Banking Chief to Become CEO at CoBank

The chief banking officer of CoBank in Denver will be its next CEO.

The $118 billion-asset company, a member of the Farm Credit System, said Friday that the banking chief, Tom Halverson, will succeed Bob Engel as chief executive in January.

Engel, 62, had planned to leave the company on June 30, 2017, when his employment agreement was to expire. Instead he will move into a strategic advisory role in January.

"Mr. Engel is not retiring but has not announced definitive plans beyond his service to CoBank, other than to remain extremely active in both professional and charitable endeavors," a company spokesman told American Banker.

Halverson, who joined CoBank in 2013, has led banking groups serving agribusiness, communications, power and project finance customers. He is a member of the management executive committee and vice chairman and director of its leasing subsidiary. Halverson previously worked for Goldman Sachs in the U.S., Japan and England.

"Tom is extremely well qualified to lead CoBank forward due to his many years of experience in the banking industry and his deep understanding of our business and the needs of customers in the industries we serve," the company's chairman, Everett Dobrinski, said in a press release.

Engel joined CoBank as president and chief operating officer in 2000. Six years later he was named president and CEO. Previously he was chief banking officer at HSBC Bank USA in New York.

CoBank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states.

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