John Christianson
Beyond's Leader, John O. Christianson, is a certified public accountant and Team Partner of Beyond and lives by Willmar, Minnesota. After graduating from the University of Minnesota with an accounting degree, John’s extensive farming background led him to perceive the need for a full-service accounting and consulting firm with specialized expertise in the agribusiness world.
Under his guidance, John has grown the Christianson companies into a nationally recognized group with over forty years of experience in agriculture, grain processing and renewable fuels. In today’s robust and rapidly evolving rural economy, John is committed to providing cutting-edge financial analysis and growth consulting to ensure the continued health of agriculture and renewal energy in rural America and has the Team to do it.
Our Experienced Team
Angela Furney
Angela applies her 24 years of experience in Agribusiness applications across product design, operational, financial support and client care services.
Brady Riopelle
Brady applies his 13 years of technical experience over client services, operations and financial support.
Chris Simonsen
Chris applies his 25 years of experiences in business process analysis, operational recommendations and client support.
Daryl Friesen
Daryl’s 38 years of experience comes from a background of accounting at a large grain coop, accounting management, business process analysis, applications design, best practice recommendations and customer support.
Craig Coil
Craig’s 16 years of experience comes from accounting and controller positions at a grain processing plant, business process analysis, best practice recommendations, data analysis and client services.
Janet Pagel
Janet’s 25 years of experience comes from operations at a grain processing plant, logistics, power user and client support.
JoAnn Bechtold
JoAnn has over 40 years of experience across multiple industries including grain processing. JoAnn’s experience includes controller positions as well and owning and operating a Dynamics GP business for 15 years. JoAnn assists clients with business processes, data analysis, support and controller services.
Sheila O’Meara
Sheila’s 19 years of experience is derived from multiple accounting positions across several industries Sheila works with clients on best practices, accounting, operations, data analysis and client services.
Fred Gould
Fred’s 25 years of experience includes accounting positions across multiple agribusiness companies. Fred works with clients on business processes, data analysis, CFO and controller services.
Tim Renner
Tim’s 40 years of experience crosses multiple disciples from Ag business ownership, client support and business process analysis and recommendations of best practices. Tim has in-depth experience from crop inputs, grain handling and grain processing.
Todd Marxhausen
Todd Marxhausen started with Beyond in January 2022 as part of the Professional Services Team. Todd has spent 25 years in IT working with application systems in both agriculture and construction based businesses. From customer service to new system implementation to software design consulting, Todd enjoys working with clients to find creative ways to leverage technology and solve business challenges.
Todd enjoys volunteering as a Firearm Safety Instructor, youth sports and at church. Spare family time is spent outdoors traveling, fishing or hunting.
Jessica Buster
Jessica's 21 years of experience comes from multiple positions within the agriculture sector; from an assistant at a brokerage firm, grain merchandiser for both privately owned companies and cooperatives, commodity controller for an ethanol company with multiple plants and grain elevators, and a general manager for a grain, feed, and swine production cooperative.
"My favorite part of the job is working with customers to help find resolutions or proficiencies within their daily processes."
Steve Squibb
Steve is the team leader for Beyond and his 22 years of experience cross multiple industries and accounting positions. Steve’s experience in manufacturing and Ag coop accounting and management brings multiple disciplines to the team. Steve assists with business process analysis, best practices, data analytics and client support.
Barb Bontrager
Barb has over 30 years in finance, accounting, and management of grain processing and ethanol production firms. She helps clients by filling gaps in management and/or executive roles/duties; adding a fresh perspective to identifying and prioritizing areas of improvement while streamlining accounting and financial reporting processes/systems. Prior to joining Beyond, Barb was CEO of an ethanol facility for 9 years and CFO for 8 years.
Kate Tucker
Katie has been involved with the Ag business off and on for nearly 25 years. Several years as Administrative Assistant for RDI Technologies/Agris. Several years as web and marketing manager with a strong background in Ag, Multimedia and Web Design. She assists the entire team with all their social media and website marketing needs plus administrative backup.
Sarah Hepner
Sarah’s experience includes working in financial accounting at an ethanol company for 5 years and in accounts payable at a global manufacturing company for another 5 years. Along with Sarah’s 10 years of experience in the accounting field, she has an additional 5 years of experience in customer service and management. Sarah holds a Business Administration degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.
Jana Zumwalde-Legatt
Jana Zumwalde-Legatt is well-versed in many different roles in the Accounting/Finance/Human Resource fields with over thirteen years of experience. She specializes in Monthly Financial Reporting, Sales Tax Reporting, and Human Resources. She provides the Beyond team with professionalism and expertise.