Kellee James , the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Mercaris, has spent nearly her entire life working in energy and agriculture. Kellee grew up in a military family, which not only taught her to accept change but embrace it. Later, Kellee ventured off to the University of Kentucky to earn a degree in Spanish and pursue her dream of becoming an Olympic horseback rider. After a horseback riding injury, Kellee started her career working with commodity banks in Latin America on risk management and income diversification strategies. In 2009, she was appointed by President Barack Obama as a White House Fellow and was Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine ’40 under 40’ rising leader. Kellee also spent 5-years working for the Chicago Climate Exchange and was the co-founder of Exchangery. Now, Kellee is serving as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Mercaris. We also talk about a wide variety of interests in her life such as working in the White House, being raised in a military family, horseback riding, what makes her tick, breaking new grounds, speciality crops, and where organics is going in the future. Listen to the podcast below to learn more about this rising leader snd how she is striving to change the agricultural landscape.