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Farm Credit's Leader, Joyner, Will Retire

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By RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2008

PLANT CITY - After serving as president and chief executive officer of Farm Credit of Central Florida for 11 years, Richard W. Joyner has announced he will retire on March 31 and focus on his family and his church.

"I felt a calling from a higher authority to devote more time to the needs of my church," said Joyner, an ordained minister of Baptist Purity Church in Plant City.

Joyner, 60, helped shepherd the farmer-owned cooperative, which is the biggest agricultural lender in Florida, through many changes and expansions, said Ron O'Connor, the vice president of marketing for Farm Credit of Central Florida.

During Joyner's tenure, the association's gross loan volume has almost doubled from $341 million to $647 million, O'Connor said.

"Richard Joyner has been a vital contributor to the success of the association," Farm Credit of Central Florida chairman Al Bellotto said. "We will miss his character, integrity and leadership."

Replacing Joyner as president will be Reginald T. Holt, who is the senior vice president and director of Farm Credit's Agribusiness Lending Group, Bellotto said.

Joyner, a Plant City resident who was born in Tampa, has been with the Farm Credit system for 35 years. He graduated from Plant City High School in 1964 and has degrees from Brevard College in Brevard, N.C., and the University of Florida. Before joining Farm Credit, he taught agriculture at Pinecrest Elementary School and Plant City High School.

He began his Farm Credit career in 1973 when he became assistant vice president of the Federal Land Bank Association of Tampa, which merged with Farm Credit. Joyner has also served as president and CEO of Farm Credit of Southwest Florida from 1990-97, O'Connor said.

Joyner said perhaps the most defining moment of his administration was overseeing the move from the association's previous location on Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland to 115 S. Missouri Ave., which used to be Peoples Bank.

The move to the new location in downtown Lakeland allowed the unification of Farm Credit's Agribusiness Lending Group with other Farm Credit agencies and allowed for the organization's growth, O'Connor said.

The former FFA member is a strong advocate for the program and has served on industry-related boards including the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame, the Florida Council of Cooperatives and others, O'Connor said.

Joyner and his wife, Yolanda, have been married for 39 years. Their son, Wesley, and his wife, Jenny, have two children, Aly and Clay. Joyner said another reason he wanted to retire was so he could spend more time with his grandchildren.

Farm Credit of Central Florida serves 13 counties including Hillsborough, Polk, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco Pinellas, Sumter, Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Osceola and Lake.

The association is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System and serves about 1,400 members-borrowers, O'Connor said. Farm Credit makes loans for long, short and intermediate agricultural purposes, and residential loans for financing, refinancing or refurbishing rural residences. Farm Credit also provides crop and credit life insurance.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

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