Kate Geppert, a 1989 graduate of CAFNR with a BS in Ag Journalism, has received the 2020 True Tiger Volunteer Award from the CAFNR Alumni Association. Geppert has served as President of the Association’s Board of Directors, and has chaired and co-chaired the CAFNR Unlimited banquet and fundraising auctions. For 15 years, she has helped develop, design and write the Unlimited sale catalog. She also has been involved in the dairy program at Mizzou, serving as a dairy judging coach and volunteer with the Dairy Hall of Honors.

Geppert is a past President of the National Holstein Women’s Scholarship Board of Directors, a group that has awarded over $100,000 in scholarships to junior members. She served three terms on the Missouri State Milk Board and has served as president of the Callaway Farm Bureau. In addition, she served as the dairy superintendent at the Missouri State Fair for 13 years.

She has spent her career working as a freelance journalist in the dairy industry, creating dairy sale catalogs for consignment and dispersal sales in the Midwest. She also serves as the managing editor of the Mid-States Holstein News.

“This service is indeed a major contribution of time and effort that isn’t always seen or recognized by the over 800 guests that attend the event,” said nominator Dana Brown Haynes, past CAFNR director of alumni relations, about Geppert’s work on the Unlimited sale catalog. “This volunteer contribution has had a significant financial impact on the amount of funds raised for the annual event and ultimately contributed to scholarships, teaching enhancements and the Ag 100 Endowment. If the services were outsourced and as a result were figured in as part of the event’s annual expenses, the costs over the years would have totaled tens of thousands of dollars.”

“Based on her lifelong commitment to serving the dairy industry and Missouri agriculture at the local, state and national level, I believe that Kate Geppert is deserving to be recognized as a recipient of the CAFNR True Tiger Volunteer Award. We should celebrate her humble and unselfish service, and I am honored to support her nomination,” said Jim Spain, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and eLearning, and Professor of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri.