Keynote Speakers

Cindy Ayers-Elliott is chief executive officer of a 68-acre farm and agricultural enterprise in Jackson, Mississippi. She serves as the Southeast Outreach Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, educating farmers and ranchers in underserved communities about financial and risk management tools.

Before embarking upon her journey in agriculture, Ayers-Elliott held a successful career as a New York investment banker. She moved back to her home state of Mississippi and traded in high heels for sturdy work boots to begin operating her farm raising fruits, vegetables, meat goats and cattle. Known as “Dr. Cindy,” Ayers-Elliott also collaborates closely with USDA’s Farm Service Agency’s National Urban Agriculture Program and Natural Resources Conservation Service’s EQIP Program.

She has garnered numerous honors and awards such as the 2024 Women United Excellence Award from United Way and USA Today’s 2023 Women of the Year honoree for Mississippi. In 2022, she was featured as Google’s Hero of Small Business and named 2021 Farmer of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives. She was featured in the Hulu docuseries, “Searching for Soul Food,” in 2023.

Additional honors include Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 50 Businesswomen in Mississippi, Who’s Who Among Black Americans, Outstanding Minority Business of Central Mississippi from the Mississippi Minority Business Alliance Inc. and a Women for Progress of Mississippi award.

Ayers-Elliott established the 2nd Freedom School Summer Program in Washington County, Mississippi and she is a proud member of the George Washington Carver Future Scientist of America 4-H Club. She recently received the Women Entrepreneurs Award from the Jackson State University College of Business. She holds a Ph.D. from Jackson State.

Drenda Williams is currently the associate director for operations at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) extramural grant-funding agency for agricultural research, education and extension programs. In this role, she provides oversight of the agency's workforce operations, reporting, communications, operating budget, and the office of grants and financial management.

In her 30 years as a USDA career employee, she has served as the NIFA director of civil rights and at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in critical agency functions such as operations, administrative transformation, farm bill programs and performance targets.

Williams started her career as one of the first USDA 1890 National Scholars at Lincoln University, where she graduated cum laude with a B.S. in agriculture with an emphasis in natural resources. Williams is a graduate of the American University Key Executive Leadership Program and George Washington University Leadership Program and has received various notable awards such as the NRCS Chief’s Diversity, USDA Martin Luther King Drum Major for Service, USDA Organization of Professional Employees Unsung Hero, the Pearlie S. Reed Excellence in Conservation and the NIFA A.J. Dye Award. She was inducted into the Lincoln University Hall of Fame in 2023.