Southern AgCredit, a rural lending cooperative, recently promoted Casey Spence to customer service representative III in its Ridgeland branch office. 

Spence holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Mississippi State University. She joined Southern AgCredit in 2022.  Prior to joining the rural lending cooperative, Spence previously worked at Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance.  She is married to Kevin Spence, and they reside in Madison with their daughter. 

Southern AgCredit was recently recognized as one of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Mississippi District’s Top Lender Awards. We received the Platinum award for second overall most SBA loan volume in the state of Mississippi and we were number 1 in the state of Mississippi in SBA ag loans.

Photographed is Southern AgCredit’s Newton branch manager, Cooper Stringer, who accepted the award on behalf of Southern AgCredit.

Southern AgCredit recently promoted seven associates. 

Ted Murkerson was promoted to chief strategy officer.  He began his Farm Credit career in 1992 working for Northwest Florida Farm Credit and later joined Southwest Georgia Farm Credit, both within the AgFirst District. He was formerly a relationship manager at Farm Credit Bank of Texas and joined Southern AgCredit in 2008 where he was chief credit officer for 16 years.  Murkerson served on the Farm Credit Chief Credit Officer Workgroup as well as several FCC Services steering committees. He is a graduate of Troy State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration and lives in Jackson, Mississippi.

Brent Barry was promoted to chief credit officer.  Barry holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Mississippi State University. He joined Southern AgCredit as a loan officer in May 2003.  Since then, he has served the Association as Hattiesburg’s branch manager, regional vice president and regional president.  He currently resides in Flora, Mississippi with his wife, Dana, and their 3 children.  

Clayton Davis was promoted to vice president of operations.  Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mississippi State University.  He joined Southern AgCredit in January 2006 as a loan officer trainee.  Davis was promoted to loan officer and then branch manager of the Greenville branch of Southern AgCredit before becoming a regional vice president then regional president, his most recent position at Southern AgCredit.  Davis lives in Avon, Mississippi with his wife, Kelli, and their 3 children.    

Justin Morris was promoted to regional president.  Morris began his Farm Credit career working for the Farm Credit Administration as a bank examiner.  In 2011, he joined Southern AgCredit as branch manager of the Shreveport branch office and was later promoted to senior vice president of lending. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Southern Arkansas University and master of science degree from the University of Arkansas. He is a member of numerous organizations including Farm Bureau, Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association, the Louisiana Cotton and Grain Association, and the Shreveport Club. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Louisiana Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Caddo Parish 4-H Foundation, and the Cypress Bayou Corporation. He and his family reside in Benton, Louisiana.

Pate DeMuth was promoted to vice president/relationship manager.  He joined Southern AgCredit in 2018 as a loan officer in the Ridgeland branch office. DeMuth holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering, technology, and business as well as a master’s degree in agribusiness management from Mississippi State University.  He and his wife, Nora Grace, live in Raymond with their daughter.

Nathan Taylor was promoted to branch manager of the Gulfport branch office.  He was a summer intern at Southern AgCredit in 2014 and was hired as a relationship manager in the Brookhaven branch office in August 2016. He transferred to the Gulfport branch in January of 2021. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration and a master of business administration from The University of Southern Mississippi.  He is a member of Coast Young Professionals, serves as a board member for the Harrison/Hancock County Forestry and Wildlife Association, and as a Deputy Commissioner for the Harrison County Soil and Water Conservation District.  Taylor, a McComb native, now resides in Gulfport with his wife, Mindy, and their two children. 

Jeff Williams was appointed to legislative officer.  He also serves the Association as general counsel in the Ridgeland, Mississippi, administrative office. Before joining Southern AgCredit, he was a partner at a local law firm, Hubbard, Mitchell, Williams & Strain, which he helped start. Williams also is a lieutenant colonel in the Mississippi Air National Guard and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves. He received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Mississippi and his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy. A Jackson native, he now resides in Brandon, Mississippi.

Stockholders of Southern AgCredit recently re-elected Bryan “Scott” Bell of Lena, Mississippi, and Charles “Allen” Eubanks of Lucedale, Mississippi, to the lending cooperative’s board of directors. They will each serve three-year terms.

Bell is the owner/operator of Bell Livestock, Inc., and serves on the board of directors of Bell Farms, Inc.  Both corporations are cattle, poultry, and row crop operations in Scott and Leake counties, Mississippi. Bell is a contract grower with Koch Foods of Mississippi and has been in farming for over 25 years.  He serves on the Farm Credit Council, Tenth District Stockholder’s Advisory Committee, Farm Credit Bank of Texas’ Tenth District Farm Credit Council and is also an alderman for the town of Lena, Mississippi. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in poultry science.

Eubanks is the owner/operator of Eubanks Produce, Inc., Melon Acres, LLC, Eubanks Land Company, LLC, Double AJ Packers, LLC, Charlie’s U-Pik, LLC and Eubanks Family Ranch.  He started Eubanks Produce, Inc. in 1992 upon graduation from Mississippi State University, where he majored in agribusiness. He is on the board of directors of George County Co-op and the Gulf Coast Watermelon Association.

Southern AgCredit’s 2025 Nominating Committee consists of the following stockholders: Timothy Clements, Delta Region; Alan Ezelle, Central Region; Kati Crager, Southern Region; Thomas Wade and J. Blake McCartney, Louisiana Region.          

“We’re grateful to have tenured directors at Southern AgCredit who truly care about the success of our Association and the success of agriculture in Mississippi and Louisiana.  Scott and Allen have done an excellent job of serving the members that they represent, and I am excited to continue our working relationship for another three years,” said Phillip Morgan, Southern AgCredit chief executive officer.

The complete Southern AgCredit 10-member board includes Mississippi directors Reggie Allen of Brookhaven, Bryan “Scott” Bell of Lena, Lonnie “Gene” Boykin of Rolling Fork, Steven “Steve” Dockens of Ocean Springs, Charles “Allen” Eubanks of Lucedale, Jonathan Hollingshead of Flora, Larry W. Killebrew of Lexington, and Kevin Rhodes of Pelahatchie; and Louisiana directors Loyd Dodson of Haughton and John “Paul” Johns, Jr. of Jonesboro. 

Southern AgCredit recently hired three summer interns: Cole Harris, Tori Hinshaw and Brock Tullos.  These students will work an 8-week rotation through the rural lending cooperative which began June 6 and will conclude on July 28.  They will spend time working in Southern AgCredit branches and different departments at the Ridgeland administrative office.

Cole Harris is from Jackson, Mississippi. He is currently a senior at Jackson State University majoring in business management with a concentration in human resources. He’s a student leader on his campus as he has served as a member of JSU Royal Court, Men of Excellence, and a current active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.      

Tori Hinshaw was raised on a small farm in Aylett, Virginia.  She is a senior agribusiness management major at Mississippi State and will graduate in December 2024. She enjoys rodeo and livestock management. 

Brock Tullos is from Pelahatchie, Mississippi.  He is a senior at Mississippi State and is majoring in agriculture business with a minor in agronomy.  In his spare time, he enjoys hunting and fishing.

Southern AgCredit recently hired Whitney Watts as an insurance representative. 

Watts is from Wesson, Mississippi where she grew up showing and judging livestock.  She and her family run a cow-calf operation. 

Watts recently graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business.  Watts was a member of Kansas State’s Collegiate Livestock Judging Team, Meat Evaluation Team, and National Agri-Marketing Association and Sales Team.  She was an intern at Southern AgCredit during the summer of 2023.

Southern AgCredit recently promoted Pam Vitteck to business systems administrator I and Shera Sivley to business administrator II. 

Vitteck holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Business Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She is also a proud veteran of the US Navy. Vitteck joined Southern AgCredit in 2013 as a loan administrator.

Sivley earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Delta State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix. Before joining Southern AgCredit in 2008 as a credit analyst, Sivley worked at a commercial bank for 15 years. 

Southern AgCredit recently hired Brittney Cooper as a customer service representative in its Hattiesburg branch office.

Cooper graduated from Jones College.  She brings experience in banking, entrepreneurship, and agriculture.  Cooper is also a customer-owner at Southern AgCredit. 

Cooper and her husband, Eric, have two children and live on their farm in Sumrall, Mississippi.     

Southern AgCredit, a rural lending cooperative, recently hired Dru Brakefield as a customer service representative in its Gulfport, Mississippi branch office.  

Brakefield attended Pearl River Community College and plans to pursue a degree in communications. Before joining Southern AgCredit, she worked at Palmetto Veterinary Medicine and Surgery for four years.

A native of McConnells, South Carolina, Brakefield now lives in Carriere, Mississippi. 

The board of directors at Southern AgCredit, a rural lending cooperative, returned a record-breaking $12.4 million in cash patronage to its customer-owners in late February.         

The customer-owned cooperative shares its surplus earnings with borrowers once capital requirements for future lending are met. The patronage dividend returned to customers has effectively reduced the interest rate paid by each borrower, on average, by 1 percentage point.

“Patronage is a substantial benefit of being a customer-owner at Southern AgCredit,” said Scott Bell, Southern AgCredit’s board chairman. “The success of our co-op translates to the success of our borrowers and the board is proud to put money back into the pockets of the customer-owners we serve.”

Southern AgCredit recently promoted Brooks Hall to branch manager of the Ruston branch office. 

Hall joined Southern AgCredit in 2021 as a loan officer in its branch office in Brookhaven, Mississippi. He started his career as an examiner in the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, a position he held for three years. Then Hall worked as a lender at Bank of Brookhaven for 8.5 years before joining Southern AgCredit. He attended Copiah-Lincoln Community College and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mississippi State University.

He and his wife, Summer have one daughter and are expecting their second daughter in March.  The Hall family is in the process of relocating to Ruston and plan to be there by the end of April 2024.       

Southern AgCredit, a rural lending cooperative, recently promoted Joseph Linton to senior credit administrator.    

Linton joined Southern AgCredit in November 2013 as a credit analyst, then he was promoted to senior credit analyst in 2018. Before joining Southern AgCredit, he was an economic analyst with the Strategic Biomass Solutions program at Innovate Mississippi. 

Linton holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering technology and business and a master’s degree in agricultural economics, both from Mississippi State University. 

He and his wife, Regan, have one daughter and reside in Hattiesburg.        

Southern AgCredit recently hired Haley Herring as a customer service representative in its Hattiesburg branch office. 

Herring was raised on a family-owned and operated cattle farm in Perry County, Mississippi.  She is a graduate of Pearl River Community College and holds an associate degree in office systems technology.  Herring started her career in the accounting and legal fields and has been a real estate paralegal for the past three years. 

Southern AgCredit is a full-service co-op lender that specializes in financing rural land and agricultural operations in Mississippi and Louisiana. It is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System, the nation’s largest source of loans for agriculture, agribusiness, rural real estate and country homes. For more information, visit www.southernagcredit.com.

Southern AgCredit recently hired MaKayla Sadler as a loan administrator in its Ruston branch office. 

Sadler graduated from West Monroe High School and attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe.  She began her professional career with BAFS in Monroe where she was a commercial loan assistant who assisted underwriting staff with the loan origination process.  Sadler also has previous experience in retail sales, marketing and human resources.    

Southern AgCredit is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of lending cooperatives that finance agriculture, agribusiness, rural real estate and country homes. For more information, visit www.southernagcredit.com.