Nominating Committee Members

Below is a list of the current sitting Nominating Committee members. Members are elected annually and are responsible for reviewing and selecting the nominees for the Board of Directors and the next year’s Nominating Committee.

Cindy Baldwin

McPherson, KS | Heartland
Second Year on Committee
Ms. Baldwin and her husband own and operate a diversified crop operation in Central Kansas. Their farm has a mix of irrigated and dryland crop ground, both owned and rented. For a number of years, the Baldwins had a farrow to finish hog enterprise, followed by a cow/calf herd, but are now focused on crops. In addition to commodity crops, Ms. Baldwin started a niche enterprise in 2017 growing and marketing popcorn under the brand, Papa Baldy’s Popping Snacks. Ms. Baldwin’s primary role in both the farm and the popcorn business is accounting and office management, and she has always had an active role in decision making and farm direction.

Teresa Bergkamp

Cheney, KS | Heartland
Fifth Year on Committee

Through her participation on the Nominating Committee, Ms. Bergkamp seeks to find qualified, trustworthy directors for the board that can guide the association through good and bad times, ensuring a strong financial institution that will remain for future generations. Her varied background will enable her to help find individuals and assess their qualifications and integrity. She looks for directors who will represent the average farmer, not just the large operators, and enable the younger generation to get established to have a continuation of family farms.

Joe Bernal

Loma, CO | Mountain Plains
Second Year on Committee
Mr. Bernal is the managing partner in a father-son, fifth generation, family-farm operation. The farm is situated near Grand Junction, Colorado. They have a 1600-acre irrigated crop operation where they raise cash crops, corn, wheat, and alfalfa hay. Mr. Bernal currently serves as president of the Grand Valley Water Users Association board and has been an active member for 15 years. He is also very involved in state and local water affairs.

John Caldwell

Longmont, CO | Mountain Plains
Third Year on Committee
Mr. Caldwell operates a crop and cattle operation with irrigated farmland and pasture as well as ownership in a cattle feedlot. Additionally, he is involved in commercial and residential real estate and commodity trading and public equities ownership and management. He served on American AgCredit’s Board of Directors for 25 years.

Jim Ross Caviness

Maljamar, NM | New Mexico
New Member
Mr.Caviness is a 4th generation rancher in southeast New Mexico. He has owned and operated a ranch for 15 years as well as managing his parent’s operation. He runs a cow/calf operation with primarily Black Angus cattle and has a registered Black Angus herd. He sits on several boards in the state of NM focusing on the cattle industry and ranching heritage. Mr. Caviness has been a customer at Farm Credit for close to 10 years.

Kim Chesser

Roswell, NM | New Mexico
New Member
Mr. Chesser and his wife Patricia, bought the Ranch he was raised on in 2001 from his parents. At one point they ran 1200 ewes, currently they run Angus commercial cows. They started Burnt Well Guest Ranch in 2003 to supplement their income and have entertained guests from around the world.

Dustin Cooksey

Strasburg, CO | Mountain Plains
Second Year on Committee
Mr. Cooksey is a partner in his family’s diversified farming operation. He had an opportunity to purchase his first farm in his final year of college (2007) and couldn’t pass it up, so he left college a few credits short of a bachelors degree and hasn’t looked back. It’s a goal of Mr. Cooksey’s to finish his degree before 40. His role on the farm has evolved from the time he started helping dad run tractors and turn small wrenches in his late elementary years. Today, he is involved in managing spreadsheets, making crop plans, marketing, turning wrenches, and still trying to get into the tractor or combine seat as much as he can.

Chandler Cupp

Scott City, KS | Great Plains
Fifth Year on Committee
Mr. Cupp operates irrigated and dryland farm ground in Western Kansas with the focus of providing silage and grain to local feedyards and dairies. Mr. Cupp also operates a cow-calf ranch between Colorado Springs and Pueblo and also in Kiowa County. Mr. Cupp plans to use his experience as a borrower, former employee and board member of Farm Credit on the Nominating Committee.

John Donley

Kanopolis, KS | Heartland
New Member
Mr. Donley and his wife own and operate a commercial cow/calf herd in Central Kansas. They, along with their four children, also farm alfalfa, hay, and wheat to supplement the ranching operation. Mr. Donley is a managing partner of Devin, Donley and Murray Governmental Affairs, LLC. and Devine and Donley, LLC. As managing partner, he provides legislative leadership for numerous entities in the Kansas Statehouse and legal counsel for clients. He will use this experience to identify talented individuals to serve on the AAC Board and Nominating Committee.

Ed Embly

Escondido, CA | Western – Southern
Fifth Year on Committee
Mr. Embly’s experience in agriculture started with his family’s farming business that was started by his father in 1947. At the peak of production, the farm operated in three states, with over 2 million laying hens, a 200 head cow-calf operation, and extensive processing and distribution facilities. He also spent many years representing two agricultural equipment manufacturers. Since his retirement in 2004, he has been an avocado producer and a vineyard/winery owner. His operation grows five varieties of white grapes and 11 varieties of red grapes, with production between 2,000 to 3,500 cases of wine per year.

Justin Finsley

Las Vegas, NV | Western – Central
New Member (previous service > year ago)
Mr. Finsley is a first-generation farmer and has developed a 120-acre walnut orchard, a 40-acre almond orchard and a 15-acre vineyard. Mr. Finsley served our country for 18 years in the USAF as Director of Flight Operations and a Combat Pilot.

Eric Flanagan

Healdsburg, CA | Western – Northern
Fourth Year on Committee
Mr. Flanagan is a wine grape producer and long-time American AgCredit customer. He owns a winery and vineyard and also manages 370 acres of wine grapes through a vineyard investment group he founded. He also has strong expertise in finance and risk management and seeks to help select candidates who will contribute to a successful future for the organization.

Michelle Galimba

Na’alehu, HI | Western – Hawaii
New Member
Ms. Galimba is Vice President of a cattle ranch.

Janie Gatzman

Oakdale, CA | Western – Central
New Member
Ms. Gatzman is involved in CA Almonds as an advisor; she is also owner/operator of a property appraisal business that specializes in investment size nut crop holdings throughout California’s central valley and northwestern Arizona. Ms. Gatzman was employed by American AgCredit as an appraiser for 14 years.

Chad Gerber

Scott City, KS | Great Plains
New Member
Growing up on the family farm, Mr. Gerber has a lifetime of experience producing wheat and milo. The operation also includes cow-calf, and feeder cattle. As the President and sole farm operator, Mr. Gerber makes decisions daily that impact the future of his operation.

Timothy Gittlein

Fort Lupton, CO | Mountain Plains
Third Year on Committee
Mr. Gittlein manages a farming operation that consists of 3,000 acres of irrigated and dryland crop ground raising winter wheat, corn, alfalfa, mixed forages, as well as a cow-calf operation and a custom farming enterprise in Weld County, Colorado. He manages the daily operations as well as the financial and risk management considerations for the farm alongside his wife and two sons who work in the business as well.

Thomas Greenwell

Kealakekue, HI | Western – Hawaii
New Member
Mr. Greenwell has been a coffee farmer and producer for 38 years; he is also manager of Greenwell Farms, a family-owned coffee operation.

Don Hineman

Dighton, KS | Great Plains
Fourth Year on Committee
Mr. Hineman farms in partnership with his son in a dryland grain farming operation of 16,000 acres. They practice extensive no-till and precision agriculture to maximize profitability and sustainability. Having served on several boards, Mr. Hineman looks forward to applying those experiences to his service on the Nominating Committee.  He has a deep appreciation of the Farm Credit System and feels strongly that American AgCredit’s strong understanding of agriculture’s capital needs must be preserved and enhanced.

Daisy Huang

Saratoga, CA | Western – Salinas
New Member
Ms. Huang owns a 50-acre almond farm along with her partner.  She also works in the real estate and mortgage industry.

Clay Kinnison

Grover, CO | Mountain Plains
New Member
Mr. Kinnison is the fifth generation to engage operations on the family’s cow/calf operation. As a young producer, he received his first loan while in high school to purchase a small herd that he is currently growing into a larger operation.

Brycen Salopek

Las Cruces, NM | New Mexico
New Member
Mr. Salopek is in partnership with his father on a commercial pecan farm, running and overseeing all operations. He currently serves as the Chairman for the Western Pecan Growers Association, is a board member of the Dona Ana Farm and Livestock Bureau, and is newly appointed to the American Pecan Promotion Board.

Jett Sharp

Portales, NM | New Mexico
New Member
Mr. Sharp is the owner of a small pre-conditioning/ grow yard in Portales, New Mexico. He is also a partner and manager of the family cow/calf operation.

James Sloan

Las Cruces, NM | New Mexico
New Member
Mr. Sloan is a sixth-generation farmer in the Mesilla Valley. James grows pecans, forage crops, cotton and onions. He currently serves as a committee member for Farm Bureau of Las Cruces. He lives in La Mesa, NM with his wife and three daughters.

David Stroberg

Hutchinson, KS | Heartland
Third Year on Committee
Mr. Stroberg is owner and manager of Stroberg Land & Cattle LC, an irrigated and dryland farming located in south-central Kansas between Hutchinson and Sterling along the Arkansas River. Crops grown include corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, and grain sorghum. The operation also includes a cow/calf and feeder cattle enterprise. He has been involved in production agriculture for over 45 years.

Kevin Tottino

Salinas, CA | Western – Salinas
New Member
Mr. Tottino is a cool weather and a warm weather vegetable producer. He is a fourth-generation owner/operator of Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, CA. Working on the operations side of the business holds his interest the most; he enjoys working with the entire team from grower to sales.

Bryan Vander Dussen

Ontario, CA | Western – Salinas
New Member
Mr. Vander Dussen is the owner/operator of Bryan and Son’s LLC, with its primary business being raw milk production and a cow/calf operation for the private sale of beef. Mr. Vander Dussen also brokers forages from Arizona and California such as alfalfa, straw, sudan, bermuda and klien for resale to the dairy industry.

Louis Venturini

Chico, CA | Western – Northern
Second Year on Committee
Mr. Venturini has owned and operated a 100+ head cow-calf operation for 35+ years, along with a large custom care yearling operation. Recently retired from Golden State Farm Credit, he has 37 years of agricultural lending experience, 25 years with several Farm Credit Associations, and 12 years with both a large insurance company agricultural real estate lender and a regional community bank.

Gwen Wells

Marienthal, KS | Great Plains
New Member
Ms. Wells and her husband currently have farm and ranch operations in Wichita, Logan, Lane and Ness Counties in far Western Kansas. They raise a commercial Red Angus herd, operate a small feed lot, do custom work and their own farming and harvesting. Ms. Wells feels she will bring a balanced approach to the committee because of her experience in both livestock and crop farming.