Farm Credit Bank of Texas Announces Senior Management Appointments
For Immediate Release December 22, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin-based Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT) announces the promotion of four senior officers.
Amie Pala has been appointed chief financial officer. Previously, she was vice president of financial management, with responsibility for the bank’s finance functions, including interest-rate risk management, investments, debt, derivatives, financial planning, loan pricing, financial reporting and accounting. Pala joined the bank in 1987 as asset and liability manager and was promoted to vice president in 1995.
Allen Buckner has been promoted to chief operations officer, with responsibility for information technology and loan operations. He was formerly vice president of lending systems. A 29-year veteran of the Farm Credit System, he worked in Farm Credit lending positions in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina, before joining the Farm Credit Bank of Texas in 2003 as vice president and relationship manager. He also served for one year as chief executive officer of Heritage Land Bank.
Pala and Buckner together succeed Tom Hill, former FCBT chief financial and chief operations officer, who retired in November, following a 36-year career with the Farm Credit System.
Kurt Thomas was promoted to senior vice president and chief credit officer. He is responsible for the bank’s Credit Division, which includes capital markets, association direct lending, credit operations and risk management. Previously, he was vice president and unit manager of the bank’s association direct-lending group. Thomas has 29 years of Farm Credit experience. He succeeds Steve Fowlkes, who accepted the position of chief executive officer with Lone Star Land Bank earlier in the year.
Stan Ray was appointed to the newly created position of chief administrative officer, with responsibility for government relations, marketing, communications and administrative services. Previously, he was the bank’s vice president of marketing and corporate relations. Ray joined the bank in 1995 as vice president of legislative affairs, after working in Washington, D.C., as a subcommittee staff director in the U.S. House of Representatives and as legislative assistant to a U.S. congressman.
Other members of the FCBT senior management team are Larry Doyle, chief executive officer, and Kyle Pankonien, vice president of corporate affairs and general counsel.
The $14.2-billion Farm Credit Bank of Texas provides funding to 17 rural financing cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. The bank is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, the nation’s single largest source of loans for agriculture, agribusiness, rural real estate and country homes.