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Ag-Monday with Chris Manns in-studio and special guest Professor Robert Brown, Director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University. John Neal of PTI Securities & Futures shares a “Stock of the Day”. Then, David Andalman of DACS Research previews the week’s trading session.

NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, shows older than September 11, 2015, are unavailable for download. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Guests & Co-Hosts

Chris Manns

Christopher Manns manages PTI Securities & Futures’ global commodities area and is a research analyst. He devotes much of his time to monitoring and analyzing the latest international commodities reports and financial research. This allows him to keep the firm’s management well informed so that they can, in turn, apprise their clients on pertinent information. Christopher has more than 18 years of securities and financial services experience. Prior to joining PTI Securities, he was a floor broker for AE Staley at the Chicago Board of Trade, and worked for the grain division of Rodman & Renshaw. He has authored many commodities articles and training materials, and speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese. Christopher earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Christopher lives with his wife in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Read more.

Robert Brown

Dr. Brown is the founding director of the Bioeconomy Institute (BEI) at ISU, a university-wide initiative that coordinates research, educational, and outreach activities related to biobased products and bioenergy.  The BEI has helped established several new research enterprises at ISU including the NSF-sponsored Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, the Biobased Industries Center, the BioCentury Research Farm, the Biorenewables Research Laboratory Building, the NSF-sponsored EPRSCoR RII project, and the USDA-sponsored CenUSA Bioenergy project.

Dr. Brown also helped establish ISU’s Biorenewable Resources and Technology (BRT) graduate program, the first such degree-granting program in the United States.  He wrote Biorenewable Resources: Engineering New Products from Agriculture, which is used around the world as a textbook for courses in biorenewables (including ISU’s BRT 501).

Dr. Brown’s other administrative duties include directing the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, a $3 million per year research enterprise focusing on thermochemical processing of biomass and fossil fuels.  The center has pioneered a variety of innovative technologies including syngas fermentation, gasification of bio-oil, production of sugars, bioasphalt, and co-firing pellets from the fast pyrolysis of biomass, and use of biochars as soil amendment and carbon sequestration agent.

Dr. Brown has published over 120 refereed papers and is PI or co-PI on over $70 million in cumulative research funding.  He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, a Distinguished Iowa Scientist of the Iowa Academy of Science, and the recipient of the David R. Boylan Eminent Faculty Award for Research at ISU in 2002.  He received an R&D 100 Award from Research and Development Magazine in 1997 and was named one of the “Top 100” researchers in bioenergy by Biofuels Digest in 2011.

John Neal

John Neal directs PTI Securities’ Glendale, Arizona office serving the firm’s clients in the Phoenix metro area and across the Western U.S. He oversees day-to-day operations, including client services, investor education, staff management and marketing. John has more than 12 years of management experience in the securities and financial services industry. He joined PTI Securities in 2003 in this role. Prior to that time, he was a branch manager with Phoenix area firms, Granite Capital Management and, most recently, Independent Financial Management. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John earned a bachelor’s degree in international management from Arizona State University in Tempe. Away from work, John enjoys reading, live music and outdoor activities. He also volunteers with the St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Lupus Foundation of America. Married with two children, John and his family live in Peoria, Arizona.

David Andalman

Technical Analyst, DACS Research, PTI Securities & Futures

David Andalman joins the Stocks & Jocks show every Monday and Wednesday morning. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering from the University of Illinois, and then his MBA in Finance and Marketing from Indiana University. David traded for a year at the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange before starting the DACS Research Newsletters on commodity futures, which were the first all-technical research newsletters at the CME. Currently, he has been a senior wealth manager and portfolio strategist for over 23 years. He holds registrations in Series 3, 4 (Options Principal), 7, 55, 63 and is a registered Commodity Trading Advisor. Read more.

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