CoBank Announces 2018 Board Election Results

DENVER (September 21, 2018) — CoBank, a cooperative bank serving agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and Farm Credit associations throughout the United States, today announced results of stockholder elections for the bank’s 2019 Board of Directors.

A total of three board seats were on the ballot. The names of each successful candidate are listed in the following table, along with region, type of seat, occupation, residence and term expiration date.

Region Type of Seat Name Occupation Residence Term Expires
Central One Stockholder One Vote Kevin A. Still* President & CEO, Co-Alliance, LLP Danville, IN 2022
Northwest One Stockholder One Vote Brandon J. Wittman* CEO & GM, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. Billings, MT 2022 
West Modified Equity David S. Phippen Owner/Operator of an almond farming operation and an almond processing company Ripon, CA 2022
*Incumbent board member

In addition, CoBank announced the reappointment of outside director William M. Farrow, III, and appointed director Catherine Moyer, each for a four-year term expiring in 2022. Farrow, originally appointed to the board in 2007, is the former organizing director, president and chief executive officer of Urban Partnership Bank, a commercial bank in Chicago, Illinois. Moyer, originally appointed to the board in 2010, is the chief executive officer and general manager of Pioneer Communications and chief executive officer of High Plains Telecommunications, Inc., telecommunications providers in Ulysses, Kansas.

“On behalf of the entire board, I would like to extend our congratulations to these recently elected, re-elected and re-appointed board members and also share my gratitude for their service to CoBank,” said Kevin Riel, chair of the CoBank board. “We look forward to working together to support our customers in the year ahead and ensuring the bank continues to fulfill its mission of service to rural America.”

CoBank is in the process of a stockholder-approved downsizing of its board and will have 17 elected board seats from six regions in 2019. The bank’s governance bylaws also call for two outside, independent board members with no customer or Farm Credit System affiliation, and up to four additional appointed directors.

The bank uses an independent Nominating Committee to develop a slate of qualified director candidates for each election. No current board member may serve as a member of the Nominating Committee. No member of management sits on the CoBank board. Click here for additional information about the bank’s governance and board member biographies.

Also today, the bank announced that director Scott Whittington has resigned from the board as a result of his recent retirement as general manager of Lyon-Coffey Electric Cooperative in Kansas. Whittington joined the board in 2013 and was a member of the board’s Compensation and Human Resources Committee. The CoBank board will determine the most appropriate process to fill the vacant seat in accordance with the bank’s governance bylaws and announce its decision at a future date.

About CoBank

CoBank is a $131 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 70,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country.

CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore.

For more information about CoBank, visit the bank's website at cobank.com.

Media Contacts

Julie Davis
Corporate Communications
202-215-1354
judavis@cobank.com

Sherry Johnson
Corporate Social Responsibility
303-740-6518
sjohnson@cobank.com

Dave Harding
Knowledge Exchange
262-825-7926
david.h.harding@outlook.com