Farm Credit of the Virginias Announces Appointment of Pete Cypret as CEO
Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), a lending cooperative that serves Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland, is excited to announce that Pete Cypret has been appointed as its next Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective October 1, 2025. Cypret brings a wealth of experience to the role, including more than six years serving and leading Farm Credit in a senior leadership position, and his appointment follows a comprehensive and competitive selection process led by the board of directors.
Cypret joined FCV in June of 2019 as the Chief Risk Officer. In this role, he has led the risk, loan operations, compliance, information technology, reporting and project management departments. During his tenure, Cypret has overseen several technology advancements that have improved FCV’s efficiency, allowing the organization to more effectively serve its customer-owners. Prior to joining FCV, Cypret spent more than 20 years working in risk management for financial institutions across the globe.
Regarding the appointment of Cypret to the position of CEO, Kevin Craun, FCV board chair shared, “Pete has proven to be a thoughtful and dedicated leader during his six-year tenure with Farm Credit of the Virginias. Under his steady guidance, our risk management team has worked to ensure our Association’s safety and soundness. His leadership has helped FCV strategically prepare for current and future opportunities, allowing us to provide our customer-owners the best experience possible. The board of directors is confident in Pete’s clear vision for the future of FCV. We are looking forward to working with him in his expanded leadership role as our CEO.”
The leadership transition also marks the upcoming retirement of current CEO Brad Cornelius, who will retire in October after 33 years of dedicated service to FCV and the Farm Credit System.
“Brad created a culture of excellence and accountability as he focused on growing the Association, serving our customer-owners and communities, and expanding our cooperative’s investments in talent, educational resources, technology and process improvements,” said Craun. “We thank him for his leadership and wish him the best in his retirement.”
In response to what he looks forward to bringing to the CEO role, Cypret shared, “I am immensely humbled and honored to serve Farm Credit of the Virginias as the next CEO. A key guiding principle of my leadership is to recognize my duty as a custodian and steward of our organization as we remain committed to best serving our customer-owners. To me, that means realizing that FCV has a very strong culture – stronger than in any other business that I have worked. My job has been and will be to understand and exemplify the robust and long-established culture of FCV, and to ensure our staff has the context, clarity, resources and mentorship to accomplish our goals and meet the needs of our customer-owners. We will continue to champion agriculture and our rural communities while remaining committed to providing reliable, consistent credit and trusted resources for many years to come.”
Cypret grew up in Missouri on a fourth-generation beef cattle operation that is still in the family today. In high school, he served as the president of his local FFA chapter and was an avid competitor in the parliamentary procedure and soil judging contests.
Cypret received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri, and a master’s degree in Risk Management from the New York University Stern School of Business. Additionally, Cypret secured a number of professional certifications, including Professional Risk Manager from the Professional Risk Manager’s International Association, and Certified Risk and Information Systems Control from Information Systems Audit and Control Association, among others.
Cypret served in the Army Reserves for 13 years, serving in both enlisted and commissioned officer roles. He and his family currently reside in Central Virginia. He is also a member of the American Legion, the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRM) and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).
About Farm Credit of the Virginias
Farm Credit of the Virginias provides over $2.3 billion dollars in financing to more than 12,500 farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland. Farm Credit is a cooperative capitalized largely through investments made by farmers, ranchers and the rural homeowners and businesses that borrow from them. In fact, as part of a nationwide network they are the largest single provider of agricultural credit in the United States and have been for over 100 years. Farm Credit helps maintain and improve the quality of life in rural America and on the farm through its constant commitment to competitive lending, expert financial services and for facilitating and sharing knowledge and resources through the Farm Credit Knowledge Center.