Jeramy Rich will return to his agricultural roots this year as he takes over the reigns as the executive director of the Oklahoma Youth Expo.

The Prague, Okla., native donned his first FFA jacket at age 14. “I was an eighth-grader with no ambition until I learned what FFA could provide,” Rich said.

Milford Jenkins, a former Oklahoma FFA president, was Rich’s first agricultural education teacher. He saw promise in the way Rich was able to communicate easily with people of all ages and backgrounds.

“Even at that age, it was obvious Jeramy was blessed with an exorbitant amount of academic talent, leadership ability and a pleasant ‘smooth-as-silk’ extrovert personality,” said Jenkins, who now serves as director of the American Angus Foundation. “Jeramy had a genuine interest and compassion in first understanding the needs of those around him and then unselfishly helping them achieve their goals before his own, which was always humbling to observe.”

Jenkins encouraged Rich to compete in his first FFA public speaking contest in the eighth grade career exploration division. “I went to state, and that was it,” Rich said. “I was just hooked!”

He continued to improve his speaking skills, and in 1992 he won the state FFA prepared public speaking division. This accomplishment earned him the opportunity to represent Oklahoma FFA at the National FFA Convention where Rich won the western region finals and placed third in the national finals.

“Winning the western region contest was one of my proudest hours,” Rich said. In addition to public speaking, Rich also showed Simmental heifers, as well as Simmental and crossbred steers. He was involved in showing cattle before he reached FFA.

“I loved showing livestock in FFA, but the leadership side of the program was what got me,” he said. “Once I got involved in the leadership side, I wanted to be a state FFA officer.”

While Jenkins got Rich on the FFA path, agricultural education teacher Mike Matlock kept him heading in the right direction for the next four years.

“Jeramy was an excellent student who had an ability to communicate with everyone,” Matlock said. “His easy-going appearance would have you believe he was just a good ol’ country boy. Little did most people realize that behind his country-boy charm was a brilliant mind that was always thinking of how to make something better.”

Nicknamed “Slim” by his peers, Rich served his chapter as vice president as a sophomore and served as president as a junior and senior.

“Most of my gray hairs were generated the years Jeramy was a Prague FFA officer because he would always about procrastinate each activity,” Matlock said. “But he would always get it done with no time to spare, and it would be better than everyone’s application, speech or project.”

When the time came to run for state FFA office, Matlock and Rich spent countless hours together on the campaign trail.

“Mr. Matlock worked so hard for me,” Rich said. “We drove so many miles together.”

FFA members in the central district elected Rich as their 1992-93 vice president, and he embraced his state officer duties as he entered Oklahoma State University as an agricultural economics freshman.

Although Rich lost the race for 1993-94 state FFA president, the events that happened after the loss set his career in motion. He became involved actively in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, who selected him to work at the Oklahoma Capitol for a spring semester as the 1995 CASNR Agricultural Legislative Intern. Rich then spent a summer as an intern with CibaGeigy in Arkansas. When he returned, Oklahoma Farmers Union offered him a job before he completed his agricultural economics degree at OSU.

“Business makes you change your perspective of leadership,” Rich said. “At the end of the day, you have to be willing to do what you ask others to do. Leadership is getting people to what you want them to do because they want to.”

After more than two years with OFU, he joined Oklahoma Farm Bureau and spent the next nine years as OFB’s legislative voice, representing the organization in the Oklahoma Capitol. He also played an important role in selecting additional members of the OFB team.

“In almost every hiring decision I’ve made, I’ve looked for people with FFA experience,” Rich said. “I knew their skill set, their work ethic, their values, all of which correspond with what I view as important.”

In November 2005, Rich became one of the youngest presidents of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, which provides legislative and regulatory representation for the oil and gas industry. OIPA also administratively manages the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board, best known for the 7,000 abandoned oil field sites it has restored to useable space.

Jan. 5, 2007, provided a new stepping stone for Rich when he was named executive director of the Oklahoma Youth Expo.

“I use the skills I acquired in FFA and agricultural education every day,” Rich said, “It’s the only curriculum that teaches people to be leaders and function in a professional manner.

“I can do things other people can’t do – balance a ration, weld, propagate plants – and I learned it all in an hour-a-day class at Prague High School.”

Rich still calls Prague home. He and his wife, Cambor, have three children: Emma, 5; Mattie, 2; and Ethan, who will be 1 in June. They have 100 cows on 1,000 acres of land.

“There is no way I would have accomplished any of the things I have if I had not enrolled in eighth-grade agricultural education,” Rich said. “It taught me how the real world works.

“FFA is absolutely the best experience in my life. FFA gave me the ambition and the skills to be a leader.”

Jenkins said Rich’s success can be attributed to his work ethic, his people skills and “his tireless commitment to unselfishly being a servant to others.”

Matlock said he never has been surprised by Rich’s success.

“I always figured he could do anything he set his mind to do,” Matlock said. “Jeramy has a unique blend of the gift of gab, common sense and a solid educational foundation from Prague Public Schools and Oklahoma State University.”

At 32, Jeramy Rich’s career is far from over. As this FFA champion steps toward the future, he will remember his beginnings and never lose his passion for National Blue and Corn Gold.