Dallas Businessman Appointed to Farm Credit Bank of Texas Board
For immediate release: July 7, 2015
AUSTIN, Texas — The board of directors of the Austin-based Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT) has appointed Dallas businessman and financial adviser M. Philip Guthrie to a term on the FCBT board expiring Dec. 31, 2017.
Guthrie is one of two appointed directors on the seven-member board of the cooperatively owned rural funding bank. He succeeds former FCBT director Dr. William F. Staats of Baton Rouge, La., who retired at the end of 2014.
Guthrie brings extensive experience in finance and business operations to the bank board, having served in executive and director positions for numerous U.S. and international companies engaged in banking, private equity, insurance, manufacturing, medical devices, airlines and airline services.
He is currently the chief executive officer of Denham Partners LLC, a Dallas-based private investment firm, and of Neuro Holdings International LLC, a global marketing and distribution company specializing in medical devices.
Early in his career, he was chief financial officer of Southwest Airlines during the company’s formative, high-growth years. He also served as chief financial officer of Braniff International during that airline’s initial restructuring and reorganization. Additionally, he spent 10 years as managing director of Mason Best Co., a Dallas-based investment firm, and has served as chairman, director or chief executive officer of several private and public financial service companies, both in banking and insurance.
A certified public accountant and a certified global management accountant, Guthrie is audit committee–qualified under the current guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Louisiana Tech University and his MBA from the University of Michigan.
Guthrie is involved in production agriculture as a stockholder of his family-managed 125-year-old livestock and crop operation in northern Louisiana, where he was reared.
“With his local farming knowledge and his vast experience in business and finance, Phil Guthrie is an outstanding addition to the Farm Credit Bank of Texas Board of Directors,” said FCBT Board Chairman Jimmy F. Dodson. “We welcome his wisdom and guidance as we carry out our responsibility to support rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services.”
Farm Credit Bank of Texas is an $18.3 billion wholesale bank that provides funds and services to 14 rural lending cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. The 98-year-old bank is a part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, the oldest and largest source of rural financing in the United States.