2015 Director Nominees

One of the things that makes Yankee successful is a strong board of directors. Our Nominating Committee is dedicated to providing a diverse selection of candidates for members to vote on. At our upcoming annual meetings in April there will be four positions to vote for: three 3-year terms, one in each region; and a 1-year term for Region 3. The 1-year position this year is to fill the remainder of the term of director Paul Saenger, who unfortunately passed away in October.

The Nominating Committee met yesterday to interview potential candidates for director.

The following members were nominated for the three 3-year terms:

Region 1
Rocklyn Giroux (incumbent)
Dr. Marco Turco

Region 2
Samuel Lincoln
Bradley Maxwell (incumbent)

Region 3
David Folino
Theodore Foster (subsequently removed his name from consideration)
Stephen Taylor (incumbent)

The following members were nominated for the 1-year term:

Region 3
Jane Clifford
Rene Saenger
Miles Tudhope

Below is a map of the director regions (click on the map to enlarge):

If you are interested in running for director in the future, we encourage you to contact anyone on the Nominating Committee. See page 49 of the annual report for names and contact information. Thank you to the Nominating Committee members and to the candidates for director for their time and devotion to providing an excellent slate of candidates for the membership to vote on.

Sharing Success Contribution to 4-H

Yankee Farm Credit and CoBank recently donated $5,000 each to 4-H in NY, NH and VT to help support a Tri-State Career Exploration Tour focused on Food Systems. 

CoBank’s contribution is part of their “Sharing Success” program, a $3 million matching grant program designed to benefit cooperatives and charitable groups they support throughout rural America. CoBank launched this program in 2012 to coincide with the United Nations “International Year of Cooperatives.” 

George Putnam, President and CEO, Rocky Giroux, Chairperson, Kurt Reichelt, UVM Annual Fund Officer

The tour will allow for fifty to one hundred 4-H members, in grades 7-12, to learn about careers that support the food chain––from food enterprises, marketing and promotion, lab-based research and technology, financial management and more. The overall outcome is for youth to gain an increased understanding of what careers are possible in the agricultural sector beyond farming and to learn what sort of education and skills are necessary for those careers.  Specific details about the tour are still evolving, but the contribution of $10,000 will be used to help pay for transportation, lodging and other expenses.  The planning team consists of 4-H Educators from the University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and the University of Vermont.

UPDATE 1/15/15: There is an article about 4-H in today's Burlington Free Press: "Not your grandmother's 4-H club."

UPDATE 2/17/15: Click here for a news release about this donation published in the Rutland Herald on 2/13/15.

Promotion - Jesse Taft

Please join us in congratulating Jesse Taft on his promotion to Credit Analyst for our Commercial Lending Division.  Jesse began his career at Yankee as a part-time clerical position and quickly made himself part of the team in the White River office.  After a brief time as a part timer he was hired as a full time Financial Services Assistant.  Jesse passed the 1A Assistant Tax Specialist exam and also the Payroll Specialist exam.  He jumped into writing posts for the blog and has become a valuable member of our newsletter group.  Jesse was excited about the creation of our commercial lending department and after some consideration opted to apply his analytical skills as a credit analyst.    

Jesse graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in history and resides in Cornish NH with his wife Holly and their three children, Ayla, Marin and Abe.  

Career Opportunity - Office Assistant, St. Albans, VT

Yankee Farm Credit, a leading provider of credit and financial services to the agricultural community in Vermont, western NH and the Champlain Valley of NY is looking for someone who is passionate about agriculture and who wants to be involved with supporting local farm businesses to ensure their success.

The Office Assistant assists the branch credit function including the complete and timely preparation of loan documents, assisting loan officers with closing loans, and maintaining organized loan files per Association guidelines. Other duties include processing credit life insurance, tracking casualty insurance on collateral, and key-person life insurance. General office administrative support includes bank account reconciliation, GL accounting, and ordering office supplies.

The desired individual will hold an Associate's degree in accounting, business or a related field. Prior experience helpful but not required. Applicants having relevant experience will also be considered. 

For a more detailed job description, please visit our website at https://www.yankeeaca.com/en/About-Us/Career-Opportunities.aspx

To be considered for this position please send a cover letter and resume to:
Ruchel St. Hilaire, Yankee Farm Credit, P.O. Box 467 Williston, VT 05495 or reply via e-mail

Yankee Farm Credit offers a full, comprehensive benefits package.
EO/AA Employer- M/F/D/V

Quickbooks classes offered

Quickbooks is an accounting software program designed to help manage the needs of small businesses. Participants are encouraged to interact and ask questions. Professionals will be available to work closely with participants to answer questions or address individual issues. Certain discounts may apply to those that qualify. At both locations, participants are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop with QuickBooks software installed; however it is not mandatory at the St. Albans location.

Participants must pre-register to attend at either location.

Location: St. Albans Branch Office -130 Upper Welden St., St. Albans, VT.

Led by two of our Records and Payroll Tax Specialists, Lisa Gravel and Alicia Marcy.

Session #1: Tuesday, January 6 and Thursday, January 8 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.

Session #2: Tuesday, March 10 and Thursday, March 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.

The first session will cover proper set up of your company, vendors and customers, writing checks, making deposits, payroll and managing payroll liabilities. The second will cover purchases and dispositions, accounts payable, bank reconciliation, 1099 reporting and utilizing financial reports for management purposes.

Cost: $200/two day session. If you sign up for both sessions, you will receive a complimentary one-hour on-farm visit.

Contact: Alicia Marcy at alicia.marcy@yankeeaca.com or call 802-528-2957.

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Location: Granite State College - 27 Pleasant St., Claremont, NH.

Led by one of our Records and Payroll Tax Specialists, Nicholas Bullock, in cooperation with UNH Cooperative Extension.

Session #1: Tuesday, January 6 and Thursday, January 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

Session #2: Tuesday, January 13 and Thursday, January 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

The four session course will teach producers how to use Quickbooks to manage their farm financial records. Learn how to set up the software, create invoices, enter payments, write checks to pay bills, and produce reports to monitor business performance. This course is focused on building skills and capacity so that participants can implement the knowledge they gain on their farms or related business in the coming year.

Cost: $400 for all four days.

Contact: Seth Wilner at seth.wilner@unh.edu or Sherrie Fontaine at sherrie.fontaine@unh.edu or call 603-863-9200.

New Employee - Joanna Lidback

Joanna testifying before Congress in 2014

Yankee is pleased to announce the hiring of Joanna Lidback. Joanna is the Association's newest business consultant. She will be working out of the Newport/Derby office.

Joanna began her career with Farm Credit in 2001, working for First Pioneer Farm Credit (now Farm Credit East) as a loan officer. In the mid-2000s, Joanna left Farm Credit to return to school. She returned to Farm Credit East (FCE) a few years later, working in their Enfield, CT office. At FCE, Joanna was the founder of the Knowledge Exchange Program and one of the lead authors of the Northeast Dairy Farm Summary. She also spent time working in FCE’s consulting program. In the summer of 2014, Joanna testified in Congress on the topic of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and biotechnology, appearing before the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture.

Joanna has a degree in applied economics and management from Cornell University and an MBA from Babson College. She lives in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom with her husband and their two sons. With her family, she owns and operates The Farm at Wheeler Mountain, a 50-cow diversified dairy farm. Joanna also volunteers for 4-H, is active in Farm Bureau, and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Northeast Center for Risk Management.

From Joanna: “Having lived in Northeast Vermont on a dairy farm with my husband and family for the past four years, I am excited to join Yankee and get working directly with other farmers again. Every person I have come into contact with at Yankee has been very welcoming and supportive; a true family-like atmosphere. I am looking forward to using my skills, knowledge and experience to help ‘improve the income and well-being’ of ag producers and farm related businesses within our communities.”

Joanna brings outstanding knowledge of the agricultural community and the Farm Credit system, and her extensive experience makes her a valuable addition to the Yankee family. Please help us in giving Joanna a warm welcome!

   

Promotion - Chris Bessette

Yankee Farm Credit announces the creation of a new Commercial Lending Division, and the promotion of Chris Bessette to manage this division. As Assistant Vice President/Commercial Lending Division Manager, Chris will be responsible for many of the Association's largest non-dairy loans, including all of Yankee's purchased participation loans. His current portfolio already includes many of these accounts, and we expect this new division to grow when fully staffed. We currently have an opening for a credit analyst to support Chris. Click here for details.

Chris came to work for Yankee Farm Credit in 1998 as a loan officer following graduation from St. Lawrence University with degrees in economics and French. We lost Chris for five years when he moved to Pennsylvania in 2004 and served as a tax preparer and business management advisor for farmers in Southeastern PA. He returned to Vermont in 2009 and rejoined YFC as a Senior Loan Officer/Participation Specialist. Chris is a Farm Credit Tax Specialist and graduated from the Farm Credit System Leadership Development Program in 2013. He works in our White River Jct. office.

A little known fact about Chris – he is a movie star! In the 1995 movie Let's Go To The Farm, about the Bessette family farm in New Haven, Vermont, Chris is the high school senior headed off to college.

Please join me in congratulating Chris on this promotion.

Changes to Board Committees

At the October 24, 2014, board meeting, Yankee's Board of Directors made changes to various board committee assignments. The new committee assignments are:

Executive Committee
Rocklyn A. Giroux, Chairperson
Alan J. Bourbeau
Bryan E. Davis
Paul B. Franklin

Audit Committee
Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Chairperson
Thomas J. Colgan
Walter M. Gladstone
Celeste Kane-Stebbins
Stephen H. Taylor

Compensation Committee
Walter M. Gladstone, Chairperson
Thomas J. Colgan
Rocki-Lee DeWitt
Paul B. Franklin
Bradley N. Maxwell

Membership/Governance Committee
Alan J. Bourbeau, Chairperson
Bryan E. Davis
Paul B. Franklin
Celeste Kane-Stebbins
Bradley N. Maxwell

Q3 2014 Financial Results

Summer was good and so was autumn.  Now as we start into the winter season, we can hope that the trend continues!  Yankee’s third quarter financial results are now available and we can announce that we had another good quarter.  Favorable net income resulting from increased net interest income and a negative provision for credit losses were offset by an increase in expenses.  The balance sheet shows that loans were down from year-end, but volume was up from the previous quarter.  The quality of the loan portfolio remains strong and is expected to remain that way in the foreseeable future.  Good members taking advantage of the continued favorable milk prices, growing conditions and weather continued to be a primary reason for these good results.

Quarterly net income for Yankee was $2.4 million, an increase of $167 thousand over the same period in 2013. The most significant factors driving the increase were an increase of $132 thousand in net interest income and a $71 thousand negative provision for credit losses, as compared to a provision for credit losses of $83 thousand for the same period in 2013. These were partially offset by an increase in other expenses of $168 thousand over the same period in 2013.

For the first nine months of 2014, net income was $6.8 million, an increase of $148 thousand over the same period in 2013. Net interest income increased 6% to $11.0 million. There was a provision for credit losses of $661 thousand through the third quarter of 2014, as compared to a provision of $244 during the same period of 2013.  Other income increased $374 thousand, primarily due to an increase in income from patronage refunds from CoBank, ACB and income from fees for financial services.

Loans held by the Association at September 30, 2014 were $405.0 million, down 2.0% from year end.  The loan portfolio continues to be concentrated in the dairy industry with 50% of loan volume invested in dairy businesses. The second largest concentration is timber, with 14% of loan volume at quarter end.

Credit quality across Yankee’s loan portfolio remained strong during the quarter and well within the risk-bearing capacity of the Association. At quarter-end 0.7% of the Association loans were classified as nonperforming, 0.1% improved from the previous quarter and from year end.  There were no loan charge-offs and no recoveries in the quarter.  The Association’s capital position remains strong.

Click here for the full quarterly Report to Shareholders.

Promotion - Pam Simek

I am pleased to announce that Pam Simek has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer. Pam has been Acting Chief Financial Officer since June.

Pam started her career at Yankee Farm Credit as an administrative assistant in the Williston office in May 1995, just five months after Yankee was formed from the merger of Farm Credit of the Connecticut Valley and Champlain Valley Farm Credit. In 1997 Pam was promoted to Assistant Treasurer/Personnel Coordinator and in 2003 she was promoted to Controller. Now stationed out of our Middlebury office, Pam has played an integral part in the financial operations of our Association for many years. She is enthusiastic about her new position and welcomes the opportunity to help shape the future of the Association.

Before coming to Farm Credit, Pam worked for several employers including a law firm and the General Electric plant in Burlington. Pam holds two bachelors degrees from Trinity College in Burlington (now part of UVM), in history and accounting. She has also attended many Farm Credit specific training events including the Leadership Development Program, the Gettysburg Leadership Experience, and numerous Farm Credit System CFO conferences.

Please join me in congratulating Pam on this promotion.