Brad Cornelius, CEO of Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), has announced his plans to retire in the fourth quarter of 2025. With over 33 years of dedicated service to the Farm Credit System, he has served as CEO of FCV since 2020.
Cornelius joined Farm Credit in 1992 when he began his career at AgGeorgia Farm Credit, where he served as Loan Officer, Branch Manager, and Regional Lending Manager. He advanced to Chief Credit Officer of AgChoice Farm Credit in Pennsylvania, served as CEO of Cape Fear Farm Credit in North Carolina, and joined the FCV leadership team as Chief Credit Officer in 2019, prior to taking the role of CEO in 2020.
“Under Brad’s leadership, he has created a culture of excellence and accountability as he focused on growing the association, serving our customer-owners and communities, and expanding our cooperative’s investments in talent, educational resources, and technology and process improvements,” said Farm Credit of the Virginias Board Chair Kevin Craun. The financial services cooperative has grown to over $2.3 billion in total loan volume under Cornelius’ leadership and now serves more than 12,500 customer-owners.
“It has been an honor to lead our team members in our work to fulfill our mission and serve our customer-owners. Serving those who work in agriculture has been the focus of my career, and it is gratifying to know that I am leaving the cooperative in a solid position. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish in the future,” Cornelius said. “The dedication of our team members to our mission, and the commitment of our customer-owners to supporting their cooperative is a powerful combination to continue to build upon.”
“With the support of a talented team and experienced board, we are confident the leadership transition will go well. We will continue to put our customer-owners first, serve our mission, grow our talent, and lead Farm Credit to success now and into the future,” said Craun.
Craun noted that the board of directors has been committed to staff development and succession planning for many years, allowing FCV to be well-positioned for Cornelius’ retirement. They will be launching a national search to fill this role. “We remain committed to selecting a leader who will exemplify our values and work cooperatively to support the success of agriculture and our rural communities.”