Tell us about your background. Where you grew up, where you went to school, industry experience, your family, and volunteer work.
I am a Lennox High School graduate, and attended South Dakota State University where I majored in animal science and general agriculture. After graduating, I moved back to the Sioux Falls area and worked for two other ag lenders before landing at FNB in 2015. That same year, I moved back to the farm where I grew up as well. My wife and I actually were married on the farm in July of 2020, as COVID-19 changed our wedding date and venue. Leave it to a farmer to get a wedding to be a tax write-off!
Q: What is your role at FNB? What does your day-to-day work look like?
I am the crop insurance specialist and office out of the Louise Branch; however, I work with all of our ag lenders and have clients throughout FNB’s footprint. Like anything, no two days are the same, as sometimes I am working with producers to develop a tailor-made risk management plan specific to their farm, and other days I am in the office getting caught up on paperwork. My favorite part of the job, though, is meeting with customers and prospects at their farms and ranches and seeing how we can serve them better.
Q: Why did you come to work at FNB?
I came to FNB because it is a family-owned bank with values and goals that closely mirror our customers. Having worked at a much larger, publicly-traded lender, it felt most decisions were made focused on quarterly earnings for shareholders and not necessarily for the benefit of the customer or the long-term focus of the bank.
Q: What’s the best memory you have from working at the Bank?
A while back, we had a BBQ rib cook-off amongst some fellow ag branch employees, and to the dismay of my coworkers, I won the competition!
Q: If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
As cliché as it sounds, I have the best job in the world. I get to work with farmers and ranchers every day while also farming myself. My passion has always been the ag industry, and this career allows me to do that better than I could have imagined. I always remember my grandpa saying, “find a job you like, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” and I would have to say he is correct. (The 2019 floods may have questioned that answer. ;))
Q: If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would you want to play you and why?
I have had more than one person say that I remind them of Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation, so I guess I’d probably have to have Nick Offerman play me. Either that, or Tim Allen due to his role as Tim Taylor on Home Improvement, which I have also been compared to.
Q: If you had $500 to spend at any local business, where or what would you spend it on?
Well, with planting season just around the corner, I have spent a lot of money at the local John Deere dealer! However, if I had $500 to spend, I would go hit up some local restaurants that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and support them by buying the best steak on the menu.