Award Winners
Toledo Named 2009 Ambassador
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. (MAY 2, 2009) — Each year, the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) recognizes an individual of the press corps who has made a major contribution to beef improvement or the BIF. Kelli Meged Toledo, Visalia, Calif., received the 2009 Ambassador Award during the organization’s 41st Research Symposium and Annual Meeting April 30-May 2 in Sacramento, Calif.
Toledo has two decades of professional marketing and design experience. She received a bachelor’s degree in business-marketing from Montana State University (MSU), Bozeman, where she worked as the managing editor of the MSU newspaper. She went on to serve as an intern at several publications before moving to California. For nine years, she was employed at an advertising agency in Visalia, handling marketing plan development, advertising design and print and electronic media relations.
In 1998, she founded Trailhead Designs, a full-service, marketing and design firm, where she handles everything from advertising development and video production to Web site design and marketing campaigns for agribusinesses.
That same year, Toledo was named co-publisher of the California Cattleman, the official monthly publication of the California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), Sacramento, Calif. She oversees the editorial and handles the design, development, production and accounting for the publication. Her partner Matt Macfarlane, Sheridan, Calif., handles the advertising sales, ring services and customer service for the magazine.
A Montana native, Toledo purchased her first group of registered Angus cattle with a 4-H loan more than three decades ago. She continued to build her herd and show cattle throughout her youth. She served as a board member and communications director for the National Junior Angus Association. In 1990, she married John Toledo and the couple went on to form Toledo Ranches, a diversified farming and Angus cow-calf operation.
Throughout the years, Toledo has devoted countless hours serving as a volunteer dedicated to promoting agriculture. She was member of the California Angus Association (CAA) board of directors for six years and served an additional two years as the CAA secretary. For the past decade, she has been the editor, also responsible for design and layout, of the California Angus News.
She was a Kings County 4-H beef leader for 10 years. She served for 15 years as the co-chair of the American Angus Auxiliary Publicity Committee, where one of her duties was to produce the organization’s annual report. For six years, she was the newsletter editor for the Tulare-Kings Chapter of the California Women for Agriculture (CWA) and served as the CWA Kings Area director for two years.
She has served for 10 years on the CCA Allied Industry Council and worked with the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association (CBCIA) to promote the organization’s annual tours, 50th anniversary celebration and the 41st BIF Research Symposium and Annual Meeting.
Editor’s Note: This release is provided by the Beef Improvement Federation. The 41st BIF Research Symposium and Annual Meeting was hosted by the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association (CBCIA) and the California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). For more information, contact Kelli Toledo at 559-972-8987 or visit www.calcattlemen.org/bif2009.html.
