July 30, 2018
Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), a regional financial cooperative serving agriculture and rural communities, has announced the upcoming retirement on August 1 of long-time employee Teresa Karst.
Karst has worked for FCV for 39 years, most recently serving as branch manager in the Ripley, West Virginia, office for the past seven years. She began her FCV career as a loan assistant, later worked as a loan officer, and then as the manager of the Secondary Mortgage Market department when it opened in 2000.
“Growing the secondary mortgage market program from its infancy was one of the most satisfying and successful projects I had the opportunity to work on during my career,” said Karst. “Creating the underwriting process was complex, and helping people fulfill their dream of home ownership, especially for those who thought they would never be able to, was immensely rewarding.”
Karst is a Ripley native, and joined Farm Credit after graduating high school. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Jackson County Housing Authority, and is a member of both the Rotary Club and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. She serves on the Marketing Committee for the Jackson County Community Foundation and is active in the Evans Church of God.
“I came to Farm Credit as a 19 year old and have seen a lot of change over the years, through different positions, through organizational mergers and executive transitions,” Karst said. “Through it all, I was happy to work with great colleagues in a very family oriented organization, helping serve our local farmers and rural homeowners.”
Farm Credit of the Virginias provides over $1.8 billion dollars in financing to more than 11,000 farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland. Farm Credit is a cooperative capitalized largely through investments made by farmers, ranchers and the rural homeowners and businesses that borrow from them. In fact, as part of a nationwide network they are the largest single provider of agricultural credit in the United States and have been for 100 years. Farm Credit helps maintain and improve the quality of life in rural America and on the farm through its constant commitment to competitive lending, expert financial services and for facilitating and sharing knowledge and resources through the Farm Credit Knowledge Center. For more information, visit www.FarmCreditKnowledgeCenter.com or www.FarmCreditofVirginias.com.
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