2026 CDCB Industry Meeting

João Dürr is currently in his 12th year of service as CDCB Chief Executive Officer. Before CDCB, João worked as the Executive Director of Interbull based in Sweden, Professor at Universidade de Passo Fundo in Brazil, and President of the Brazilian Council of Milk Quality (CBQL). A native of Brazil, João received his Bachelor’s degree in agriculture at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; followed by master’s and doctorate degrees from McGill University, Montreal, in animal breeding and genetics.

Raised on a dairy farm in central Minnesota, Katie Schmitt began with CDCB in spring 2023 as Outreach Specialist. Previously, Katie worked at World Dairy Expo in various communication and marketing roles including Communications Manager. She received a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science with an emphasis in Industry and Business at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities along with minors in Communication Studies and Agricultural Food Business Management. In 2022, she was recognized as a “35 under 35” by Wisconsin Farm Bureau for her work with The Dairy Show podcast.

Nathan joined CDCB as a Principal Engineer in November 2024 and was promoted to Chief Technology Officer in May 2026. He takes pride in being an innovative, productive software engineer, and he has earned multiple awards for technical work that resulted in positive business impacts. He brings over 25 years of diverse experience to the team, with expertise in full-stack and full-lifecycle software development across various domains and technologies including web, mobile, and enterprise line of business applications.

John serves as Chief Research and Development Officer. Before coming to CDCB in March 2024, he spent three years as the Senior Vice President, Research and Development, for PEAK Genetics, where he oversaw genetics and reproductive biology research for the largest producer of cattle genetics in the world. Prior to joining PEAK, he spent 17 years as a Research Geneticist (Animals) and Acting Research Leader for USDA’s Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory (formerly the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory).

John has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed research articles, mentored many postdoctoral scientists and graduate students, and is a frequent speaker at industry and scientific meetings. His research has been recognized with the Jay L. Lush Award in Breeding and Genetics from the American Dairy Science Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the National Dairy Herd Information Association, and the Peer Research Award from the National Association of Animal Breeders.