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Farm Credit of the Virginias Names New CEO - Read more
July 18, 2018
Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), a regional financial cooperative serving agriculture and rural communities, announced earlier this year that the board of directors had elected new officers who will serve until December 31, 2019.
Donna Brooke-Alt will serve as chair of the board. Brooke-Alt is president of Brookedale Farms in Fort Ashby, West Virginia, which includes diversified row crops, a greenhouse facility, an event center and an agri-tainment operation that features an annual 10-acre corn maze. Brooke-Alt also serves on the boards of the Mineral County FSA, the Mineral County Family Resource Network, the Potomac State College Ag Advisory Committee and the Potomac State College Gerstell Ag Development Award Committee. She has served on the FCV board since 2003 and succeeds Charlie Leech, who served an extended term as chair.
"Charlie is a very dedicated farmer and director and brought that same dedication to his role as chair, extending his term while Farm Credit of the Virginias transitioned leadership to a new CEO," said Brooke-Alt. "I hope to continue his strong leadership of what is an extremely knowledgeable and committed board in guiding Farm Credit’s strategy and sharing our story with policymakers as they consider key decisions that will impact our customer-owners."
Donald W. Reese will serve as vice-chair. He is a partner in Reese's Farm Fresh Produce, a retail produce operation. He also teaches agriculture at Halifax County High School, and leads the school’s FFA Chapter. He has served on the FCV board since 2006, and is a member of its Governance and Compensation Committees.
"It’s an honor to serve on the FCV board and help support the organization in fulfilling its mission of serving agriculture and rural communities," said Reese. "Led by Donna, our board will remain vigilant in assessing and responding to the challenges confronting the farm economy and our customer-owners."
As a cooperative, FCV’s board is elected by its customer-owners, who are farmers and ranchers in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. The board, in turn, elects its officers.
"Farm Credit of the Virginias relies on our board of directors to establish a strong strategy so that we as an organization can continue to thrive and serve our customer-owners," said Peery Heldreth, CEO of FCV. "With the election of Donna and Don, I’m confident that our board will remain an active and informed partner as we continue to evolve our products and services to best support the changing needs of our customers."
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 over 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.
The Leader includes customer-owner feature stories, financial reports, local ag news and more.