Peter Lemmer, Executive VP and Chief Legal Counsel, 16 years
What made you want to pursue this career?
It’s important to me to play a role in communicating the importance of the Farm Credit System and promote a good agricultural policy for our rural communities. It’s an honor to represent our GreenStone team!
What do you enjoy most about your role?
The resilience of our members over generations is humbling and inspiring to me. I enjoy any chance I get to learn from our members about what they do and how their family has grown through agriculture. I’m so grateful to all of our members for how they continue to navigate through the challenges of operating their businesses, and how they continue to support their rural communities.
How does your role support GreenStone’s mission of supporting rural communities and agriculture?
GreenStone’s mission is to be the first choice for providing credit and financial services for farmers and rural communities throughout Michigan and northeast Wisconsin as a part of the Farm Credit System. The sustainability of our Farm Credit System is dependent on so many factors working together. Legislative, legal and regulatory matters are the areas I stay laser-focused on to identify and minimize risk and threats to our cooperative’s mission. Communicating our entire value proposition as a cooperative to a wide variety of public and private interests is core to my role to assure members of our sustainability now and in the future.
What are some things most people don’t know about the legislative team and your role?
The duties of the legislative team are essential because of ongoing legal threats to the Farm Credit System. Legal and legislative matters can be divisive and create conflict. It’s important for people to understand how important it is to have a conversation anyway and do it with fairness and compassion to overcome biases that can get built into divisiveness.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I enjoy a variety of recreational hobbies, but the ones centered in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan are greatly cherished. We live in the best states in the country in Michigan and Wisconsin, so doing anything here I find to be an unparalleled blessing.
Becky Taylor, VP of Loan Administration and Legislative Affairs, 10 years
What made you want to pursue this career?
Originally this was not something on my radar, but as an accounting intern at GreenStone I was asked to help communicate a story about our public policy in financial terms and it was an easy connection for me. While the news often only highlights the politics of the government arena, I found it refreshing and interesting to participate in more data-focused conversations about our public policy.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I enjoy the ongoing education and making connections. Challenges and opportunities are constantly presenting themselves. With this comes the need for my own education and the education process of administrative and legislative officials. It is always great to connect legislators with customers, employees and industry experts to discuss different issues.
How does your role support GreenStone’s mission of supporting rural communities and agriculture?
As part of the legislative team, time is spent advocating and protecting the very successful credit and financial services cooperative delivery model. GreenStone, as a Farm Credit System institution, is a Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE). This status gets quite a bit of attention for an array of reasons, and changes to the System and requirements can impact GreenStone and our customers. Our legislative efforts assist in ensuring GreenStone can continue to support all rural communities and farmers in Michigan and Wisconsin.
What are some things most people don’t know about the legislative team and your role?
GreenStone’s legislative approach is very collaborative and broad. It isn’t just focused on campaign contributions through Political Action Committees (PACs). In both Michigan and Wisconsin, our best work is done in partnership with other rural and agricultural organizations. We call it agricultural advocacy, and this is where grassroot individuals and organizations work together to educate public policy makers about issues of importance through meetings, events, and other means of direct contact. We also have fantastic lobbyists that assist us and lead the technical side of the legislative process in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
My husband, Nick, and I are raising our three, soon-to-be, four kids on the farm in Genesee County, Michigan. We are actively involved in our community through church and supporting our local FFA chapter, and together we enjoy spending time outside caring for our sheep.
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