Meet The Staff

Jesse Darlington

Jesse Darlington is the show manager for the Penn State's Ag Progress Days. He has been a vital part of Ag Progress Days for over 30 years and took over the show manager position in 2017. Jesse tends to all of the maintenance of the show grounds as well as administrative duties of the show.

Debra Ellis

Debra Ellis is the program manager for the Penn State Ag Progress Days. She has been a vital part of the show for 20 years. She tends to the responsibilities in the office located on the Pennsylvania State University Campus including office policies, exhibitor registrations, financials, event coordination, programming, and marketing.

Ryan Boonie

Ryan Boonie is a graduate of Penn State University and has been a part of the team at Ag Progress Days for 8 years. He resides in Tyrone with his wife and two boys.

Lucas Stover   

Lucas has been a part of the team at Ag Progress Days for a year, transitioning from a farm service role to be involved in facility maintenance and event support at this site.

Retha Sellmer

Retha has been a part-time employee with primary responsibilities as registration clerk and program assistant for the Ag Progress Days Office since fall of 2023. As the receptionist with outstanding customer service, she attends to all the exhibitor and attendee inquiries. She supports the office by handling all office email, phone, and mail communications as well as updating respective databases for the PA Timber Show, PA Farm Show and Ag Progress Days events.