Meet The Staff

Jesse Darlington

Jesse Darlington is the show manager for the Penn State Ag Progress Days. He has been a vital part of Ag Progress Days for 25 years and took over the show manager position in 2017. Jesse tends to all of the maintenance of the show grounds as well as managerial duties in the office.

Deb Ellis

Deb Ellis is the program manager for the Penn State Ag Progress Days. She has been a vital part of the show for 14 years. She tends to the responsibilities in the office located on the Pennsylvania State University Campus including exhibitor registrations, financials, and event planning.

Katie Elder

Katie Elder is the program assistant and social media coordinator for the Penn State Ag Progress Days. She is currently a senior in Animal Sciences with a minor in Agribusiness Management at the Pennsylvania State University. She has been working at Ag Progress Days since December 2016. She works alongside Deb in the office on campus.

Emily Allegar

Emily Allegar is the program assistant for the Penn State Ag Progress Days. She is currently a senior in Agricultural Sciences with a minor in agricultural communications and leadership development at the Pennsylvania State University. She has been working at Ag Progress Days since May 2017 alongside Deb and Katie in the office.

Michaela Smith 

Michaela Smith is the newest member of our team, joining us in November 2019. She is also a program assistant and is currently a Junior studying Agricultural and Extension Education at the Pennsylvania State University where she works alongside Deb, Katie and Emily in the office on the Penn State Campus.

Ryan Boonie

Ryan Boonie is a graduate of Penn State University and has been a part of the team at Ag Progress Days for two years. He resides in Tyrone with his wife and two boys.

John Lake 

John Lake is a part-time facility assistant. He comes from a farming family and has farmed all his life.  He has been working for Ag Progress Days since 2019 alongside Jesse, Ryan & Nick.

Nick Getz

Nick is a part-time facility assistant. He is currently a junior in the college of Agricultural Sciences, majoring in Ag Sciences and minoring in Agronomy and Horticulture. Nick has worked at Ag Progress Days since May 2019 alongside Jesse, Ryan & John