Jeanne and her late husband Dan, have owned and operated the Imperial Stock Ranch (1871) since the late 1980s. Their focus was stewardship of natural resources. In 1999, they faced a new challenge. With a collapsing wool market due to offshoring, Jeanne led them from commodity wool sales in a new direction. She pioneered taking their wool direct to market at scale, and built fiber supply chain relationships as close to home as possible. Connecting their ranch’s heritage and mindful stewardship of land and animals to the products, she built a growing customer base for textiles with an attachment to place. Her efforts eventually took her to the world stage as a partner to well-known fashion brands. Known as the “Farmer’s Market of Textiles,” she is recognized across multiple segments of the U.S. fashion industry and beyond. She has been the voice and source of American wool for Ralph Lauren’s Team USA Olympic uniforms since 2012.

In 2016, Imperial Stock Ranch became the first ranch in the world certified to the leading global standard for sheep and wool production, called the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS). With demand increasing, Jeanne established Shaniko Wool Company in 2018 to scale the supply of U.S. wool meeting RWS certification. Shaniko Wool is now 10 ranches grazing 2.6 million acres. In early 2020, she launched a Carbon Initiative to measure the ecosystem and climate impacts of their ranching practices. Today, Shaniko is also NATIVA Regen certified.

Dave Carter serves as a Director of Regional Technical Assistance Coordination for the Flower Hill Institute, an indigenous-led nonprofit organization coordinating the technical assistance network USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has established to support producers seeking to create a more resilient, diversified, and equitable meat and poultry processing system in the United States.

From 2001 through March 2022, Carter served as executive director of the 1,200-member National Bison Association, where he worked to strengthen production and marketing systems for North American bison ranchers. He was a leader in the six-year campaign that resulted in bison being designated as the National Mammal of the United States.

Carter has a deep background in natural food marketing and agricultural public policy. His marketing experience includes work in natural meat, cheese, and pet food products. He is the former Chair of USDA’s National Organic Standards Board and later helped gain regulatory approval for non-GMO labeling of meat, poultry, and dairy products sourced from animals fed diets without genetically modified ingredients.

Dave and his wife, Sue, have a herd of bison operated in partnership with two other ranching families on the West Bijou Ranch, owned by the Savory Institute, east of Denver.