CFC Forum 2023 General Session Speaker Recordings Available

Recordings from CFC Forum 2023 general sessions are available on the CFC Member Website under the “Events & Training” section. Members must have a Member Website account to log in and have migrated their account to access the videos.

CFC Forum 2023 Scrapbook

CFC CEO Andrew Don (left) moderated a discussion with Marci Rossell (right), former chief economist for CNBC, where she talked about the current economic landscape, including energy prices, artificial intelligence and how trade has been a net positive for rural America. “Trade has made all of us better off, particularly rural America,” Rossell said. “The emergence of China and our ability to trade with them, our ability to send 25% of our soybean crop to them every single year has been a tremendous boom to the prosperity of America, but particularly to rural America. Without that benefit, there would be cities or small towns everywhere that would truly have disappeared already.”

Actor and veterans advocate Gary Sinise (right) spoke with Kansas Electric Cooperatives CEO Lee Tafanelli (left) about Sinise’s acting career, his advocacy on behalf of those who defend our freedom and stories from his life journey. Sinise described how 9/11 was the catalyst for him to accelerate his service and create a foundation for veterans and first responders. “There’s no question that [9/11] was a turning point in this way that I could never have imagined. And it turned me from self to service,” Sinise said. “I’m not a military person, but I knew then I could employ my efforts to support the men and women who were reacting by raising their hand up and going to war. And so I started serving wherever I could. And that changed everything.”

CHELCO CEO Steve Rhodes (far left) moderated a panel with Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association Executive Director Ted Case (center left), his daughter Malia Case (center right) and Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative CEO Les Penning (far right) about how Oregon cooperatives relied on the cooperative network—including CFC and NCSC—to bring electricity to a remote village in Guatemala, changing the lives of all involved. “When you’re actually in a home where you see the lights come on for the first time, it is hard to describe,” Ted Case said. “In fact, it’s certainly magical.” Malia Case, who acted as an interpreter for the cooperative team, added that, “To see the incredible impact that electricity has on these communities just made the experience all the more rewarding.”

Former CEO of Walmart Bill Simon (right) sat down with Fox Business News Correspondent Kelly O’Grady (left) to discuss leadership through turbulence, the role of business in the governance of the country and the impact of Walmart in rural areas across the country. “You can never, ever lose sight of the macro impact that you can make by doing your jobs and doing it well by participating in the community and by really, really caring about what’s happening in those communities,” Simon said. He added that, “as the head of Walmart, you can make changes that impact the entire country, but you can also make changes that impact an individual person.”