Curt Covington has been with AgAmerica since March of 2020. In his current role, Curt assists with credit analysts and production personnel on large agricultural loans. Prior to AgAmerica, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of Farmer Mac in Washington D.C. Before that, Curt held the Senior Vice President position at Bank of the West in California. He was a professor at California State University, Fresno’s School of Agricultural Economics, where he taught ag finance and ag accounting for 26 years. Curt is also the owner and operator of The Agricultural Lending Institute headquartered in Fresno, Calif. Curt earned a B.S. in finance at the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. in Agribusiness at Santa Clara University.

Roy has been exposed to agricultural all of his life. Growing up in Selma, California and working the fields as a youngster failed to deter his interest in agriculture. He has an A.S. degree from Reedley College and a B.S. degree in Animal Science from California State University Fresno. After a couple jobs right out of college he started his financial career as an ag field representative at Crocker National Bank in Fresno. From 1986 to 1999 Roy was involved in agricultural real estate lending with Doane Western, Travelers Insurance Company and being self employed as a loan broker. Over the years Roy has been involved in agricultural lending or collateral inspection work in most of the major agricultural states. He was Senior Vice President and Manager of the Agricultural Field Office for Bank of the West in Fresno, California for over 20 years. Currently Roy is an independent contractor originating ag real estate loans and performing collateral inspections for various lending institutions. He is a past president of the Ag Lenders Society of California and a member of the ASFMRA CA Chapter. Roy is also co-owner and co-director of both the Agricultural Lending Institute, Inc.

Jay Joy is founder and managing partner of Bridgeforth, LLP, an advisory firm that guides agribusiness transitions. Jay spent nearly 10 years as a commercial banker providing financing to large dairies, commercial cattle feeders and grain companies located primarily in the High Plains region. In addition to his banking and consulting experience, Jay has served as a partner on a 700-cow dairy in Northeast Kansas, as the General Manager for an 8,000-cow dairy and large farming operation in Western Kansas, and as the CFO for a 9,000-acre family-owned corn and alfalfa hay producer/broker in North Central Kansas. Jay earned a BS in Agribusiness from Fort Hays State University (KS), an MBA in Accounting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Cornell Dairy Executive Program, and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Vice President for Extension and Outreach Jason Henderson leads about 900 faculty and staff who support what Iowans value: a strong Iowa. ISU Extension and Outreach engages all Iowans in research, education, and extension experiences to address real-life challenges and prepare for a thriving future. Henderson is a professor in the ISU Department of Economics. He is an agricultural economist, an academic leader, and a nationally recognized expert in agricultural and rural issues. He was raised on a family dairy farm in northeast Iowa and understands the needs of Iowa’s rural communities and the critical role extension and outreach plays in their vitality and success.

Danny Odom is a Senior Credit Risk Officer at Farmer Mac. Farmer Mac is a secondary market for agricultural and rural infrastructure loans across the U.S. The company offers various credit solutions from purchasing individual loans, providing credit guarantees on individual loans or loan pools, purchasing loan interests through the capital markets, or providing wholesale funding to financial institutions. In his position, Danny approves credit through individual lending authority or as a voting member of Farmer Mac’s credit committee. Danny also manages credit policies and assists in monitoring overall credit performance for Farmer Mac’s various lines of business. Prior to his role as a credit approver, Danny held various positions as an underwriter, relationship manager or managing underwriting teams. Danny grew up in the Fresno area and has approximately 18 years of lending experience through commercial banks and Farmer Mac.

Joel Lorenzen is a recently retired Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for a Farm Credit Association where he spent 17 years in that position. He has been involved with agriculture all his life. After earning a business finance degree from Oregon State University in 1975, he spent five years in the Pacific Northwest grain and farm supply business. Joel began working for the Farm Credit System in 1980 where he financed agricultural cooperatives and was progressively given increased responsibility and eventually appointed Chief Credit Officer. He is a past scholarship recipient of the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Foundation Leadership Program and graduated with honors from the University of Washington Pacific Coast Banking School in 1995. Joel served as a past director of the Arizona State Water and Agribusiness Council and was a frequent lecturer at Arizona State University Morrison School of Agribusiness. Upon retirement from Farm Credit, he formed Ag Credit Lessons to provide credit analysis training for loan officer

Jack Smith is a Senior Credit Administrator for Tri Counties Bank. He has spent a career in lending and credit risk management with large middle market commercial and ag banking institutions to a community bank setting.