The Bridge

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Jeneen Sagon, Business Analyst, and Alex Foreman, Product Owner. They talk to us about the Beacon ERG, building confidence, and how you can become a better ally.

“Our mission is to educate, advocate, empower. We’re not here to tell you what to do, what to believe, vote for this person, don’t vote for that person. We’re really just here to be a resource to let people know different ways a person can have a gender identity or gender expression.”

- Alex Foreman 

Host: Kate Larsen

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Maggie Holub, YBS Relationship Officer. She talks to us about how she turned her love for fitness into a side hustle.

“You have one body and that’s all you get.  You have one chance at life, so you need to take care of it and you need to take care of yourself.”  - Maggie Holub 

Host: Sarah Walther

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Tom Dobbe, Regional Vice President of Business Development, and Erin Aliano, Organizational Change Practitioner. They talk to us about the undertaking of implementing Salesforce to our organization, from the impact COVID had on the work to the change management involved throughout the implementation.

“We used an analogy of moving houses a lot. Of plumbing, electricity, and how we’re building this new solution for a lot of different scenarios. It’s not just a lift and shift from one system to another. We like to think of the change like moving from one home to another home. There are things that you feel comfortable with, and you know that are reliable, but when you go and do something in a new home, you don’t have the confidence. We wanted to make sure our teammates felt confident when they moved into their new home. Their relationships weren’t changing with their customers, they still knew their customers and what they needed, they had a lot of that foundation. We wanted their confidence in the system. So that’s what we really tried to focus on.”  - Erin Aliano 

Host: Julianne Pope

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Julie Krause and Greg Roberg - leaders from our AgDirect® team. They tell us how AgDirect started as an idea back in 1997 to a nearly $3 billion dollar business today.

“There was discussion of what the vision of AgDirect was going to be and if it was sustainable. Out of “firefly”, the #1 idea was to expand AgDirect and expand it within the Farm Credit system. And that will lead to other things, which we’ve seen: Rural 1st®. FarmLend®. And more.” -Greg Roberg

Host: Andy Pfeifer

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Lori Sisson and Kristin Larsen, our Rural 1st leaders. They take a deeper dive into how the Rural 1st partnership was started and built into a successful consumer lending program with Farm Credit Mid-America.

“Our vision is to get customers closer to what matters, what matters is different for everyone, and we want to help customers achieve their dreams.” –Kristin Larsen

Host: Chelsea Christensen

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we host Carl Horne and Kody Schrader from the Digital Loan Products and Services Team. They take a deeper dive into how FarmLend® was started and built into a successful digital loan origination platform.

Tune in to hear Carl sing the original jingle!

“You have to start from the customer’s perspective...achieving business outcomes starts with talking to customers and solving their problems.”

–Kody Schrader

Host: Kayleigh Koch

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we chat with Brian DeVaney, Carol Brush and Jess Langenberg from the ODL Team. They introduce the Development Circle and how we can use it to reflect on our purpose within the association. Reflect and Rise Up was Roots’ 2021 theme, so the ODL team will give us insight on how to reflect and ways we can start 2022 off strong. 

“Taking that time, whether it’s writing it down, or just even having a conversation with a spouse or your leader or a coworker on this is what I’ve learned, this is what I’ve applied, this is how I’ve grown over the last year is really powerful” – Carol Brush

Host: Nichole Christensen

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we chat with Chris Obermeyer; Patriot Sponsor and VP of Credit Operations. He talks about his passion for the Patriot Employee Resource Group and Aviation. He also shares stories from the time he served in the Air Force and how you can support Patriot’s mission.

“It’s the people [I remember the most]. I’ve served with so many great men and women, from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and they are all passionate about doing one thing... and that’s protecting our country.”

– Chris Obermeyer

Host: Kate Larsen

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we welcome Brett Rutter, VP Salesforce Delivery; Derek Hendrickson, VP Business Solutions Delivery; Kristen Phillips, VP Business Solutions; Dustin Haefner, SD West Central RVP Business Development; and Marty Hoefer, IA Eastern RVP Retail Operations.  These 5 former Roots ERG members are now functional leaders, although some aren’t sure which year it was that they rolled off!  Tune in to hear how Roots impacted their decisions to become a functional leader!

Spoiler: The Godfather of Roots is uncovered!!

“The sooner you are willing to invite feedback from your leaders and your peers, the faster you’ll uncover development opportunities”

– Marty Hoefer

Host: Chelsea Christensen

On this episode of Strengthen Your Roots, we welcome Wes Chambers, Senior Vice President of the North Business Development Unit. Wes shares his thoughts on self-reflection, looking at the bigger picture and the importance of getting out of your own way. 

Hear why Wes believes everyone should coach a youth sports team!

“Never forget to be humble and admit when you make a mistake" – Wes Chambers

Host: Breanne Ripperger