Sometimes timing is everything. Twenty-five years ago, South Dakota native David Mehlhaff was scheduled to be in the World Trade Center’s North Tower for a meeting with the U.S. Commerce Department. At the time, Mehlhaff was working for the CMF&Z public relations firm. Two days before September 11th, the meeting was canceled. The last minute change kept Mehlhaff from being in New York when the terrorist attack began. Watching TV that day with his work colleagues was emotional. “It was just really kind of overwhelming.” Mehlhaff previously worked for the National Pork Producers Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in communications. Following the attack, he was asked to be part of a crisis management task force focused on agriculture. “I was the only communications person on that task force; we would go to D.C. for secret meetings, it was heavy stuff,” remembers Mehlhaff. “We had to come up with every scenario what could happen to the U.S. food supply, agriculture, from a possible terrorist attack.”
