Murray Wise has over 40 years of experience in global agriculture and land markets. During the farm recession of the mid-eighties, he saw the opportunity in farm asset management and pioneered the notion of agriculture as an investable asset class. With a core client group formed by institutional investors and pension funds, Murray managed one of the largest global portfolios of agricultural land.Murray’s entrepreneurial spirit has defined his career; he founded Westchester in 1986 after acquiring the Champaign, IL division of the Sandage Companies. Murray transformed Westchester Group, Inc. from a small farmland investment firm into an industry-leading agricultural land asset management company. In 2010, Murray and the team sold the agricultural asset management division of WGI to TIAA-CREF. The Iowa farm real estate and management office, MWA Capital, and the land auction division of Westchester Group, Inc. subsequently formed Murray Wise Associates, LLC.Murray attended Iowa State University, receiving a B.S. in Agriculture before returning to Southern Ontario to continue farming at the onset of his career. He also received a MBA from the University of Illinois and has received an honorary degree from Parkland College.His passion for and knowledge of farmland investments has been the most important factor in his continued success. Murray has been honored with the V Dale Cozad award for his achievements in entrepreneurship in Champaign, IL. He has written two books on the subject of investing in farmland, and has been a guest speaker at Iowa State University, University of Illinois, Purdue University, and Parkland College. In 1998, he founded the Murray Wise Foundation which provides scholarships to students studying agriculture in higher education.