FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Board of Directors of Cape Fear Farm Credit is pleased to announce that they have selected Evan Kleinhans as the financial cooperative’s chief executive officer.  Following a thorough succession planning and evaluation process, the Board of Directors unanimously approved Kleinhans to serve as the chief executive officer, effective September 24, 2019.

Kleinhans has been serving Cape Fear Farm Credit’s customer-owners for the past eight years as the association’s chief financial officer and most recently, as the Interim CEO since June.

“We embraced the time of leadership transition to evaluate what our customer-owners need from their cooperative’s leadership,” states Jon Pope, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 2,500-member credit association. “Evan has a track record of strong leadership both inside and outside of the organization. This combined with his deep industry knowledge and institutional tenure make Evan uniquely qualified to successfully lead Cape Fear Farm Credit into the future.”

Earlier in his career, Kleinhans was the Vice President of Finance for an information technology consulting firm and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in business administration with a finance concentration, both from East Carolina University. He also is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

“I am honored and humbled that the Board has entrusted me to lead this exceptional association of talented professionals” includes Kleinhans. “I look forward to continuing to serve agriculture, our farm families and rural communities.”

–Janna Bass, Cape Fear Farm Credit