WASHINGTON, DC, US — The US Grains Council (USGC) promoted four staff members to new positions across its global operations and added a coordinator to its accounting department.

Juan Diaz has been named regional deputy director for Latin America. He joined the USGC in 2017 as a regional ethanol consultant for Latin America and now will help oversee and plan all the Council’s programming in the region.

Sam Redfern has assumed the manager of global programs position and will focus on the USGC’s efforts in Latin America and Mexico. She joined the Council in 2024 as global ethanol programs coordinator and previously worked for several community development organizations in Nebraska.

Lucas Rudy has been promoted to manager of global programs and now will be responsible for the Council’s programming in Asia. Rudy joined the USGC in 2023 as global programs coordinator and previously interned at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.

Sam Clemence has been named senior global strategies coordinator, where, in addition to his duties in the global strategies department, he will lead the onboarding of USGC coordinators and get them up to speed with the organization’s processes and regulations. He has served as global strategies coordinator since 2019.

Burhan Chaudhry is the USGC’s new accounting coordinator and will support the finance team to ensure the accuracy of accounts payable operations, vouchers and US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) expenses. He is a recent graduate from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and information systems.