Leland A. “Lee” Strom
Chairman and CEO
Chairman and CEO
Communication from the Chairman
Leland A. Strom is Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration. Mr. Strom was appointed to a six-year term on the FCA Board by President George W. Bush on December 12, 2006, and was designated Chairman and CEO on May 22, 2008. His term expires on October 13, 2012.
Mr. Strom also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation (FCSIC), which is responsible for ensuring the timely payment of principal and interest on obligations issued on behalf of FCS banks. Before being named FCA Chairman and CEO, he had served as chairman of the board of directors of FCSIC since December 2006.
For more than 30 years he has been active in the agriculture industry. He served for more than 25 years on the board of 1st Farm Credit Services, an FCS institution in Illinois, holding various positions, including chairman. During the agriculture crisis of the 1980s, he was selected to sit on the Restructuring Task Force of the Sixth Farm Credit District.
From 2000 to 2006, he was on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Council on Agriculture, Labor, and Small Business. Part of this time he also served on the Country Mutual Fund Trust Board, an investment fund of the Illinois Farm Bureau and its Country Financial organization.
Other boards Mr. Strom has served on include Northern F.S., Inc., a farm service and supply cooperative serving farmers in Northern Illinois; AgriBank, FCB; and the Farm Credit Council, the national trade organization representing FCS in Government affairs.
Mr. Strom has served in several capacities with the Illinois Farm Bureau. He also served on his county Farm Bureau board. He was a member of the State Young Farmer Committee from 1981 to 1985. For his overall involvement in agriculture, he received an Outstanding Young Farmer Award.
In his community of Kane County, Illinois, which lies at the edge of suburban Chicago, Mr. Strom helped develop a farmland preservation program. The original Strom Family Farm was the first to be dedicated to permanent agricultural use under the program.
In 2011, Mr. Strom received the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Northern Illinois University for his commitment to sustaining agricultural systems and food security. He studied agriculture business at Kishwaukee College and business administration at Northern Illinois University.
His community involvement includes having served as vice president of his local K–12 school district, chairman of his church council, 4-H parent leader, and coach of boys’ and girls’ sports teams. Mr. Strom owns a third-generation family farm in Illinois that produces corn and soybeans. He and his wife, Twyla, have two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law.
Printable version (PDF, 385 KB) of Mr. Strom's bio
High-resolution image (JPG) of Mr. Strom's photo
Communication from the Chairman
- February 3, 2012: Remarks at USDA’s The Many Faces of Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food:
A Local/Regional Food System Conference
- January 24, 2012: Remarks at the Farm Credit Council Annual Meeting
- November 8, 2011: Statement Regarding Board-Approved Policy Statement 81 on Ethics, Independence, Arm's-Length Role, Ex Parte Communications and Open Government
- July 12, 2011: Remarks at the AgFirst Farm Credit Bank Annual Meeting
- June 22, 2011: Statement Regarding U.S. AgBank-CoBank Proposed Merger at Special Meeting of the FCA Board
- April 14, 2011: Statement Regarding the Proposed Rule on Diversity
- April 7, 2011: Remarks at the Texas FCB Annual Meeting
- February 17, 2011: Opening Remarks at the Regulator Roundtable on Farm Real Estate Collateral Risk
- January 24, 2011: Remarks at the Farm Credit Council Annual Meeting
- September 29, 2010: Remarks to the FCS Coordinating Committee
- July 12, 2010: Remarks at the AgFirst FBC Annual Meeting
- March 26, 2010: Remarks at the Texas FCB Annual Meeting
- January 25, 2010: Remarks at the Farm Credit Council Annual Meeting
- December 1, 2009: Remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Conference on Perspectives on the Future of Agriculture in the Midwest
- November 17, 2009: Oral Statement and Testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture regarding the Financial Stability Improvement Act Discussion Draft
- November 13, 2009: My Thoughts on Association Mergers in Economically Challenging Times, a memo to the boards of directors of FCS institutions
- July 2, 2009: Confronting the Increased Risk Environment, a memo to the boards of directors of FCS institutions
- June 11, 2009: Testimony before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research
- June 10, 2009: Responding to Local Financial Institution Failures, a memo to the boards of directors of FCS institutions
- March 27, 2009: Remarks at the Farm Credit Bank of Texas Annual Meeting
- March 9, 2009: Remarks at the AgriBank, FCB, Annual Meeting
- February 23, 2009: Executive Compensation, a memo to the boards of directors of FCS institutions
- January 27, 2009: Remarks at the Farm Credit Council Annual Meeting
- October 31, 2008: Current and Future Challenges, a memo to the boards of directors of FCS institutions
- July 14, 2008: Remarks at the AgFirst Farm Credit Bank Annual Meeting