilled in her a love for farming, strong family values and a commitment to community. Her family showcased nearly every major dairy breed, and their involvement in 4-H and FFA helped shape her early leadership experiences.

She earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also worked at the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center and the UW Biotechnology Center. Her early career included publishing work with the American Society of Agronomy, where she edited scientific journals and coordinated special projects including books, monographs, special publications and newsletters. After stepping back from full-time work to raise their three sons, she remained active through freelance writing and community service.

Marian later returned to agricultural publishing with the Wisconsin Historical Society, Agri-View, Wisconsin Farm Bureau and Vita Plus before joining Progressive Publishing. She works remotely from Belleville, Wisconsin--one of three UFO capitals of the world--where she lives with her husband, Doug, who grew up in Belleville. Marian is active in local schools, church and civic organizations and finds joy in gardening, hiking, knitting, reading and cheering on the UW Badgers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers.

With a deep respect for the agriculture industry and the people behind it, Marian is honored to lead a publication that serves producers with relevant, timely and trusted content.