News Releases

Publications

Media Center

For Immediate Release
February 26, 2003

AUSTIN, Texas - The Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT) Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Larry R. Doyle as chief executive officer of the Austin-based rural lending cooperative, effective March 15.

Doyle, a 27-year veteran of the Farm Credit System, most recently was executive vice president and chief operating officer for AgFirst Farm Credit Bank in Columbia, S.C. In this position, he was responsible for the lending, finance, operations, legal and information management departments of AgFirst.

He succeeds Arnold R. Henson, who retired Jan. 31 after 30 years with the Texas bank.

"We are pleased to welcome an executive of Larry Doyle's caliber to lead the Farm Credit Bank of Texas and the Tenth Farm Credit District," said Ralph W. Cortese, FCBT board chairman. "Given Larry's vast banking and management experience and his commitment to the cooperative way of doing business, we are confident that the Tenth Farm Credit District will continue to have a bright future under his leadership."

Doyle, 50, began his career in 1975 as a loan officer for Orangeburg Production Credit Association in Orangeburg, S.C., and in 1979 he became assistant general manager of Tri-County Electric Cooperative in St. Matthews, S.C. In 1980, he joined the Columbia Bank for Cooperatives as a business development and credit officer, responsible for agribusiness and utility lending. He was hired as vice president and treasurer of the Farm Credit Bank of Columbia in 1986, and was named the bank's senior vice president for lending and treasury in 1996.

Doyle received his MBA degree in finance and his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, banking and finance, from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He is a native of Horry County, S.C., where he retains the family farm on which he was raised.

"It is a thrill to join an organization that has remained financially sound and responsive to farmers' and ranchers' credit needs for 85 years. I look forward to serving as CEO of the Farm Credit Bank of Texas, and further expanding the Tenth Farm Credit District's reputation as the premier rural lender in the South," Doyle said.

The Farm Credit Bank of Texas is the source of funds and financial services for 22 customer-owned lending cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. The bank and its affiliated associations comprise the Tenth Farm Credit District, the largest rural lending network in the five-state region. At Sept. 30, 2002, the district reported $7.3 billion in combined assets and nearly $6.7 billion in loans outstanding to farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners, agribusinesses and other rural landowners.

AgFirst provides funds and services to 24 farmer-owned financial cooperatives in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Together, AgFirst and its affiliated lending co-ops had combined assets of $15.5 billion as of Sept. 30, 2002.