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2026 Winter Conference
Meet Our Speakers!
Tucka
Tucka is a treatment free beekeeper with 300 colonies in Central Florida. She got started in England in 2013 when a swarm flew away with her heart. Queens are the clock she runs her life by, but she also enjoys swarm catching, education and the occasional honey harvest. She has a particular fondness of open air hives and bee-related puns. Special thanks to mentors Sam Comfort and Mike Palmer for teaching her almost everything she knows about queen bees. Buzzbuzz!
Rogan Tokach
Rogan Tokach is a new assistant professor working on applied honey bee research at North Dakota State University. Rogan graduated with his PhD from Auburn University where he studied under Dr. Geoff Williams. His research at Auburn focused on developing sustainable parasitic mite management strategies for beekeepers for both Varroa and Tropilaelaps mites. Rogan completed his master’s degree at University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Dr. Autumn Smart and Dr. Judy Wu-Smart in 2022 investigating impacts of a pesticide contaminated environment on colony functions. Overall, he has 15 years of beekeeping experience at the hobbyist, research, and commercial levels.
Dr. Judy Wu-Smart
Dr. Judy Wu-Smart is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist who has directed the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Bee Lab since 2015. She leads a comprehensive pollinator health program focused on identifying and mitigating stressors affecting bee health in the Midwest, including pests, diseases, and pesticide exposure. Her team is currently leading research efforts to investigate recent bee losses in the region, and her conference talk will address these emerging findings. Dr. Wu-Smart also oversees the Great Plains Master Beekeeper Program, which partners with local beekeeping organizations (including NBA & OBC) to provide regionally relevant, science-based training that supports over 4,000 beekeepers across 8 states and strengthen pollinator stewardship across the Great Plains. To learn more about Bee Lab programs and training opportunities, visit https://entomology.unl.edu/bee-lab and https://gpmb.unl.edu/ or follow the Bee Lab on Facebook.
Brad Sumter
Brad Sumter found his love for bees after retiring from the Air Force and has been keeping bees since 2018. He is a former president of the Omaha Bee Club where he helped start the annual Omaha Bee Club Convention. His interests include bee genetics, queen rearing, queen breeding, swarm catching, trap outs, mead making, and reading anything written by Dr. Tom Seeley.
Jame Lee
​James Lee is the President of the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan, a virtual educational organization with over 750 local and international members. He is also the founder of the Northern Queen Initiative and owner of James Lee's Bees in Romulus, MI where he lives with his wife Rachel and their 5 children. James manages 60-100 colonies pursuing sustainability in apiculture and produces nucs and queens with a focus on hardy Northern climate survivors selected for mite-resistance.