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News ReleaseFarm Credit Administration
1501 Farm Credit Drive
McLean, Virginia 22102-5090

Printer-friendly version =>NR 10-04 (03-31-10).pdf For Immediate Release
NR 10-04 (03-31-10)
Contact: Mike Stokke or Christine Quinn, 703-883-4056
E-mail: info-line@fca.gov
Web site: www.fca.gov

Jill Long Thompson Appointed to Farm Credit Administration Board

McLEAN, Va., March 31, 2010 — Former Indiana Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson is the newest member of the Farm Credit Administration Board. President Barack Obama announced his recess appointment of Long Thompson on March 27. The position was previously held by Nancy C. Pellett.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Dr. Long Thompson to this Board,” said FCA Chairman Leland A. Strom. “Her agricultural background and her leadership experience as a member of Congress and as an under secretary at USDA will serve FCA and the Farm Credit System well.”

Long Thompson was nominated by the president on October 15, 2009, for a term ending on May 21, 2014. Her nomination is still pending Senate confirmation. Until confirmed, her recess appointment is effective through the next legislative session, which would be at the end of 2011.

Long Thompson represented Northeast Indiana as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995, serving on the Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. As congresswoman, she introduced one of the nation’s first pieces of legislation banning members of Congress from accepting gifts; this legislation also expanded disclosure requirements for lobbying activities.

Long Thompson is the first and only woman to be nominated by a major party to run for governor in Indiana, as well as the first and only Hoosier woman to be nominated by a major party to run for the U.S. Senate.

From 1995 to 2001, she served as under secretary for rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she oversaw an annual budget of $10 billion and a staff of 7,000 employees. In this position, she managed programs that provide services to the underserved areas of rural America.

In addition, Long Thompson served as chief executive officer and senior fellow at the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, a nonprofit research and policy organization in Washington, D.C.

Long Thompson also has many years of experience as an educator, having taught at Indiana University, Valparaiso University, and Manchester College. She is also a former fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She holds the M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Valparaiso University.

Long Thompson grew up on a family farm outside of Larwill, Ind.; today she lives with her husband Don Thompson on a farm near Argos, Ind.


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The Farm Credit Administration is the safety and soundness regulator of the cooperative Farm Credit System and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac). FCA charters, regulates, and examines the 99 banks, associations, and service corporations of the Farm Credit System, which makes loans to agricultural producers and their cooperatives nationwide. FCA also examines and regulates Farmer Mac, which provides a secondary market for agricultural real estate loans, rural housing mortgage loans, and certain rural utility loans. Members of the FCA Board are Leland A. Strom, Chairman and CEO; Kenneth A. Spearman; and Jill Long Thompson.

Note: FCA news releases are available on the Web at www.fca.gov.