John Herath was promoted to assistant vice president of communications for the U.S. Meat Export Federation on April 1.

He graduated from MacMurray College with his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1992, and he started an impressive career in agricultural communications during his college years.

From 1990 to 1992, he was a WLDS/WEAI Radio reporter in Jacksonville, Illinois. After graduation, he spent a year as the news director for WIHN Radio in Bloomington, Illinois. In 1993, he became the news director for WCVS/WFMB Radio in Springfield, Illinois.

After five years, Herath left the broadcasting industry to become the public information officer/bureau chief for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. In 2003, he started working for Farm Journal as producer/executive producer for the AgriTalk radio show and the news director near the end of his time there.

In 2020, he took time to do private consulting until he started as the communications director at the U.S. Meat Export Federation in 2022.

“As the vice president of communications, I work on sharing our message through media outreach,” Herath said. “That includes answering reporters’ questions, writing columns, and anything I can do to support domestic communications and occasionally international communications. I also assist with the weekly audio report and video content.”

Although he had never imagined himself broadcasting or communicating in agricultural communications, he was glad to be in this industry.

“The career counselor at my college approached me about the internship at the radio station, and after I completed that, they offered me a full-time position there,” Herath said. “That led to a long career in radio, and some of the stations I worked for had big names in agriculture that influenced me, like Mike Adams, Peggy Kaye, and Hartzel Bruno. I would help with the ag programming when they were out, so it was kind of by accident, but I picked up a love for agriculture.”