AgFirst welcomes three new directors to its board

COLUMBIA, SC – AgFirst Farm Credit Bank stockholders have elected two new directors and re-elected an incumbent director. A new outside director has also been appointed to the board. Dwain K. Lanier, John Whitworth “Whit” Player and David L. Richesin began their terms on Jan. 1 and will continue to serve until Dec. 31, 2025.  Director, Fred R. Moore Jr. was re-elected to a four-year term ending Dec. 31, 2025.

Outside director Lanier is managing director of Pareto Consulting LLC, a consultancy firm specializing in organizational performance improvement and change management, and president of Aspire Higher LLC, a real estate and rental company. He previously served as vice president of operational and regulatory assurance for the Tennessee Valley Authority and as president and CEO of MEMCO Barge Line. Lanier also founded Patriot State Bank, where he served as a director and chair of the governance committee. A resident of Raleigh, N.C., Lanier earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from North Carolina State University and Six Sigma certification from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Player owns and operates J. Whit Player Farms and Players Stoney Run Farms in Elliott, S.C., where he raises cotton, corn, peanuts, sunflowers and turkeys. A farmer for 32 years, he is a member of ArborOne Farm Credit board, vice president of the St. Charles Gin Co. and a forestry technician with the S.C. Forestry Commission. Player attended Clemson University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in ag tech and business. 

Richesin owns and operates Cherry Brook Farm, a row-crop operation in Philadelphia, Tenn., which produces corn, soybeans, wheat and straw. The current chairman of the River Valley AgCredit board of directors, Richesin also serves on the board of the Tennessee Farm Bureau as director-at-large. In addition, he is president of the Loudon County Farm Bureau board and a member of the Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. board. Richesin earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from the University of Tennessee.

AgFirst has a total of 14 directors who will use their experience and expertise to help further Farm Credit’s mission of supporting rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services.