When you ask Lorna Marshall how she built a 30-year career at the center of the beef genetics world, she doesn’t start with titles, company names or big industry deals. She starts with people.
“The thing I’m most proud of,” she says, “are easily the relationships I’ve built — with bull owners, sales reps, team members and industry leaders.”
That simple emphasis on relationships and culture is the thread that runs through Marshall’s journey from a Kansas 4-H member to one of the most influential voices in beef genetics and sire acquisition.
From Junior Leader to Industry Connector
Marshall grew up on a small cattle farm near Valley Center, Kan., where she recalls early experiences in 4‑H and the American Junior Simmental Association helped shape her future.
She describes her participation in junior programs as educational-based — opportunities that developed her curiosity and drive. It also placed her in the orbit of key Kansas industry leaders like Bob Dickinson, Ansel Armstrong and Michael Dikeman. Their work in performance-based beef cattle selection lit a spark in Marshall. Add to that her love of livestock judging and competition, and Marshall quickly found herself on a path that blended science, performance data and people.
She attended Colby Community College where she served as student body president and competed on the livestock judging team. The 1989 Kansas Community College Student of the Year, Marshall transferred to K-State where she was a Block & Bridle officer and a member of the 1990 reserve national champion livestock judging team.
Marshall says judging not only sharpened her eye for cattle, but it also expanded her network, something she credits as “what got me to where I am in my career.”
“An animal breeding professor at Kansas State, Dr. Linda Martin, was someone that I not only loved her class but also really admired her teaching style, how she built relationships with and motivated students,” Marshall says. “I followed in her footsteps when I chose to complete a master’s degree in animal breeding and genetics at Colorado State University.”
Marshall studied under Jim Brinks, whom she calls “very science-based, but very applied — always focused on what’s most important for the producer.”
While at CSU, an internship with ABS Global gave her a front-row seat to the artificial insemination (AI) industry. She started as a GTS evaluator, learning AI from the inside at a time when the beef industry’s use of reproductive technology and performance data was accelerating.
Her Path in Genetics
After a brief stint at a breed association, ABS called her back — and that’s where one pivotal moment quietly shaped her career.
In 1995, ABS leadership turned to Marshall and asked her to oversee sire acquisition. She credits the opportunity to her network in the seedstock industry. Her role in sire acquisition gave her the opportunity to use her knowledge of genetics combined with her natural talent as a connector.
Over the next 16 years at ABS, she built deep relationships across multiple breeds, breed associations and regions. She also began traveling internationally, learning where U.S. beef genetics fit within the global beef supply chain.
She moved to Genex in 2011, shifting her focus more toward marketing, key accounts and large herds. There, she dug deeper into the sales process and started working more in the beef-on-dairy space, where large entities were experimenting with new supply chain models and genetic strategies.
About four and a half years later, Select Sires called and offered her the role she currently serves in: vice president of beef programs.
At Select, she has a chance to integrate everything she’s learned: training, people management and development, acquisition, marketing and product management.
“It was really the opportunity for me to put together everything I had learned in my career,” she summarizes.
A Career Grounded in Cattle and Family
Marshall’s credibility in genetics isn’t just academic or corporate. It’s rooted in a lifetime of raising cattle with her husband, Troy.
The two met at CSU, married and have been together 34 years.
“I think Troy is one of the greatest visionaries in the beef industry; he always is challenging the status quo, and he makes me think bigger and more forward-facing, which I feel has served me extremely well in my career,” she says.
Early on, the couple bought cows together — even before they got married — and eventually built Marshall Cattle Co., a registered Angus and Simmental operation in eastern Colorado. For 20 years, they hosted an annual bull sale and raised their three children in the cow-calf and seedstock world.
“During that time, we’ve had over 20 interns live with us,” Marshall says. “It’s been rewarding to see them succeed. I think every single one of them would tell you that no meal at our dinner table was complete without discussing some current beef industry topic.”
As Marshall advanced through AI companies, most of which are based in dairy country, she negotiated remote work long before it was common. When their first son was born in 1996, she secured a remote office so she could live in beef country and stay close to the cattle and her family.
That dual life — corporate AI leader and hands-on seedstock producer — sharpened her perspective.
“You are better at bull selection if you are a producer,” she says. “You understand all of the problems firsthand. Sometimes the problems aren’t fully described by EPDs on a piece of paper.”
Living and working in the harsh eastern Colorado environment also gave her a practical perspective of how genetics perform in the real world — not just on paper or in theory.
In 2020, the couple chose more family time and dispersed their seedstock herd.
“Our kids decided to go to college in Oklahoma and Texas, and it kind of got to the point where I love cows, but I love my family more,” she says. “That’s really what made us transition to less cows… and more family time.”
Today, the couple resides near Prague, Okla., and has a small commercial cow herd.
What Makes a Leader: Culture, Fit and Development
Across ABS, Genex and Select Sires, Marshall has managed teams, mentored young professionals and helped shape corporate strategy.
“Lorna is a great leader because she cares about others,” says Ryan Bodenhausen, Select Sires associate vice president of beef product development and marketing. “She is the first to give credit and praise to teammates before herself.”
Marshall says her leadership philosophy is simple and people-focused:
1. Culture comes first
“I’ve experienced culture — both good and bad,” she says. “It’s probably one of the most important things to me. We work really hard on culture.”
For Marshall, culture isn’t a slogan. It’s the day-to-day environment her team works in, and she takes responsibility for making it a place where people want to stay and grow.
Bodenhausen says Marshall is very thoughtful and genuine, often sending gifts or handwritten letters as a sign of appreciation or to be uplifting in a time of need.
2. Hire the person, train the job
Marshall is convinced she can train someone to do the job, but she cannot train core character. She looks for:
- The right character and values
- Strong work ethic
- A teachable attitude
- A fit with the team’s culture
3. Invest in people more than product
One of the most fulfilling parts of her role now is coaching and help develop young people. Lauren Kimble, Select Sires manager of ProfitSource supply chains, is one of the young professionals Marshall has mentored.
“In our company leadership trainings, we are always asked to think of someone in our organization who embodies a given example, whether it be communication, listening, change management, or so forth,” Kimble says. “Every single time, the first person that pops into my head is Lorna.”
She adds, “I think it’s rare to encounter someone who has both technical and subject matter expertise and also just ‘gets’ people on a deeper level. Lorna has taught me much in both areas and genuinely takes interest in developing people.”
Marshall credits her career and passion for mentoring to her mentors Calvin Drake, who insisted she be treated as an equal as the only woman on her K-State livestock judging team, Dave Spears, Dave Nichols, Larry Corah, Jim Brinks and especially Willie Altenberg, who hired her at ABS and later brought her to Genex and whom she eventually recruited to Select Sires.
From Altenberg, she learned how to accept challenging feedback and turn it into growth.
“He was the first person to really give me performance reviews and coached me. I learned how to take constructive feedback which fueled my development. Willie’s developed lots of leaders in our industry; I’m very proud to be one of the many,” she says.
Today, she sees that investment as something she’s obligated to pay forward.
Rethinking Sire Acquisition: Diversity Over Ego
In sire acquisition, it’s tempting to believe success comes from having a “gifted eye” and anointing the next great bull. Marshall has a more grounded view.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is the power of diversity,” she says. “I don’t have to love every bull personally. It may not be a bull I would personally use, but if it serves a market, we need it.”
At Select Sires, that philosophy has shaped an acquisition strategy built around:
- Understanding different markets
- Matching specific genetics to specific needs
- Offering the best bull for each market, not just one ideal type
Her favorite stories aren’t about famous sires as much as they are about the people behind them. She loves telling the story of Mytty In Focus at ABS — a bull that became a No. 1 registration sire for three up-and-coming Montana breeders.
“It changed their lives,” she says. “That’s just really cool to see — when we can change somebody’s life by helping to market their life’s work.”
Growth of Beef-on-Dairy
“One of the things I have been unable to change in my tenure is the amount or the adoption of artificial insemination in the beef cattle world,” Marshall says.
While use of AI in beef herds has remained stable, Marshall has been at the center of the beef-on-dairy shift. She has worked through the industry’s major structural change: beef moving from a side business in AI to a revenue driver.
She says historically, beef was 5% to 10% of an AI company’s income. Today, with beef-on-dairy, she estimates beef is 30% to 40% of revenue at many AI companies. She’s been in roles that touched both seedstock and beef-on-dairy supply chains, giving her a panoramic view of how genetics, packers and retailers are aligning.
Read More about Marshall’s philosophy about beef-on-dairy:
How Beef and Dairy Genetics Are Smarter and More Profitable
As the national beef cow herd is at a 75-year low, Marshall suggests AI and the use of sexed semen can help producers create the genetics that can excel either as a cow or as a feeder.
“I think we need to be focused on maternal traits to rebuild the cow herd,” Marshall says. “We can use sexed semen to create those females with specific genetics for maternal function. And then I think we can maximize quality pounds that we’re sending to the packer by, again, utilizing sexed semen and really elite terminal genetics.”
Looking Ahead: Data, Access and Opportunity
Despite the progress in AI, genomics and supply chains, Marshall’s biggest concern is who will control genetic information in the future. She sees two paths:
- A “dairy model” with an open, multi-breed database where data are shared and improvement is accelerated.
- A “swine model” dominated by a few large entities with private databases, limiting access and flexibility for independent and young producers.
She worries that without broader initiatives for more shared datasets and open genetic evaluations, our industry will look different with increased consolidation and less access to the necessary genetic information to remain competitive.
At the same time, she’s genuinely excited about sensor technologies, wearables and artificial intelligence-driven data collection that can unlock new traits — calf livability, vigor, red meat yield predictions and other objective phenotypes — without adding labor.
“I think we’re going to be able to solve problems we’ve been working on for 20 years in two years,” she predicts.
Marshall’s story isn’t just about genetics, AI companies or even technology. It’s about a woman who quietly built a career by staying rooted in cows, family and people, and who thinks that the real legacy in the beef business is measured in relationships, opportunity and the next generation coming up behind you.
Marshall’s 3 Strategies For Seedstock Success
Her advice to seedstock producers is consistent and grounded in being yourself and serving your customers.
- Don’t copy someone else’s program. She sees too many new breeders trying to be a clone of who they admire. “Create your own path,” she explains. “One of the biggest problems I see in the seedstock industry is that new entrants come in and try to emulate a program they admire without a clear vision of what will differentiate their program.”
- Breed cattle you believe in and that you like. The business is too hard to be passionate about something you don’t love.
- Listen to your customers. The top programs, in her view, are the ones that: Take great care of customers and treat customer feedback as a primary guide to what works and what doesn’t.
She encourages a practical, relationship-driven philosophy rather than a “chase the hottest EPD profile” mindset.
“The seedstock producers that are the most successful are the ones that take really good care of their customers and listen to their customers,” she says. “So many times, I think in the seedstock world, we think we know more than our customer knows, and it needs to be the other way around.”
