FFB&T Newsroom

2010 Ag Client Seminar Videos

Here is the first video from Ag Client Seminar: Ken Perkins!  Please check back in the next week as more videos will be added.

 

 

 

First Farmers Bank & Trust is Pleased to Announce the Addition of Mark Raver and John Colter as Commercial & Agricultural Lender

This week, First Farmers Bank & Trust announced two new additions to the Commercial and Ag Lending Teams: Mark Raver and John Colter.  They will be working out of the Tipton branch. 

Mark serves as Senior Commercial & Agricultural Lender and is active on the Tipton County Foundation Board, Tipton Utility Board, Tipton 4-H Livestock Sale Committee, and the Kelley Agricultural Museum Board. He is a graduate of both Purdue University and Haworth High School and is a life long resident of the area.

John serves as Vice President, Commercial & Agricultural Lender and is active on the Tipton County Chamber of Commerce Board, Tipton Rotary, Tipton 4-H Livestock Sale Committee, and CW Mount Community Center Board. He is a graduate of both Purdue University and Wes–Del High School and has worked in the area for the last 20 years.

Both Mark and John are former employees of Community First Bank of Indiana, Harris N.A., and First National Bank & Trust. They will be responsible for loan production growth in the Tipton and Howard County Areas.

First Farmers Bank & Trust is a $775 million asset bank operating 20 branch locations in Central Indiana. 

Forbes Article: New Geographer-America's Agricultural Angst

We thought you would be interested in the following article taken from Forbes.com. Please enjoy!

from Joel Kotkin, 01.19.10, 12:01 AM ET via Forbes.com

In this high-tech information age few look to the most basic industries as sources of national economic power. Yet no sector in America is better positioned for the future than agriculture--if we allow it to reach its potential.

Like manufacturers and homebuilders before them, farmers have found themselves in the crosshairs of urban aesthetes and green activists who hope to impose their own Utopian vision of agriculture. This vision includes shutting down large-scale scientifically run farms and replacing them with small organic homesteads and urban gardens.

Troublingly, the assault on mainstream farmers is moving into the policy arena. It extends to cut-offs on water, stricter rules on the use of pesticides, prohibitions on the caging of chickens and a growing movement to ban the use of genetic engineering in crops. And it could undermine a sector that has performed well over the past decade and has excellent long-term prospects.

Over the next 40 years the world will be adding some 3 billion people. These people will not only want to eat, they will want to improve their intake of proteins, grains, fresh vegetables and fruits. The U.S., with the most arable land and developed agricultural production, stands to gain from these growing markets. Last year the U.S.' export surplus in agriculture grew to nearly $35 billion, compared with roughly $5 billion in 2005.

The overall impact of agriculture on the economy is much greater than generally assumed, notes my colleague Delore Zimmerman, of Praxis Strategy Group. Roughly 4.1 million people are directly employed in production agriculture as farmers, ranchers and laborers, but the industry directly or indirectly employs approximately one out of six American workers, including those working in food processing, marketing, shipping and supermarkets.

Yet none of this seems to be slowing the mounting criticisms of "corporate agriculture." A typical article in Time, called "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food," assailed the "U.S. agricultural industry" for precipitating an ecological disaster. "With the exhaustion of the soil, the impact of global warming and the inevitably rising price of oil--which will affect everything from fertilizer to supermarket electricity bills--our industrial style of food production," the article predicts, "will end sooner or later."

The romantic model being promoted by Time and agri-intellectuals like Michael Pollan hearkens back to European and Tolstoyan notions of small family farms run by generations of happy peasants. But this really has little to do with the essential ethos of American agriculture.

Back in the early 19th century Alexis de Tocqueville noted that American farmers viewed their holdings more like capitalists than peasants. They would sell their farms and move on to other businesses or other lands--a practice unheard of in Europe. "Almost all the farmers of the United States," he wrote, "combine some trade with agriculture; most of them make agriculture itself a trade."

Despite the perceptions of a corporatized farm sector, this entrepreneurial spirit remains. Families own almost 96% of the nation's 2.2 million farms, including the vast majority of the largest spreads. And small-scale agriculture, after decreasing for years, is on the upswing; between 2002 and 2009 the number of farms increased by 4%.

This trend toward smaller-scale specialized production represents a positive trend, but large-scale, scientifically advanced farming still produces the majority of the average family's foodstuffs, as well as the bulk of our exports. Overall, organic foods and beverages account for less than 3% of all food sales in the U.S.--hardly enough to feed a nation, much less a growing, hungry planet.

Then there's the even more fanciful notion--promoted by Columbia University's Dickson D. Despommier--of moving food production into massive urban hothouses. In a recent op-ed in the New York Times he argues we are running out of land and need to take agriculture off the farm. According to Despommier, "The traditional soil-based farming model developed over the last 12,000 years will no longer be a sustainable option."

Yet Praxis Strategy's Matthew Lephion, who grew up on a family farm, points out that such projects hardly represent a credible alternative in terms of food production. Urban land is far more expensive--often at least 10 times as much as rural. Energy and other costs of maintaining farms in big cities also are likely to be higher.

Furthermore the notion that America is running out of land--one justification for subsidizing urban farming--seems fanciful at best. The past 30 years have seen some loss of farmland, but the amount of land that actually grows harvested crops has remained stable. Though some prime farmland close to metropolitan centers should be protected, agriculture has over the past decades returned to nature--forests, wetlands, prairie--millions of acres, far more than the land that has been devoted to housing and other urban needs.

However ludicrous the arguments, the Obama administration remains influenced by green groups and is the cultural prisoner of the lifestyle left, with its powerful organic foodie contingent. That leaves farmers and the small towns dependent on them with little voice.

The ability of greens and others to wreak havoc on agriculture can be seen in the disaster now unfolding in California's fertile Central Valley. Large swaths of this area are being de-developed back to desert--due less to a mild drought than to regulations designed to save obscure fish species in the state's delta. Over 450,000 acres have already been allowed to go fallow. Nearly 30,000 agriculture jobs--held mostly by Latinos--have been lost, and many farm towns suffer conditions that recall The Grapes of Wrath.

Not satisfied with these results, the green lobby has prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service to further cut water supplies, in part to improve the conditions for whales and other species out in the ocean. Given these attitudes, farmers, including those I have worked with in Salinas, are fretting about what steps federal and state regulators may take next.

One particular concern revolves around the movement against genetically modified food. Already there are calls for banning GMOs in Monterey County. Local officials worry this would cripple the area's nascent agricultural biotech industry as well as the long-term ability of existing farmers to compete with less regulated competitors elsewhere. The fact that a less advanced form of genetic engineering also sparked the "green revolution" that greatly reduced world hunger after 1965 seems, to them at least, irrelevant.

When viewed globally, the anti-big farm movement seems even more misguided. As Chapman University's professor of food science Anuradha Prakash observes, India's own organic farms serve a small portion of the market and cannot possibly meet the nutritional needs of the country's expanding population. "You just don't get the yields you need for Africa and Asia from organic methods," she explains.

A formula that works for high-end foodies of the Bay Area or Manhattan can't produce enough affordable food to feed the masses--whether in Minnesota or Mumbai. The emerging war on agriculture threatens not only the livelihoods of millions of American workers; it could undermine our ability to help feed the world.

Joel Kotkin is a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is also an adjunct fellow at the Legatum Institute in London and serves as executive editor of newgeography.com. He writes the weekly New Geographer column for Forbes. His next book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, will be published by Penguin in February.

First Farmers Participates in Million Meals Program To Help Local Families

Indiana Pork, in partnership with Feeding Indiana's Hungry, Inc and with the generous support of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, First Farmers Bank & Trust, and scores of individual donors, continues to expand its Million Meals program with the latest donation of 7500 pounds of ground pork to Terre Haute last Friday.

Over 150,000 pork meals have been delivered to date. Two pound bags of frozen, ground pork also includes a recipe card featuring a pork dish.

The Million Meals Program is designed to help thousands of Hoosier families with one of their most essential needs-high quality protein. The lofty goal of the campaign is to provide one million pork meals per year, throughout the year, to those in need. The meals are distributed statewide through the 10 food bank members of Feeding Indiana's Hungry, Inc. (FIsH), Indiana's statewide network of food banks.

According to the just-released Feeding America Hunger study, the member food banks of FIsH provide assistance to 117,900 different people each week in Indiana, and 694,500 different people each year. Ninety six percent of clients at emergency food programs in Indiana are US citizens, and 67% are registered voters. Two-thirds of those seeking assistance are Caucasian, and less than 2% of them are welfare recipients.

These are our neighbors and friends - the need is there, and the Million Meals program is making a difference.

The Million Meals program reflects Indiana pork producers' commitment to one of the key ethical principles of the pork industry as described in the industry's We Care program - affirming our commitment to the communities in which we operate.

First Farmers Bank & Trust strongly supports the efforts of FIsH and Million Meals. If you would like more information about Indiana Pork, FIsH, or the Million Meals Program, visit www.indianapork.com.

Indiana Pork is also part of another campaign called Farmers Feed US. Since January 11, Indiana residents have had the opportunity to register for two grand prizes of Free Groceries for a Year courtesy of Indiana's farmers, at www.FarmersFeedUS.org.

Upon visiting the site, consumers register by "meeting an Indiana farmer" through a short video that shows how they produce safe, nutritious and affordable food. Consumers can register with each of the eight featured farmers daily through April 11, the end of the 90-day program. Thus far, over 35,000 people have visited the website and registered for free groceries!

The Farmers Feed Us web site features beef cattle, corn, dairy cattle, egg, fish, hog, sheep, and soybean farmers from across the state, each sharing information about their farm and their family. In addition to guiding visitors through their registration for free groceries, each farmer also offers a brief online tour of their farm.

The campaign includes participation from the following Indiana ag groups:

Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Indiana Soybean Alliance, Indiana Pork Producers, Indiana Beef Council, American Dairy Association of Indiana, Indiana Sheep Association, Indiana Corn Marketing Association, Indiana State Poultry Association, and Indiana Farm Bureau.

If you would like additional information on this, visit www.farmersfeedus.org or www.indianapork.com

Community Banking Article from Huntington Post-Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution

This article was taken from the Huntington Post. It was written by Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson. Please enjoy!

Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system. Before long, the conversation turned practical, and with some help from friends in the world of bank analysis, a video and website were produced devoted to a simple idea: Move Your Money.

The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout. But since April, JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo -- all of which took billions in taxpayer money -- have cut lending to businesses by $100 billion.

Meanwhile, America's Main Street community banks -- the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of -- are struggling. Many of them have closed down (or been taken over by the FDIC) over the last 12 months. The government policy of protecting the Too Big and Politically Connected to Fail is badly hurting the small banks, which are having a much harder time competing in the financial marketplace. As a result, a system which was already dangerously concentrated at the top has only become more so.

We talked about the outrage of big, bailed-out banks turning around and spending millions of dollars on lobbying to gut or kill financial reform -- including "too big to fail" legislation and regulation of the derivatives that played such a huge part in the meltdown. And as we contrasted that with the efforts of local banks to show that you can both be profitable and have a positive impact on the community, an idea took hold: why don't we take our money out of these big banks and put them into community banks? And what, we asked ourselves, would happen if lots of people around America decided to do the same thing? Our money has been used to make the system worse -- what if we used it to make the system better?

Everyone around the table quickly got excited (granted we are an excitable group), and began tossing out suggestions for how to get this idea circulating.

Eugene, the filmmaker among us, remarked that the contrast between the big banks and the community banks we were talking about was very much like the story in the classic Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life, where community banker George Bailey helps the people of Bedford Falls escape the grip of the rapacious and predatory banker Mr. Potter.

It was a lightbulb moment. And, unlike the vast majority of dinner conversations, the excitement over this idea didn't end with dessert. It actually led to something -- thanks in great part to Eugene and his remarkable team, who got to work and, in record time, created a brilliant, powerful, and inspiring video playing off the It's a Wonderful Life concept. Watch it below.

Within a few days, the rest of the pieces fell into place, including an agreement with top financial analysts Chris Whalen and Dennis Santiago, who gave us access to their IRA (Institutional Risk Analytics) database. Using this tool, everyone will be able to plug in their zip code and quickly get a list of the small, solvent Main Street banks operating in their community.

The idea is simple: If enough people who have money in one of the Big Six banks (the four we mentioned earlier, plus Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it's meant to be. It's neither Left nor Right -- it's populism at its best. Consider it a withdrawal tax on the big banks for the negative service they provide by consistently ignoring the public interest. It's time for Americans to move their money out of these reckless behemoths. And you don't have to worry, there is zero risk: deposit insurance is just as good at small banks -- and unlike the big banks they don't provide the toxic dividend of derivatives trading in a heads-they-win, tails-we-lose fashion.

Think of the message it will send to Wall Street -- and to the White House. That we have had enough of the high-flying, no-limits-casino banking culture that continues to dominate Wall Street and Capitol Hill. That we won't wait on Washington to act, because we know that Washington has, in fact, been a part of the problem from the start. We simply can't count on Congress to fix things. We have to do it ourselves -- and the big banks are the core of the problem. We need to return to the stable, reliable, people-oriented approach of America's community banks.

So watch Eugene's amazing video, then go to www.moveyourmoney.info to learn more about how easy it is to move your money. And pass the idea on to your friends (help make this video -- and this idea -- go viral!).

JP Morgan/Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs may be "too big to fail" -- but they are not too big to feel the impact of hundreds of thousands of people taking action to change a broken financial and political system. Let them gamble with their own money, not yours. Let's turn big banks into smaller banks. We'll all be better off -- and safer -- as a result.

Make it your New Year's resolution to move your money. We can't think of a better way to start 2010.

For more info, go to www.moveyourmoney.info.

BMV at First Farmers Bank & Trust’s Amboy Office Closed

Amboy - First Farmers Bank & Trust recently announced that it will no longer offer licensing, title, and registration services for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles at the Amboy banking branch. Increased security measures for licensing required by Federal and State laws and regulations were cited as the primary reason to suspend the service. “We were pleased to provide these services for the local community while licensing, title, and registration services were very simple processes. The increased security procedures were more complicated and required more expertise, training, and equipment. As an outside agency, we felt it was time to end our role as a partial service provider for the BMV and focus on our core banking business” noted David Eikenberry, Director of Operations. First Farmers Bank & Trust will not reduce any staff for this operational change.

First Farmers Financial Corporation Welcomes New Board Member

Kokomo – Jeff Stout has been added to the Board of Directors of First Farmers Financial Corporation, the parent company of First Farmers Bank & Trust. Stout is a life long resident of Howard County and is a 5th generation owner of Stout and Son Funeral Home and co-owns Hasler & Stout Funeral Home in Greentown and Shirley & Stout Funeral Homes in Kokomo. He also currently serves as a Howard County Councilman.

Jeff has formally served the community as Howard County Coroner and currently is a member of the Howard County Lions Club. A graduate of Kokomo High School, Jeff has an Associates Degree from the Indiana College of Mortuary Sciences. He resides in Russiaville with his wife Bethanne. They have 5 children and are members of Crossroads Community Church. First Farmers Bank & Trust is a $730 million asset bank based in Converse that operates 20 branch locations throughout Indiana including 5 in Howard County.

FFBT Welcomes Several New Employees

Hoyt Alexander came to FFBT after working at Delphi Corporation for 24 years. He has held various positions in the past, consisting of Finance Accountant, Construction Project Manager, Operations Supervisor, and Salary Ergonomics Manager. He is anxious to take on a new position and to get to know everyone at FFBT.

Nancy Ilderton joined FFBT after working at a private Raymond James company where she was a financial advisor. However, she was more interested in a position that was less driven by sales and more detailed oriented. At FFBT, she will serve as Trust Documentation Clerk and will work out of our Peru Square office. She is eager to help people and to be successful.

Sandra Riggs has worked in the banking industry in the Kokomo area for several years as well as in Illinois for a short period. She is now working as a teller in Greentown and is eager to work for FFBT.

Meet the Employees from Recently Merged Central Bank

After much anticipation, the merger between FFBT and Central Bank was completed on Friday December 4, 2009. The offices of Central Bank in Russiaville and Kokomo have become branches of First Farmers Bank & Trust. This merge combines two of the oldest community banks in Central Indiana.

Now that things have slowed down a bit, we wanted to share some information about each employee to let you know a little more about them.

 

Dirk Webster is a lifelong resident of Howard County. He started his career at Central Bank in 1992 as a summer intern teller. Upon graduation from Indiana University in Bloomington, he joined the bank full time. He has held the positions of New Accounts Rep, Auditor, Security Officer, and Mortgage Loan Officer. Dirk is now the branch manager and mortgage loan officer of Kokomo Central.

 

 

 

Don Smith previously served as President and CEO of Central Bank and has been with Central Bank for 22 years. He is a graduate of Ball State University where he received a degree in Business Education. He resides in Kokomo with his wife Karen and they have three children: Ilia, Reid, and Carleton. He is currently working as Vice President and Business Development Officer and works out of the Kokomo Central location of FFBT.

 

 

Judy Brown began working for Central Bank in 1976 as a teller and worked in this area until 1984 when she started working on the loan side of the bank and worked in several capacities. She was responsible for setting up the Credit Card Program for Central Bank and was also, at intervals, responsible for taking employment applications and interviewing those applicants. During the past several years, she also spent a lot of time upgrading loan policies and procedures and implementing a grading program. She is now located at the Kokomo Central office of FFBT as Vice President & Commercial Loan Officer.

 

 Linda Clark is a native of Howard County and was born and raised on a farm in Taylor Township. She started her banking career in 1978 at Central Bank. She now works at the Kokomo Central office of FFBT as Assistant Compliance Officer and is also working in the Internal Audit area.

Ginny Etherington started working for Central Bank 34 years ago as a part-time teller. She has held several positions throughout her career at Central Bank including Secretary for the President and Loan Department, Assistant Cashier, Loan Officer, and Human Resources Officer. She is currently working at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT as Loan Administrative Assistant.

Julie Jones began working at Central Bank in 2001, gaining knowledge in vault balancing and ATM balancing. Prior to working at Central Bank, she spent 18 years at Furrow Building Material where she served as receptionist, cashier, head cashier, and department manager. She is now located at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT where she serves as CSR. Julie resides in Kokomo with her husband, Jerry. They have two daughters, two sons-in-law, five grandchildren, and a pug.

Jill Wittkamper is working as a teller at the Kokomo Central location of First Farmers Bank & Trust after working at Central Bank for two years as a loan secretary in Russiaville and then for one year as a full time teller at the Kokomo location. She lives in Tipton County with her husband of 28 years. She enjoys spending time with her family and is excited to work for FFBT. She enjoys watching the progress of the bank.

Sandy Glassburn is a lifelong native of Howard County. She graduated from Haworth High School and worked for Howard Regional Health System for 23.5 years. She joined Central Bank in 2005 as an Executive Secretary and will serve as Receptionist and Business Development Assistant at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT. She is married and has three children and three grandchildren and currently resides in Russiaville.

Janet Haworth is a life-long resident of Kokomo and started working for Central Bank in 1976. She began as a proof operator and then started working in different teller capacities. She is working at the Kokomo Central office as a teller and is looking forward to working at FFBT.

Anna Sefton has worked for Central Bank for the past 16 years as a teller and Customer Service Representative. She is working at the Kokomo Central branch as a teller and is looking forward to continue to serve her customers.

Terri Britton was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but has spent the last 29 years in Kokomo. She spent 18 year at First National Bank in the Security/Purchasing Department and joined Central Bank approximately one and a half years ago as Customer Service Representative. She is currently working at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT as a teller and loves every moment at work.

 

 

 

 

Celeste Smith has been working with Central Bank for 6 years, starting in proof and bookkeeping, then moving to loan processing and finally Bank Auditor. She is now the branch manager of the Russiaville office of FFBT. She is a volunteer of the Literacy Coalition in Kokomo and has one child who is a sophomore at Purdue this year.

 

 

 

 

Staci Bitner has worked with Central Bank for over 17 years in a variety of banking areas but her main background is in data processing and IT. She now works in Converse as IT Support and Programming Specialist and is looking forward to new opportunities at FFBT.

Beth Love has been working for Central Bank for the past 6.5 years where her duties included customer service, balancing the federal reserve, serving as vault clerk, processing payroll, and submitting the treasury tax and loan payments. She is still located at the Russiaville office of FFBT where she is a teller. She is married and has two children and enjoys spending time with her family.

Cori Lane began working at Central Bank about one year ago as a teller in the Russiaville office. She is still working in the Russiaville office as a full time teller for FFBT. She holds an Associates Degree in Business.

Nancy Hobson began working for Central Bank 25 years ago. Prior to that, she served with the Russiaville Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Technician. She is active in several community services and plays piano and organ at the Russiaville United Methodist Church. She has three children; one is a CPA in Indianapolis, one is a registered flight nurse, and one is a US Army Major. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, reading, knitting, and cooking. She has enjoyed getting to meet several people from FFBT and is looking forward to meeting more. She says that being with First Farmers has been a learning experience and is having a lot of fun in her position as full time teller at the Russiaville office.

Judi Johnson began working for Central Bank 13.5 years ago where she spent 10 years as a teller and 3.5 years in the bookkeeping department. At First Farmers, she will serve as CSR at the Russiaville office. She is married and has one daughter, Danielle, who is attending Ivy Tech and working at Howard Haven. Her husband, Steve, owns Johnson Body Shop in New London. She attends the Russiaville United Methodist Church.

Dale Tetrick comes to First Farmers Bank & Trust after 33 years at Central Bank, where he headed up the Operations and Investment areas, serving as Executive Vice President, Cashier, and CFO. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a concentration in Economics from Earlham College in 1974 and received an MBA with a Finance major from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1976. Dale is serving as Controller at First Farmers Bank & Trust and will be located at the Converse office.

 

Amanda Paul started with Central Bank in June 2009, and before that spent nine years at STAR Financial Bank in a variety of different positions. These positions ranged from Teller, Manager, Loan and Mortgage Originator to Administrative Assistant. She is from Howard County but is working at the Tipton office as a Loan Administrative Assistant.

Pam Lindley has been working in bookkeeping and proof operation at Central Bank for 12 years. She joined First Farmers in October as a full time teller and back up CSR at our Kokomo South office. She is familiar with the Kokomo community as she worked at the Kokomo office and resides in the Kokomo area.

 

Lori Meck

has been working in the banking industry since 1977 where she started at Union State Bank in Kokomo. Her husband is retired from the military and she has worked in banking in Indiana, as well as in New Mexico, Georgia, and North Dakota. She has worked for Central Bank for the past 7 years as Loan Processor, Receptionist, and Assistant to the Secretary. She now works at our Kokomo South office as a part-time teller. She and her husband are natives of Kokomo; both graduated from Northwestern High School and they have three children.

Debby Goodman has been working for Central Bank for the past 7 years at the Kokomo office. She came to First Farmers in October to begin working at our Peru River location as a full time teller. She lives in the Galveston area and is anxious to learn new techniques and to get to know the customers of Miami County.

 

Aimee Smith began working at Central Bank in 2005 as a part time teller, and her previous banking experience includes 10 years at First National Bank & Trust where she worked in the Proof Department, Bookkeeping, and served as an ATM/Online Banking Clerk. At Central Bank, she held positions including teller, vault clerk, and new account representative. She also handled IRAs. She now is working as a full time teller at the Kokomo North branch. She has an Associate’s Degree from Ivy Tech, has been married for 11 years and has two children.

FFBT Announces Ag Client Seminar Speakers

In February, First Farmers Bank & Trust will hold their annual Agricultural Client Seminar.  Please read below to learn a little bit about the speakers from this event.

Ken Perkins serves as Vice President & Senior Commercial Lender of First Farmers Bank & Trust.  He joined First Farmers in 2004 after spending 24 years with ADM/Moorman Mfg Co. in multiple capacities.  His responsibilities ranged from managing sales personnel to his last position as swine specialist for the Midwest and Northeastern States.  After graduating from Indiana University in 1974, Ken worked at Irving Materials Inc, as a manager of a concrete plant in Marion County.  Ken and his wife, Beth, have three grown children and two grandchildren and live in Wabash where Beth is a special education teacher at Northfield Schools.  Ken is very active in the Wabash Friends Church and The Access, a non-denominational Youth Activity and Ministry Center in Wabash. He sits on the board of directors of the Wabash County Economic Development Group.  He enjoys spending time tending his small farm, forest, and stocked ponds. Aquaculture has been an interest for last 15 years; learning how to spawn yellow perch, large mouth bass and small mouth bass has been intriguing. Ken also is active in mission trips to South East Asia where he helps local villages improve their agricultural production. He has served on the Certified Livestock Advisory Board and spoken on behalf of Pork Producers and Dairymen at various local Board of Zoning Appeal hearings. Ken was honored as a Beyond the Gate recipient at the Indiana Livestock Forum held at Lucas Oil Stadium in December of 2008 for his support of Indiana Livestock Producers.

 

 

 

Dr. Fred Whitford is the coordinator of Purdue Pesticide Programs of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service. He received a B. S. in wildlife management from Louisiana Tech University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in entomology from Iowa State University. He has authored more than 200 research, extension, and regulatory publications, and has delivered over 3300 presentations to a wide array of audiences. He has written four books: The queen of American agriculture: a biography of Virginia Claypool Meredith, published in 2008 by Purdue University Press; the grand old man of Purdue University and Indiana Agriculture: a biography of William Carroll Latta, published in 2005 by Purdue University Press; The complete book on pesticide management: science, regulation, stewardship, and communication, published in 2002 by Wiley & Sons; The complete federal and state compliance guide for Hoosier businesses, published in 2001 by Purdue University Press.  Dr. Whitford’s prior professional activities include lab and field research, extension outreach, regulatory work, and commercial pesticide application. 

 

 

 

Bruce Vincent is a third generation logger from Libby, Montana.  Bruce helped form and is currently serving as President of Communities For A Great Northwest, Executive Director of Provider Pals and is co-owner of Environomics.  Bruce speaks throughout the United States and the world, has testified on resource issues before Congress and has appeared on several news programs such as “60 Minutes”.  Bruce has been named Timberman of the Year in Montana, National Forest Activist of the Year, received the Agri-Women’s 2007 Veritas Award, and in 2004 received the inaugural Presidential Preserve America Award from President Bush.   He has been married to his wife Patti Jo for over 30 years and has four children, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.  His current activities represent a family commitment to responsible environmentalism. 

 

 

Frank Ross is Vice President and Regional Director, North America at Pioneer Hi-bred International. He leads the business operation and the North America Operating Committee, including sales, marketing, supply, research and development, finance and administration. He is also a member of the Enterprise Leadership Council. Frank joined Pioneer in 1987 with strong experience in general management, finance, and sales and marketing. Before his current role, Frank served in several leadership roles including vice president of sales and marketing for North America, chief financial officer, corporate controller and worldwide finance director.  He graduated with honors from Iowa State University in 1984 with a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from Iowa State University. He is also a licensed certified public accountant (CPA). Frank serves on the Iowa State University College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, is a trustee for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa, and active with United Way.  He is married and has three children.