On behalf of Dr. Tim Boring, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD)
Jonathan Mallek is the policy director in the Executive Office at the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. In this role he assists and advises the MDARD Executive Office Leadership Team in planning, coordinating, and ensuring steps are taken to implement policy initiatives affecting the department and the Michigan’s Food and Ag Sector.
Jon has spent much of his career working in and around agriculture. He grew up in Junction City, Wisconsin, on his family’s dairy farm. He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI, in Political Science, International Studies, and French. After graduating, Jon served as a Sustainable Agriculture volunteer in Senegal for the United States Peace Corps, and then afterwards joined AmeriCorps in Nevada as a volunteer completing environmental conservation work. He received his master’s degree in International Economic Relations from the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC. He channeled that degree into federal jobs with the Office of the United States Trade Representative as a research assistant in the Agriculture Office, and as an International Economist with the Foreign Agricultural Service with the United States Department of Agriculture working in international agricultural trade policy.
Jon recently moved to Ann Arbor to live with his husband, Jason, and their two cats, Joey and Professor Douglas. He enjoys running in his spare time, as well as eating ice cream and gardening.
