Dewayne Goldmon and Ricardo Ekmay have been named 2022-23 outstanding alumni by the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the U of A.

Goldmon is the Outstanding Alumnus and Ekmay is the Bumpers College Alumni Society's Outstanding Young Alumnus.

They will be honored in separate events on campus during the spring semester, including an awards ceremony and reception, interacting with students in various classes, lunch and/or meetings with select student groups, dinner with college stakeholders and administrators and other activities.

Ekmay will also represent the alumni society as a featured speaker at Bumpers College's spring commencement ceremony in May.

Dewayne Goldmon

Goldmon, a farmer and native of Pine Bluff, has held various positions since completing his education in 1991. After working as a field researcher with American Cyanamid for four years, he joined Monsanto in 1995 and worked in various positions in technology development where he conducted and/or managed research and development trials on most Southern row crops. He later held positions in government affairs and human resources, retiring as the outreach lead for Bayer Crop Sciences (after its acquisition of Monsanto in 2018) in 2019. In 2020, he served as executive director of the National Black Growers Council, an organization focused on improving the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of Black row-crop farmers.

In 2021, he was named the USDA's first senior adviser for racial justice and equity, an appointment from President Biden that reports to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. 

Goldmon has a long history of advocating for underserved farmers and served multiple terms on the USDA's Advisory Committee for Minority Farmers and in various roles with Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. At the U of A, he is an active member and has served on the boards of the Black Alumni Society as well as the Alumni Association. In the state, he has served on numerous boards, including the UAMS Foundation, Arkansas 4-H Foundation, Arkansas Valley Habitat for Humanity and Arkansas Association for Hearing Impaired Children. In Arkansas agriculture, he has served on the county and state technical committees of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and with the Arkansas Crop Protection Association, as well as on the Bumpers College Dean's Partnership Council, among many others.

Goldmon is a two-time U of A graduate, earning bachelor's (1985) and master's (1987) degrees in agronomy from what is now Bumpers College's Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. He earned a Ph.D. in agronomy from Iowa State University in 1991. 

He and his wife, Debra, have two children: Camille, a two-time U of A graduate, and Dell.

Ricardo Ekmay

Ekmay is the senior vice president of nutrition and product development for Arbiom Inc. in Durham, North Carolina. Arbiom, an agricultural technology company focused on alternative proteins, uses technology to bring traditionally non-food materials into the food supply chain to meet society's growing nutritional needs.

Ekmay is also an adjunct assistant professor at the U of A, where he earned master's (2008) and doctoral (2011) degrees in poultry science.

Before going to Arbiom in 2017, he spent several years as a research scientist with Dow AgroSciences, gaining experience in product development, regulatory affairs and science policy advocacy.

Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University, where he earned his bachelor's (2004) degree in animal science, Ekmay began his career at Dow AgroSciences. He received the company's early career achievement award in 2014.

Ekmay's expertise in sustainable food systems has helped Arbiom earn Triangle Business Journal's Life Sciences Award for Best Agricultural Technology Company and Best Early-Stage Product Development Company in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Ekmay is chair of the American Feed Industry Association's nutrition committee, is on the AFIA aquaculture committee, is an industry liaison to the American Society for Nutrition's experimental animal nutrition interest group, a member of the American Society of Animal Science's nominating committee and has served as a subject matter expert for committees and task forces for Crop Life America, International Life Science Institute, EuropaBio and the International Livestock Research Institute.

He is also heavily involved with Latin-Hispanic advocacy programs. He serves as the chair of the board of directors for the North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals and is on the ASAS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.