Mini-Cassia Commerce Authority

Board of Directors

Our board of directors acumen and experience reflects the very essence of MCCA. The spirit of the very legislation that was enacted to create this body was vested on the merits of the individuals that would be chosen by the participating county or counties. It was the intent of the forward-thinking legislators, that the counties using this authority would find the very best combination of commission members in terms of business, political, finance, legal and organizational acumen. To this challenge, we believe the county commissioners of Cassia and Minidoka Counties have risen. The combination of these attributes is unparalled in most economic and business development organizations.

Who We Are

Steve Ormond, Vice President, Zions Bank

Steve was born and raised on his parent’s farm in the Rigby area of eastern Idaho.  He attended RicksCollege after high school graduation and then received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in Sociology. After college, he farmed within a family partnership for the next 11 years in the Blackfoot area with emphasis on potatoes and dairy heifers.  Steve has been in banking for approximately 30 years working for Eastern Idaho PCA, IB&T, Key Bank, West One and US Bank. Steve has been with Zions Bank for 16 years and is currently the branch manager / commercial loan officer in the Burley office. Steve has lived in the Burley area for 28 years. He is married and has six children and eleven grandchilren.

Jeff Harper, President, Mart Produce Corporation

Jeff was born in 1956 in Paul, ID. He grew up working on his parent’s farm and graduated from Minico High School. Jeff received a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in Agricultural Economics. After college, he was employed by a local bank for three years and has since been employed by Mart Produce Corporation. While employed in the potato business, he has served on the State of Idaho Inspection Advisory Committee, the Idaho Potato Research and Education committee, and as the president of the Idaho Growers Shippers Association. He is currently engaged as the president of Mart Produce Corporation.

Winston Inouye, Executive Director, Consultant, Idaho Policy Advisors

Winston grew up in southern Idaho, where he worked with the family farming and transportation operation, ultimately serving as COO. He then served as executive director of the Magic Valley Energy Coalition for three years before going on to serve as VP of government relations for Intrepid Technology & Resources for four years before coming to Idaho Policy Advisors in 2008, where he works as a lobbyist and a business consultant in business development and change management. In addition to this, Winston organized and served as the chief fundraiser for Idaho Ag Development Corp and has served as the regional campaign manager for Governor C.L, Butch Otter in his successful 2006 campaign and again in his 2010 campaign. He also sets on the Governor’s Regional Advisory Committee, Idaho Department of Transportation Freight Advisory Committee and the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance. Winston has an AA in Economics from the College of Southern Idaho, BA and MA degrees from Ashford University and has completed additional graduate work at Gonzaga University.

Todd Phillips, Certified Public Accountant

Todd is a senior partner in one of the most respected accounting firms in south central Idaho. He is well-versed in the arena of accounting, assurance and advisory, risk management, tax and portfolio strategy, financial planning, technology and human capital assessment. As a principle in many other profitable business entities, Todd is also knowledgable in the challenges that face the modern business and the development issues that are often related to starting, operating, and expanding business. He knows the need for strong economic development is an integral to business and community development. The knowledge, respect, acumen, and human capital that Todd brings to the board of directors is immense and plays and integral role in forming the unique insight and innovation from multiple disciplines, professions and industries that the MCCA is well known for. Todd earned his bachelorette degree from Idaho State University and is a certified public accountant in the state of Idaho.

Brent Stoker, Agri-Business Executive

Brent was born and raised in the Burley area of south central Idaho. It was during this time that he learned and inculcated the principles and values that come from working on and operating a farming operation. It is this same progressive farming operation that Brent and his brother now farm today, and have helped grow into the one of the Magic Valley’s largest and progressive farming organizations.

After attending Ricks College in Rexburg, ID, Brent partnered with his brother to take the next step in keeping with the progressive business and agricultural vision that they had for their operation and began building one of the valleys most state of art dairy operations. In this spirit, Brent has realized the need for modern scientific waste management systems and thus has lead him to further exploration into the use of microbiology and science as an integral part of the modern farming and dairy operation.

Brent has served for 10 years on the NRCS Board, on the Cassia County Groundwater Quality Advisory Committee, United States Potato Board (two terms), Mini-Cassia Chamber of Commerce Board (two terms), and Cassia District Commissioner for the Boy Scouts of America and also as the chairman of the Gateway Task Force Committee. Brent and his wife, Marla, have seven children, three of which are attending college and two of which are married. Brent has one grandchild.

William “Bill” Parsons, Esquire

Bill is a lifelong resident of Idaho and the Mini-Cassia area, he graduated from Burley High School, earned his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Idaho. Bill was admitted to practice law in Idaho and the federal courts in 1958 and since 1963 has been a principle in the law firm Parsons, Smith, Stone, Loveland & Shirley, which was founded in the same year. Bill has served as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers (state committee two terms and state chairman one term), he is also a member of the Idaho and American Bar Association, a member Theron Ward Inns of Court and past member of the University of Idaho Law School Advisory Committee. He was awarded the Idaho State Bar-Distinguished Lawyer in 2010, Businessman of the Year in 1999 and the Fifth District Professionalism Award in 1996. In addition to many other positions and awards in the law community, Bill served as the city attorney for Burley, ID for 28 years.

Duane Grant, Pres.-CEO Grant 4-D Farms of Idaho, Inc.

A native of Minidoka County, Mr. Grant is a partner in a large diversified irrigated row crop farm business located on the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Products include a wide variety of crops such as malt barley, potatoes, sugar beets, corn, alfalfa hay, and four separate market classes of wheat. The operation holds an interest in a large commercial Idaho dairy, and has an interest in one of the two remaining dairies located in Hawaii.

Mr. Grant currently holds several industry leadership positions including serving as the Chairman of the Board for Snake River Sugar Company since 2008, and serving as National Grower Spokesperson for the Sugar Industry Biotechnology Council, and as a member of the Farm Foundation Bennett Roundtable. Mr. Grant has been a grower-leader in the cellulosic ethanol industry, and his Farm has completed an extensive $1 million feasibility study funded by private/USDA sources that established the feasibility of utilizing straw as the feedstock for an 80 million gallon cellulosic ethanol plant.

Mr. Grant is a recognized expert in agricultural biotechnology, having served 5 years as a member of the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture, and as a Stakeholder representing agricultural producers on the Pew Foundation Initiative for Food and Biotechnology Stakeholder Forum. Mr. Grant was a charter member of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) and US Wheat Associates Joint Biotechnology Committee, beginning service in 1997 and continuing to 2005. Mr. Grant was named the 2003 Eisenhower Foundation Agriculture Fellow to study marketing food produced through transgenic technology within the European Union. Mr. Grant also served as the US Agricultural Producer representative on the 2003 German Marshal Fund project “The Transatlantic Relationship: The Hunger Crisis in Southern Africa, and Genetically Modified Food.”

Mr. Grant has served as an invited speaker at numerous international events including presentations given to the Commodity Classic, the Russian Grain Union, the American Sugar Beet Growers Association, the Cotton Council, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the World Beet and Cane Growers Association, and the International Sugar Organization.

Mr. Grant is married to Laura Grant, and the couple lives in Rupert, ID where they raised their two sons.

Jo Elg, General Manager for United Electric Co-op, Inc.

Jo is an Idaho native, born and raised in Idaho Falls, ID. She has 29 years of experience in the electric utility industry, including experience with small run-of-river hydroelectric generation facilities, distribution systems, and development and build out of a dark fiber communications network, as well as an understanding of broader power supply challenges on a regional basis. Jo has served as President of Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association (the statewide organization of public power utilities), as Vice-Chairman of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, and as Secretary/Treasurer of the Idaho Energy Authority. She received a BS degree from the University of Idaho in Industrial Technology, emphasis in Business Management. In her down time, Jo enjoys the outdoors, a good read, golf, and travel.