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Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI), a customer-owned technology service organization for some of the largest agricultural credit associations (ACAs) in the United States, congratulates Farm Credit East on the implementation of AgWorx Lending, FPI’s agriculture lending solution leveraging nCino’s bank operating system. The implementation of this new solution was a collaborative effort of Farm Credit East, FPI, West Monroe Partners, and nCino teams.

The successful adoption of AgWorx Lending for Farm Credit East—which serves more than 14,000 customers throughout the Northeast with over $7 billion in loan volume and over $25 million in financial service revenue generated annually—marks the next phase in their digital transformation of agricultural lending. “As a cooperative providing credit to farms, forest product and commercial fishing businesses throughout the Northeast, creating value for our members is our number one goal.  To do that we need best-in-class tools, which is why we chose nCino’s Agriculture Lending Solution,” said Bill Lipinski, CEO of Farm Credit East.

AgWorx Lending integrates with AgWorx Customer, a customer relationship management solution implemented by Farm Credit East in 2018. Both solutions live within the AgWorx by FPI technology ecosystem which provides flexibility, innovation, and new business capabilities for FPI’s ACA Partners. Bill Lipinski added, “As an industry specific lender, we needed a platform tailored to our needs, but we also needed one that could integrate with other leading technology systems to provide a seamless solution for our team, and above all else it needed to provide an improved customer experience.”

The modernization of Farm Credit East’s lending technology with cloud-based solutions allows for increased efficiencies through integrated and streamlined processes, improved transparency, and access to more data. Farm Credit East now has a single place for loan origination, processing, and renewals with instant reporting capabilities providing true insight into the lending process.

These new insights serve to improve the customer experience. “AgWorx by FPI is our modernized platform delivered through cloud-based technologies. We’re providing our ACA Partners with flexible solutions configured to meet the needs of their staff and customers,” said Howard Bruck, CEO of FPI. “These new solutions are designed to support Farm Credit East’s vision of providing a best-in-class customer experience.”

About Farm Credit Financial Partners

Organized in 1995, Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI) is the largest and most innovative provider of technology products and services to the Farm Credit System. A customer-owned service organization, FPI supports six agricultural credit associations (ACAs) from Maine to California with 100,000 members and $43 billion in Farm Credit assets. Through a partner-driven approach, FPI is improving lending for American agriculture with technology that is robust, reliable, and intuitive. Visit financialpartners.com.

Farm Credit East extends more than $7.2 billion in loans and has 20 local offices in its seven-state service area. In addition to loans and leases, the organization also offers a full range of agriculturally specific financial services for businesses related to farming, forest products and commercial fishing. Farm Credit East is a cooperative governed by a 16-person board of directors. For more information, visit FarmCreditEast.com.

Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc.’s (FPI) Board of Directors will be recruiting a new President and CEO for the company and Howard Bruck will be leaving FPI. As the Board searches for a new leader, Bill Lipinski will serve as Interim President. 

Lipinski served as the Chief Executive Officer of Farm Credit East the past twenty-five years and was instrumental in the founding of FPI in 1995. He served on FPI’s Board since the company’s founding, most recently as Chairman. 

Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Marcus Knisley, President and CEO of AgCountry Farm Credit Services, as the new Chairman of its Board of Directors. Knisley succeeds Bill Lipinski, former CEO of Farm Credit East, who will retire from Farm Credit in March 2020. Lipinski was instrumental in the founding of FPI in 1995. He served on FPI’s Board since the company’s founding, most recently as Chairman. Lipinski began his career in Farm Credit in 1979, becoming CEO of Farm Credit East in 1994.   

Knisley has served as President and CEO of AgCounty Farm Credit Services since January 2018. He began his Farm Credit career in the spring of 1981 serving in various management and leadership roles including as an association CEO since 1998. Knisley is a graduate of Michigan State University (MSU) where he obtained a B.S. degree from the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.   

FPI is also pleased to welcome Michael Reynolds, newly appointed CEO of Farm Credit East, to its Board. Reynolds previously served as Chief Business Officer of Farm Credit East where he provided executive leadership for all branch credit and financial services operations. He also previously served as Executive Vice President and Regional Manager. Reynolds has been with Farm Credit for 29 years.   

FPI also welcomed Aaron Johnson, newly appointed President and CEO of Farm Credit Illinois, to its Board this past fall after the passing of former CEO Tom Tracy. With nearly 35 years of Farm Credit and banking career experience, Johnson first joined the Farm Credit System in 1985. Following a successful lending and field management career based in Farm Credit’s Pontiac and Decatur offices, he joined Farm Credit Illinois’ senior management team in 2002 and was named executive vice president in 2014.  

Mark Littlefield, President and CEO of Farm Credit West, will serve as Vice Chairman of the Board and continues as Chairman of the Human Capital and Compensation Committee. Tom Nakano, EVP-Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Northwest Farm Credit Services, also continues to serve on the Board as Chairman of the Audit Committee.  

About Farm Credit Financial Partners 

Organized in 1995, Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI) is the largest and most innovative provider of technology products and services to the Farm Credit System. A customer-owned service organization, FPI supports six agricultural credit associations (ACAs) from Maine to California with 100,000 members and $43 billion in Farm Credit assets. Through a partner-driven approach, FPI is improving lending for American agriculture with technology that is robust, reliable, and intuitive. Visit financialpartners.com.
 

Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI), the largest and most innovative provider of technology products and services to the Farm Credit System, announces the expansion of its leadership team. These changes come as the company continues to refine its business model to meet the evolving needs of its agricultural credit association Partners. With these changes, the organization is positioned to become more effective, operationally efficient, and mature in the delivery of innovative capabilities. It also aligns the organization with its transformation from building software to leveraging cloud-based market leading technology. 

Interim President Bill Lipinski, who previously served as CEO of Farm Credit East, joined FPI in January. Lipinski’s senior leadership team now includes Scott Berard, executive vice president, chief customer officer, Sheryl Shinn, executive vice president, chief operating and information officer, Scott Rousseau, senior vice president, chief financial officer, Mary Mazza, senior vice president, human resources, and Jill Brody, senior vice president, chief audit officer.

In addition, Todd Cyboron has joined FPI’s leadership team as executive vice president, application services. Cyboron spent many years at MassMutual, most recently as the director of application operations, new business, client service and marketing, and enterprise change/release management and environmental management. In previous roles, he served as chief technology officer, product manager of data analytics and reporting, and director of projects and planning. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Westfield State University.

Jim McCormack has also joined FPI’s leadership team as senior vice president, engineering and architecture. McCormack previously served as FPI’s senior director of application development since 2016. His teams are responsible for designing and developing the software and applications at the heart of FPI’s innovative ecosystem of cloud-based products and services. His group also provides development support for the company's suite of production applications. McCormack maintains a Lean Six Sigma certification from Dartmouth College and holds a bachelor’s degree in business and a Master of Business Administration from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.

Bob Passini, also a member of the leadership team, has been appointed executive vice president, chief risk officer. Passini joined FPI in 2019 as senior director of risk management. He previously worked for a fortune 500 company in the insurance and financial services industry where he served as chief resiliency officer responsible for governing the company’s business resiliency, crisis management, corporate health and safety, vendor risk management and IT and cyber risk management functions. Passini maintains a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) designation, is a member of ISC and FS-ISAC, and served as chair of the LOMA Business Continuity Committee from 2013-2017.

Learn more about FPI’s senior leadership team at financialpartners.com/who-we-are/leadership.

About Farm Credit Financial Partners 
Organized in 1995, Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI) is the largest and most innovative provider of technology products and services to the Farm Credit System. A customer-owned service organization, FPI supports six agricultural credit associations (ACAs) from Maine to California with over 62,000 customer-members and over $40 billion in loan volume. Through a partner-driven approach, FPI is improving lending for American agriculture with technology that is robust, reliable, and intuitive.