Governance Opportunities

The Board of Directors is responsible for the safe and sound operation of the Association, and for ensuring the Association fulfills its public mission. Directors are accountable to customer-stockholders and Farm Credit System (System) investors for:

• Overseeing the Association's strategic direction and objectives
• Overseeing the Association's organizational performance
• Providing for competent Association leadership and management
• Ensuring appropriate risk oversight, including sound internal controls and compliance
• Ensuring that information and disclosures provided to customer-stockholders and System investors are accurate and reliable
• Diligently and impartially performing their duties as Directors
• Exercising independent judgment
• Remaining loyal to the Association’s interests

Director candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Must be a voter of Class D voting stock
• Must have an outstanding loan commitment with the Association
• Must maintain loan(s) in compliance with Association policies and standards
• Must reside or have headquarters within the Association’s chartered territory (Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin)
• May not have reached 70 years of age on or before the Director term begins
• May not have restructured indebtedness with a System institution at any time
• May not have been an employee of a System institution within one year of election
• May not serve as a director, officer, employee or agent of a financial institution or other entity that engages directly in the business of providing financing or Risk Management Agency approved products that are offered by the Association

Upon election, Directors may not:

• Be convicted of any felony
• Be held liable for damages in fraud
• Be convicted of a criminal offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust
• File for bankruptcy

Director candidate qualifications sought by the Nominating Committee include an understanding of cooperative principles, a passion and commitment to serve the Association and System stakeholders and knowledge or experience in the following areas:

• Strategic Direction and Counsel
• Governance Effectiveness
• Organizational Performance
• Risk Oversight
• Talent Management
• Communication
• Technology

Directors are generally elected to a four-year term, unless the election is to fill a Board vacancy or re-staggering of Director terms. An average of 20 days is required per year to attend Board, committee and planning meetings. Additional days may be required for Director training and development courses or conferences. Related travel time for these events varies by Director.

Directors receive a monthly retainer for meeting preparation and conference calls plus a per diem for each day of official Association business and related travel. The Board of Directors periodically reviews compensation to ensure it is competitive with other boards.

The Nominating Committee is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and nominating a qualified slate of candidates for stockholder election to the Association’s Board of Directors and the Nominating Committee.

Nominating Committee candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Must be a voter of Class D voting stock.
• Must have an outstanding loan commitment with the Association.
• Must not be a Director, employee or agent of the Association.
• Must reside or have a headquarters within the Association’s chartered territory (Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin).

Nominating Committee members are elected to a one-year term. There are generally three meetings per year:

• A conference call to review expectations for the sourcing, evaluating and nominating candidates
• A meeting to evaluate candidates for the Board of Directors and the next Nominating Committee
• A meeting to interview identified Director candidates and finalize all candidate slates

Nominating Committee members receive per diem for their time and travel expenses incurred for meeting attendance.

1. Click Go to Application.

2. You will be directed to Survey & Ballot Systems' DirectNominations®, our secure candidate profile application site.

3. On the Survey & Ballot Systems' DirectNominations® page, click the Sign Up Here! button.

4. Complete the required account fields.

5. Click the Register button.

Note: Watch for an email from Survey & Ballot Systems stating “Email Verification.” Survey & Ballot Systems is the partner that securely provides the DirectNominations® application site. Click the "Confirm Email Address" button to complete your account activation.

Log into the DirectNominations® website and click the appropriate "Start" button and follow the steps to complete your candidate profile.

DirectNominations® is the secure website platform to complete and manage Candidate Profile applications. The secure DirectNominations® platform is maintained by our partner, Survey & Ballot Systems.

No, you only need to set up one account to complete applications for a Director position, Nominating Committee position or both.

Candidate profile submissions are managed on DirectNominations®. Visit the DirectNominations® website and click the link, "Forgot your password?". Then, you will be directed through a process of resetting your password.

Yes. As you complete your application, the system will automatically save your updates. You can return to review and make edits prior to submitting it.