Merck Animal Health has been a proud corporate partner of National FFA for 57 years, and the reasons are personal. Many employees have roots in the organization, including Scott Bormann, senior vice president, North American commercial business, who says FFA fueled a passion for science and agriculture for him. “FFA was a key part of my life as a young person and gave me opportunities I wouldn’t have had without that experience.”
There also are plenty of employees who did not grow up in FFA but are equally passionate about supporting the National FFA partnership, including Allison Flinn, DVM, executive director, Value Chain & Consumer Affairs. She feels a sense of responsibility to the next generation and supports National FFA because of the impact it has on the lives of students and the work it does to develop future leaders.
Scott Bormann, Senior VP, North American Commercial Business, and Allison Flinn, DVM, Executive Director, Value Chain & Consumer Affairs at Merck Animal Health visit a customer dairy farm with National FFA Officers Andrew Seibel and Karstyn Cantrell.
“We need diverse ideas and experiences coming into this industry to continue to make it better, more inclusive and to drive it forward into the future,” she said. “In FFA, students grow as individuals, develop leadership capabilities, and gain confidence — and we want to be a part of that,” she added. “Seeing that experience on a resume means something to us at Merck Animal Health, and we recognize its value.”
Merck Animal Health appreciates the communications and leadership skills developed by FFA members and knows they have gone above and beyond in their education already — great talents to bring into any organization. They also value the hands-on career development and supervised agricultural experiences FFA members receive and look to engage students early in their high school careers.
“We’re introducing ourselves to our future workforce as students are beginning to think about the future, what they want to study and are learning about potential jobs and career paths,” Flinn said. “If you don’t know about our industry or company at that stage in your life, you might not be thinking about it, and if we wait until college to reach them, it may be too late,” she added.
Hailey Rossmiller will be a junior at Iowa State University this fall majoring in agricultural communications with a minor in animal science. She joined FFA because of her interest in “all things equine,” but didn’t know much about Merck Animal Health until the National FFA Convention & Expo during her sophomore year of high school. She and her friends went in search of the cool patterned animal socks they were giving away at the Merck Animal Health booth. Rossmiller reports she always knew she wanted to work in animal health but listening to a presentation about Whisper® On Arrival technology at the booth that day sealed the deal.
A popular giveaway every national convention: the Merck Animal Health socks.
“I want to work for a company like Merck Animal Health,” she said. “They are innovative and doing some really neat stuff with technology and biopharma that has only grown and become more impressive.”
This summer, she’s working as an intern on the Merck Animal Health Strategy and Business Channels team and frequently travels as part of her Capstone project. She reports her Merck Animal Health socks travel with her, and she snaps a photo of them at each location.
“At Merck Animal Health, we are unconditionally committed to the future leaders in our industry and National FFA is too,” Flinn said. “Whether students find careers and homes with us someday, or they just learn more about animal health and can appreciate its contributions to agriculture, it makes our partnership worthwhile.”
National FFA Officers Andrew Seibel and Karstyn Cantrell visited Merck Animal Health during their year of service to FFA.
Bormann added, “These students are the future, and it’s important we give back to organizations like National FFA and others that are investing in the next generation.”
