Karey Claghorn was born on February 20, 1957 in
Bloomington, Indiana and has lived on a farm nearly all
her life. Growing up on a livestock farm, Karey
participated early on in 4-H state and national events,
showing nearly every type of livestock.
In 1982, Karey graduated from Indiana University
in Bloomington, Indiana with a degree in Education and
an ICE endorsement. During college, Karey began
working for Marsh Supermarkets, Inc (a large regional
supermarket chain with stores in Ohio, Indiana &
Illinois) as a retail training coordinator and a department
manager. She worked as a training specialist until 1989,
when she was promoted to the Corporate Manager of
Training and Development. Under this title, Karey was
in charge of developing management training programs, putting on seminars, and working with every department of the supermarket to develop efficiency and training with an emphasis on food safety.
In 1992 Karey took on the role of executive director for the American Hampshire Sheep Association and developed Associated Sheep Registries. There she has designed and developed practices that increased revenue and membership participation. She is now contracted with 16 national livestock associations to manage their activities. She founded a quarterly breed publication in 1992, which is now essential to marketing for producers. Karey has visited Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil, Iceland, Mexico, Canada, Aruba and Cuba learning about their farming practices, and recognizing the importance of Iowa’s agriculture in these countries.
Karey and her family moved to Iowa in 1995, and currently live on a farm in rural Warren County growing row crops, hay and running a small cow-calf operation. Alan (55) works for Ruan Transportation as Vice President of Labor Relations, and is also actively involved in raising thoroughbreds. Karey has 3 children: Joshua, graduated from Purdue University as a Landscape architect, passed away in 2002 following a motorcycle accident, Erin (24), who graduated from Indianola High School and attended Ball State University, and currently lives in Indianapolis, and Emily (15), a sophomore at Southeast Warren High School. Emily plans to attend Iowa State University and major in architecture.
