In this behind the scenes, two GreenStone employees share how their role allows them to support rural communities and agriculture.

 

Cameron Rowe

Financial Services Officer
Escanaba, MI
3 Years of service

Describe how your role carries out the GreenStone mission of supporting rural communities and agriculture.

In my role as a financial service officer, I help support the agriculture and timber communities in the upper peninsula of Michigan (UP) by advocating for their businesses and ensuring that they have access to sound and constructively written credit and value-added financial services.

What do you enjoy about your role? 

I enjoy the relationships I build with my customers and the fulfillment I get when I see their businesses and their supporting communities thrive amid all the headwinds and difficulties that come with calling rural America “home.” 

What changes have been incorporated in your role to meet evolving customer needs? 

I have grown accustomed to meeting my customer where they want to be served. Since the pandemic began, I have been able to do more virtual meetings with customers. Given the vast geographical area of my portfolio (all 15 counties of the upper peninsula), it has also been a godsend to be able to close loans electronically through DocuSign to save customers time and provide an added benefit of speed and agility to loan origination and servicing.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?  

I enjoy spending my free time with my growing family. We like to travel – especially internationally – and hope to do more of that in the coming years. I also relish the opportunity to spend time in the woods hunting big and small game back in my hometown of Saxon, WI.

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Jordan Schafer

Crop Insurance Specialist
Alma, MI
4 Years of service

Describe how your role carries out the GreenStone mission of supporting rural communities and agriculture:

My role as a crop insurance specialist, carries out the GreenStone mission by first and foremost putting the customer first with above the bar customer service and follow-through. Our crop insurance products provide options for producers to put a “net” risk management in place to best suit their needs. I work to help each customer individually manage against each storm whether that be nature driven, or market driven, to remain successful in their operation.  

What do you enjoy about your role?

What I most enjoy is working with such a diversified group of individuals. Each customer is different in how they do things, and to build a wealth of knowledge from each one of these individuals is, in itself, very rewarding. Beyond that, the support from the entire agricultural community is hands down the most impressive thing to be witness to and observe. I love to build those relationships, and network with people.

What changes have been incorporated in your role to meet evolving customer needs?

Many different technological advances have been incorporated especially with precision ag/on farm data analytics, which all are being incorporated at a rapid pace to help in communication between agent and customer, all the way down through to reporting, and coverage decisions that are being made on a yearly basis. Also, the use of document retrieval/sending with the incorporation of DocuSign, and Greenstone’s ability to drop documents to customers electronically has saved customers a lot of time.

Customers also appreciate GreenStone innovating through state of the art programs, such as the Optimum, e-vantage, and DRP analyzer tools that are exclusive to our customers, that analyze and depict on farm data to help growers choose the best coverage options for their operation.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I enjoy spending time with my four kids and wife as much as possible. I also really enjoy being outdoors. I love to hunt and farm when I can.

 

To view the article in the online 2023 Winter Partners Magazine, click here.