Who We Are

Petersen & Company provides clients with expertise in such areas as public relations, government relations, management processes, strategic planning, marketing, and association management. Much of the firm's work is geared toward companies and associations in the food and agribusiness industries.

Founded by Robert Petersen in 2004, the firm is now led by Erica Venancio and Zach Helder, following Petersen’s retirement.

  • Principal

    Erica Venancio is the Principal at Petersen, where she brings two decades of experience in Agribusiness as an expert in operations, financial management, governance, member relations, and events. She has served as the primary staff executive and as an advisor for national and regional agribusiness associations, including the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City; the Transportation, Elevator, and Grain Merchants Association (TEGMA); the American Association of Grain Inspection & Weighing Agencies (AAGIWA); and the GEAPS Foundation. Venancio holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University.

  • Senior Manager

    Zach Helder is Senior Manager at Petersen, and brings a decade of expertise in management, agricultural economics and policy, and communications. Helder has led financial turnarounds for large, member-based non profits; provided policy and economic expertise at every level of government and to private sector clients; and served as an agriculture policy advisor and a communications director in the U.S. Congress. As a graduate student at Princeton University, Helder led a working group of former USDA Secretaries and U.N. officials investigating the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine War on global food insecurity, and their recommendations were published in Foreign Affairs.

  • Robert Petersen, retired September 1, 2024, following a 50-year career in agriculture, 20 of those serving as principal of Petersen Consulting Services. Petersen spent 20 years in Washington, DC at the helm of a national grain trade organization.  In 2000, he and his family re-located to Kansas City where he held several prominent roles, including president of the Kansas City Board of Trade (2000-2004) and president of the American Royal (2010-2015). He is a native of the Burwell, Nebraska where he was raised on a family ranch.  He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.