Retired Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria, president of the University of Arkansas System, will become the 14th president of Purdue University following his unanimous election by Purdue’s Board of Trustees on Thursday (Nov. 5). Silveria will succeed Mitch Daniels effective Feb. 1, 2027. Daniels has served as interim president since July.
Silveria, who has spent his career developing people, building organizations and connecting institutional missions to results, emerged from a diverse field of qualified candidates. A retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general, he has served as president of the University of Arkansas System since January 2025. Previously, he served as associate vice president and executive director of Texas A&M University and the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C. (2020-24), and as superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy (2017-20).
“I am honored to become the next president of Purdue University, one of the top public research universities in the country,” Silveria said. “While I am familiar with Purdue’s worldwide reputation for affordability and accessibility, ingenuity and integrity, I look forward to meeting the people who make this place so special and to listen and learn about its culture.
“As Indiana’s land-grant research university, Purdue has a responsibility to pursue academic excellence while using its knowledge, research and graduates to advance the state and serve society. I look forward to meeting that responsibility by supporting outstanding faculty, staff and researchers; helping students succeed; mobilizing resources; building partnerships; and connecting institutional goals and outcomes to public value.
“I am excited for the opportunity to meet and work alongside faculty, students, staff, alumni, industry collaborators and the people of Indiana.”
Purdue Board of Trustees Chair Gary Lehman said, “Jay’s career reflects a consistent commitment to preparing people and organizations to accomplish consequential missions. His strength is in the combination of his experiences, rather than any single position. This combination brings us a leader who has operated in environments that require disciplined execution, developed future leaders, built an educational enterprise in an urban setting and taken responsibility for a broad public higher-education mission. The board is excited to welcome Jay as Purdue’s next president, and we look forward to working with him to advance our mission.”
The University of Arkansas System, which enrolls more than 80,000 students and employs over 30,000 people, includes a flagship land-grant top-tier research university, medical sciences campus, regional universities, community colleges, law school, and agricultural and other public-service divisions. Silveria’s work there has required understanding the distinct missions of individual institutions while advancing shared goals. The system’s current strategic pillars emphasize access, student success, innovation and discovery, responsible stewardship, statewide responsiveness, and collaboration.
“The University of Arkansas System’s mission explicitly connects education, scholarship and service with the economic, health and cultural advancement of Arkansas. Its agricultural and extension work reaches communities across the state,” Silveria said. “Purdue’s land-grant mission similarly connects education and research with public engagement and the needs of Indiana. The common principle is that a public university’s value is measured not only by its academic reputation but also by what its knowledge and graduates contribute to society.”
At Texas A&M University, Silveria was tasked with launching an urban graduate school educational enterprise in the heart of the nation’s capital, which required coordination among academic leadership, faculty, administrators, students and external partners. The Bush School of Government and Public Service has successfully connected students with the institutions, practitioners and policy debates relevant to their studies.
As superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Silveria led an educational institution with an integrated mission: academic instruction, military preparation, athletics and character development. His time there provided a meaningful foundation for understanding how educational institutions can align their culture, resources and programs around student development, and he gained an appreciation for the responsibility of universities to prepare graduates for contributory roles in society.
During his military career, Silveria served as deputy commander, Combined Air Force Component, U.S. Central Command, Southwest Asia, where he was responsible for the command and control of air operations in a 20-nation area and where key operations Resolute Support in Afghanistan and Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria were executed under his command. He has served as commander, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and vice commander, 14th Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, as well as director, Security Assistance in the Office of Security Cooperation-Baghdad, Iraq. Silveria has commanded a fighter wing, an air operations center and a fighter squadron, and among his many military decorations, he earned a Distinguished Service Medal and a Bronze Star, along with multiple Air Medals.
Silveria grew up in an Air Force family and is a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He completed undergraduate pilot training in 1986. He is a command pilot with more than 3,900 hours in the T-37, T-38, F-15C/E, HH-60 and F-35A aircraft. He has flown combat missions over the Balkans and Iraq.
Silveria earned a master’s degree in social science from Syracuse University and master’s degrees from Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C.
Farmer-owned cooperatives Caledonia Farmers Elevator (CFE) and Keystone Cooperative, Inc. announced today that they have completed a comprehensive due diligence process and have formally agreed to pursue a merger. Following a three-month period of evaluation and analysis, the Boards of Directors of both cooperatives have unanimously approved moving forward with a member vote on the proposed merger.
The due diligence process allowed both organizations to thoroughly assess the opportunities, synergies and long-term benefits of combining their operations. Cooperative leaders determined that a merger would create greater opportunities to serve farmer-members, invest in strategic assets, enhance operational capabilities and strengthen the future of agriculture across Michigan.
“This partnership is a natural fit for two organizations that share a commitment to serving agriculture,” said Scott Logue, President and CEO of Keystone Cooperative. “Together, we will leverage the power of our cooperative advantage to strengthen our operations, invest in our future and deliver greater value to our farmer-owners, employees and Michigan communities.”
If approved by members, the combined cooperative would unite organizations with deep agricultural roots, complementary operations and a shared commitment to the success of family farms. The employee teams from both cooperatives will collaborate to identify efficiencies, share expertise and deliver an expanded portfolio of products and services to customers while maintaining a strong local presence in the communities they serve.
Joel Stoepker, CEO of Caledonia Farmers Elevator, said, “This proposed merger represents an exciting opportunity for our members and our communities. Throughout this process, we have been impressed by Keystone’s commitment to cooperative values, employee development, and long-term investment in agriculture. By joining together, we believe we can build on CFE’s strong legacy while creating new opportunities for future generations of farmers.”
Caledonia Farmers Elevator has built a strong reputation serving member farmers throughout west and central Michigan with specialized expertise, innovation and integrity. The cooperative’s operations consist of five Michigan locations, including its main location in Caledonia.
Keystone Cooperative is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and serves farmer-members and customers through a network of 245 facilities across Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, providing agronomy, energy, feed, livestock and grain services. More than 1,800 employees work each day to help farm operations succeed.
Farmer-members of both cooperatives will have the opportunity to vote throughout November and at a Special Meeting on December 15, 2026.
Employers can now fund nutritious food stipends through Instacart for employees in True Rx’s dietitian-led weight and diabetes programs
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 21, 2026 — True Rx Health Strategists, the family-owned, pharmacist-led pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) based in Indiana, today announced a first-to-market partnership with Instacart, a leading grocery technology company, that lets employers pay for healthy foods as part of the pharmacy benefit plan. Through Instacart Health Fresh Funds, employees with diabetes or weight management needs can receive monthly funds to spend on approved nutritious foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood and dairy from grocers on Instacart. Participants partner with a True Rx dietitian to help select the foods to support their health goals.
Demand for GLP-1 medications continues to grow, and the cost of covering them for weight management is forcing employers into hard decisions about coverage. To help employees no matter what their employer decides, True Rx has expanded its True Outcomes: Weight Management program to anyone who wants to lose weight, whether or not their plan covers GLP-1s. FDA labeling for these medications calls for their use alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, so even employees on therapy need support beyond the prescription. Instacart Health Fresh Funds helps employers provide that support through category-specific stipends that can be used to shop from any grocer on Instacart, with the convenience of same-day delivery.
Instacart Health Fresh Funds and True Outcomes
This partnership is the latest step in True Rx’s commitment to food as medicine, focused on the science of how healthy foods and medication, when appropriate, work to support better health. The Instacart Health Fresh Funds offering builds on True Rx’s True Outcomes clinical programs for weight management and diabetes. Members work one-on-one with True Rx’s own pharmacists, registered dietitians and clinicians, rather than an app or a call center, on personalized nutrition, lifestyle coaching and sustainable health improvements. In a six-month pilot of True Outcomes: Weight Management with members using GLP-1 medications, participants achieved weight loss of up to 15%, and 90% took part in monthly virtual visits.
How it works
After enrolling in a True Outcomes program and completing a qualifying session with a True Rx dietitian or clinician, members receive an Instacart Health Fresh Funds code to use with a new or existing Instacart account. Employers choose a monthly amount of $50 or $100 per member, and the balance is refilled each month for up to six months while the member stays enrolled. Because funds are tied to program participation, employer dollars go to members who are actively engaging with their care team.
The program is designed to close the gap between a meal plan and a grocery cart, one of the most common barriers to weight loss. True Rx dietitians build meal plans and share recipes with members, who can then shop for the ingredients on Instacart using their Fresh Funds stipend. Dietitians use what members buy using Fresh Funds to guide follow-up conversations and reinforce progress.
In keeping with True Rx’s transparent pricing, employers are only billed for the funds members actually use. Aggregate utilization and clinical outcomes are tracked and reported to employers to demonstrate program success.
“As a pharmacist-led PBM, we’re guided by the science of what improves member health and what delivers the best outcomes for employers,” said Adrienne Williams LaBorwit, CEO of True Rx Health Strategists. “Medication plays an essential role, and so does nutrition. We can give a member excellent dietary guidance, but that guidance is more valuable when we also help make it actionable. By connecting clinical support with Instacart Health Fresh Funds, we’re giving employers a practical way to build food as medicine into the pharmacy benefit.”
“Helping people put nutrition guidance into practice starts with making the food they need easier to access,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president and general manager of Health at Instacart. “Through Fresh Funds and our network of trusted grocers, we’re helping True Rx members use employer-funded dollars to shop for nutritious foods that support their health goals, with the convenience of delivery to their door. Working with True Rx, we’re giving employers a practical, scalable, and measurable way to engage and support their employees’ health.”
True Rx announced the partnership today during its True Conversations webinar, “The Pharmacy Benefit’s Missing Ingredient: Lessons from Blue Zones on Lowering Chronic Disease Costs,” featuring Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner. To watch the full conversation, visit https://truerx.com/webinars/lessons-from-blue-zones.
Instacart Fresh Funds will be available in January 2027 to True Rx employer clients with members enrolled in True Outcomes: Weight Management or True Outcomes: Diabetes Management. Employers and brokers interested in adding Instacart Fresh Funds can learn more at truerx.com.
Manmade seed pods grow in a planting port without additional user input or horticultural knowledge
Anu™, a modular indoor farm and consumable seed pod supply company, has received a $500,000 Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Massey said, “Food is Medicine is an emerging market focused on applying nutrition in clinical, evidence-driven settings and measuring whole-health outcomes. Anu’s agricultural technology therefore becomes healthcare infrastructure.”
The SBIR grant will be used for multi-cavity tooling of the Anu-patented, compostable Plug-and-Grow™ Seed Pods which are shelf-stable. The seed pods, to be manufactured at Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, are preloaded with seeds and nutrients; seed varieties include leafy green vegetables, fruiting plants, herbs and flowers.
Pods plug into a planting port, are water activated by the automated growing system, and grow without additional user input or horticultural knowledge.
“This presents an order-of-magnitude labor improvement for indoor farming,” Massey said. “It consolidates skilled-labor-intensive agronomy, nutrients and nursery seedling germination management into a turnkey consumable usable in both Anu systems as well as hydroponic systems agnostically through Open Garden Upgrade.”
“Multi-cavity seed pod production makes decentralized Food is Medicine programs easier to deploy, replicate and expand across health ecosystems, now supported with our unconstrained, automated manufacturing line capable of producing millions of seed pods annually.”
The grant also supports testing to quantify the nutritional quality of Anu-grown Pure Produce® grown closer to consumption. Massey said previous testing showed it has approximately twice the average nutrient density of store-bought equivalent red leaf lettuce varieties, with certain nutrients such as Vitamin B measuring as much as 10 times higher.
“The Phase IIB work will expand this evidence base as Anu scales its Food is Medicine platform where the objective is not simply to produce more food, but to reliably produce and validate the nutritional outcomes healthcare providers are ultimately seeking,” he said.
The Phase IIB grant follows Anu’s NSF SBIR Phase I and II grants for $256,000 and $970,993, respectively, and matching funding from Elevate Ventures. The company also received financial support from Purdue Research Foundation.
Food is Medicine efforts
Massey said rather than ask a hospital or clinic to become an expert farmer, Anu provides a standardized, automated cultivation platform that delivers food-production outcomes predictably and with dramatically less specialized agricultural labor.
“Anu’s manufactured seed pods are designed to abstract those agricultural inputs into a standardized consumable,” he said. “This enables controlled-environment cultivation to be overseen by existing health and nutrition professionals, including dietitians.”
Massey said the pods also can be operated by non-specialist labor such as a student apprentice, rather than a dedicated, skilled agricultural manager.
“Our solution reconnects society broadly to sustainably growing the most flavorful and nutritious food,” he said. “The massive leap in labor efficiency also conserves time and empowers all people to grow Pure Produce.”
Massey said the Phase IIB award therefore scales more than a manufacturing process.
“Our long-term objective is to convert controlled-environment agriculture from a skilled-labor-intensive, outcome-driven production business into a standardized outcome-driven system,” he said. “Plug-and-Grow Seed Pods provide the agronomic inputs, Anu cultivation systems control the growing environment, and healthcare and education partners can focus their labor on nutrition, patient engagement, learning and measured outcomes.”
