Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc.’s (FPI) Board of Directors has named Bob Passini as the company’s new president and CEO effective October 1, 2020.  Passini will succeed Bill Lipinski, who currently serves as interim president.  FPI is a customer-owned service organization serving six agricultural credit associations (ACAs) from Maine to California. 

Lipinski, who served as CEO of Farm Credit East for 25 years, stepped in as interim president of FPI in January.  He has devoted over 40 years to the Farm Credit System and was instrumental in the founding of FPI in 1995.  He served on FPI’s Board of Directors since the company’s founding, including serving as chairman.

Passini currently serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer of FPI.  In that position, Passini leads and manages the organization’s legal team, data governance, and enterprise risk management program, which includes information and cyber security, business resiliency, vendor risk management, and policy administration.  He joined FPI in March of 2019 following an extensive career in risk and business resiliency, most recently serving as chief resiliency officer for a Fortune 500 company in the insurance and financial services industry. 

Prior to his roles in risk and business resiliency, Passini held senior positions leading diverse information technology initiatives where he was recognized for his subject matter expertise in infrastructure architecture, network technologies, hardware and software standards, security protocols, and shared services models.  He maintains a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) designation, is a member of (ISC)² and FS-ISAC and served as chair of the LOMA Business Resiliency Committee from 2013-2017. 

“The Board of Directors went through a very deliberate process to assess the leadership needs of FPI, and the company’s value proposition to the Farm Credit institutions it serves,” said Board Chair Marc Knisely.  “A very thorough CEO search was conducted, and Bob was selected out of an exceptional group of highly qualified candidates.  We look forward to working with Bob as he provides leadership for the execution of our strategic plan and creates a strong collaborative business model to deliver technology solutions for Farm Credit that ultimately benefit farmers, ranchers, rural communities and agribusiness across America.”

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead FPI into its next chapter.  We have an exceptionally talented team that is dedicated to the success of our ACA Partners,” said Bob Passini. 

The appointment of Passini comes at a pivotal time for FPI as the company celebrates its 25th year of serving Farm Credit and continues to transform its technology strategy to support its ACA Partners in modernizing the lending experience for borrowers.  The company is also navigating the effects of the global pandemic on agribusiness and the increased need to leverage technology to manage customer-member relationships. 

“Our ACA Partners are incredibly agile and innovative, continuously looking for new ways to enhance relationships with their customer-members and improve the lending experience. Through close partnership, our goal is to provide robust technology solutions that allow our ACA Partners to focus on serving the needs of their customer-members,” said Passini.  “There are many opportunities that lie ahead, and I am confident in the continued momentum and success of FPI in collaboration with our ACA Partners.”

“During Bob’s tenure at FPI, he has distinguished himself as a thoughtful, action oriented and talented leader,” said Bill Lipinski.  “The board and I are confident Bob will do an outstanding job leading the FPI team.”

 

ABOUT FARM CREDIT FINANCIAL PARTNERS

Organized in 1995, Farm Credit Financial Partners, Inc. (FPI) is the largest and most innovative provider of technology products and services to the Farm Credit System. A customer-owned service organization, FPI supports six agricultural credit associations (ACAs) from Maine to California with over 62,000 members and $40 billion in Farm Credit assets. Through a partner-driven approach, FPI is improving lending for American agriculture with technology that is robust, reliable, and intuitive. Visit www.financialpartners.com.