Toggle Search

ProAg Leaders

Meet the Executive Team

From adjusting and underwriting to working on Capitol Hill, the ProAg executive team brings incredible crop insurance industry experience to the table. They leverage their knowledge, confidence and expertise to guide our strategic direction, positioning ProAg — and our policyholders and agents — for long-term success.

Kendall Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer

Kendall Jones has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer since July of 2017. She previously served as Executive Vice President and COO for eight years. Since coming to ProAg in May of 2006, she has demonstrated leadership in acquisitions and has been responsible for the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA), Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement (LPRA), commercial reinsurance, and private insurance product management, implementation and maintenance. These responsibilities include claims, training, reinsurance, named peril and crop hail products, underwriting procedures and controls, and the day-to-day operations of ProAg.

Before coming to ProAg, Kendall began her crop insurance career in 1995 in the finance and underwriting departments of Rural Community Insurance Services. Her Masters in Business Administration and Bachelor of Science degrees are from the University of South Dakota.

Kendall serves on the board of directors for the Producers Ag Insurance Group and National Crop Insurance Services. She previously served on the Athenium Analytics board of directors.

Kendall resides with her family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Grant Adams, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

ProAg Crop Insurance Grant Adams Chief Operating OfficerGrant Adams has served as the Chief Operating Officer for ProAg since July of 2017. Grant previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for eight years. Prior to joining ProAg, he practiced law as a shareholder at the Underwood Law Firm in Amarillo, Texas, where his practice focused primarily on civil litigation, including a national practice comprised of representing clients in commercial, employment, and professional malpractice disputes, both individually and on a class-wide basis. Additionally, Grant’s private practice included the representation of numerous insurance clients, including several crop insurance AIPs, along with advising and assisting a wide variety of businesses in the formation of entities and plans designed to best manage risk. He is licensed to practice before courts in multiple jurisdictions.

At ProAg, Grant oversees the day-to-day operations of the Regional Offices and their support teams, and with the other members of the executive team strives to ensure the success of ProAg, and thereby the success of its policyholders, agents, and business partners. Grant earned both his B.B.A. and J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin.

He and his family have called Amarillo home since 1994.

Russ Klein, Chief Financial Officer

Russ Klein has served as CFO since November of 2009. Prior to coming to ProAg, Russ served as the Product Director for CUNA Mutual Group’s Crop Insurance business. During his 10 years of service with CUNA Mutual, he also held various accounting and financial roles, including an interim CFO post for CUNA Mutual’s Australian operations.

Prior to joining CUNA Mutual, Russ worked for three years in public accounting at the Madison office of Clifton Gunderson LLC, specializing in insurance and agribusiness audits.

Russ is a CPA and holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, as well as a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Russ resides with his family in Lino Lakes, Minnesota, although he remains a rabid Cheesehead. Go Pack!

Becky Piechowski, Chief Strategy Officer

Becky has been in the insurance industry her entire career. Her experience ranges from personal to commercial lines within the property and casualty field as well as crop insurance. She has worked at State Farm, Travelers, CUNA Mutual, John Deere and most recently Farmers Mutual Hail. Her career has spanned areas from claims, product management, strategic development, business transformation and implementation to operations.

Becky was impacted by farming from an early age since her father ran the local coop. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. Becky and her husband, Steve, will be relocating to the Twin Cities from Des Moines, IA. They have two daughters who are currently attending the University of St. Thomas.

Maria Wintheiser-Lloyd, Chief Information Officer

Maria has a broad range of leadership experience, including software development and process improvement. Her various industry experience includes crop insurance, direct sales and financial services. She began her career at ProAg seven years ago, and her previous position was director of software development and IT operations.

Maria graduated from Saint Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. She has been a resident of Minnesota her entire life, where she and her husband, David, reside. Their combined family includes six children.

Cody Corbell, Head of Sales and Business Development

Standard headshot of Cody Corbell on white background Head of Sales and Business Development at ProAg crop insurance company

Cody brings over 20 years of broad experience in production agriculture and its supply chain to ProAg, working with corn, cotton, rice, soybeans and wheat throughout his career. He has experience working directly with farmers, ag retail, cooperatives, elevators, mills and consumer packaged goods companies. Cody has also worked in different capacities in seed production, crop production, crop marketing ag technology and business development within the ag supply chain.

Before joining ProAg, Cody was a vice president at Indigo Agriculture, including the Commercial Head of Market+ Merchandise and Source, where he led commercial go-to-market and organizational strategy and execution against North American sales targets. His previous vice president role was as a VP, Buyer – Source and Market Development for Rice and Specialty Grains. He also served as U.S. Production Operations Manager and U.S. Field Operations Manager for RiceTec, Inc. Cody’s previous work experience includes time as a Rangeland Management Specialist at USDA–NRCS.

Meet the Leadership Team

Our experienced leadership team guides regional and departmental teams, bringing industry expertise to help deliver innovative crop insurance solutions. Their work keeps them highly engaged with teams in the field, giving them an even deeper understanding of policyholder and agent needs.

Scott Schaefers, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Innovation

While a newcomer to the crop insurance industry, Scott is no stranger to agriculture and marketing strategy. He and his wife own Scott’s original homestead farm which has been in his family 161 years. After years of cropping it, they have now turned the 270 acres into fields of native grasses, wetlands and trees in West Central Minnesota.

Prior to joining the ProAg team, Scott was responsible for marketing strategy within a commercial division of Travelers Insurance. He has also held a variety of marketing and strategy roles at Deluxe Corporation where he led several transformational initiatives including New Product Development, eCommerce and Mergers & Acquisitions. In addition, he has previous experience in both the telecommunications and consulting industries and has owned his own small business.

Scott received his MBA from Drake University in Des Moines, IA and his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. Scott lives in the Twin Cities with his wife Kate and has two twenty-something daughters, Rachel and Clare. In his spare time, he spends as much time outdoors as he can hunting, fishing, hiking and at his farm.

Andrew Headrick, National Claims Manager

Andrew started his career as a loss adjuster after college graduation. He joined ProAg in 2013 as an area claims supervisor and, most recently, a regional claims manager for the Central Region. Andrew has been involved in his family farm his whole life, providing a firsthand understanding of agriculture and the risks inherent in the profession.

Andrew graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business.

Vikki Blettner, Director of Insurance Operations

ProAg Crop Insurance Vikki Blettner National Underwriting Manager

Vikki has been in the crop insurance business for over 25 years. Her career began in the Northwest as an underwriter. Through the years, she has held various positions, including claims supervisor, claims processing manager, and legal analysis coordinator.

Vikki joined the ProAg team in 2004. Working to help protect America’s farmers and ensure they can continue to farm, is exactly where she feels she belongs. Vikki enjoys being a part of the crop insurance industry.

Vikki and her husband, Kerry, live in northern Idaho. Together with their children, Kara and Logan, they spend their free time snow skiing, water skiing/wake-surfing, mountain biking or attending the kid’s sporting events.

Lisa Beckman, Interim National Underwriting Manager

Lisa has been with ProAg since 2019 and served as underwriting manager previously, overseeing the day-to-day underwriting operations for MPCI and Crop Hail/Named Peril.

Over her 28-year career, Lisa has broadened her crop insurance knowledge and expertise by holding several different roles in underwriting, compliance, and as a business/IT liaison, as well as working with NCIS and RMA staff and participating in industry work-group committees. Lisa is often seen as a subject matter expert by her colleagues and has had past success in building and leading an underwriting team during periods of tremendous growth while still providing excellent customer service.

Jennifer Umscheid, National Compliance Manager

Jennifer joined ProAg in 2012 as a compliance project manager / national compliance analyst and, most recently, a senior process analyst. Jennifer has more than 20 years of crop insurance experience with fifteen years focused on compliance. Her experience will allow ProAg to continue to provide exceptional customer service to our compliance customers, both internal and external.

Jennifer graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s in Agriculture.

Chris Ohm, Regional Vice President – Sales, National Accounts

ProAg Crop Insurance Chris Ohm Regional Vice President Southern

Chris brings over 15 years of experience in the crop insurance industry to ProAg. He has worked in positions with various crop insurance companies including being a marketing representative as well as regional and national underwriting supervisor positions.

Chris’ education includes an Agricultural Business bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.

Tyffany Basila, Regional Vice President – Western Region

Tyffany brings over 20 years of experience in the crop insurance industry. Since starting ProAg in 2008, Tyffany spent five years in compliance before moving into claims as an Area Claims Supervisor and in 2015 she became the Western Claims Manager.

Mark Parde, Regional Vice President – Central Region

ProAg Crop Insurance Mark Parde Regional Vice President NorthernBringing over 10 years of crop insurance and sales experience, Mark joined ProAg in 2019 as part of the AmTrust Ag acquisition. Mark started his crop insurance career in 2008 as a regional sales manager at ADM Crop Risk Services while also managing his own agency. In 2013, he joined Climate Corporation and AmTrust Ag, also as a regional sales manager.

Joe Sharp, Regional Vice President – Eastern Region

ProAg Crop Insurance Joe Sharp Regional Vice President EasternJoe brings over 10 years of sales experience to ProAg. He is coming to us from Steyer Seeds where he was a district sales manager. Joe also spent six years working for Monsanto Regional Brands as a district sales manager. Joe graduated from Wilmington College with his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business and is a Certified Crop Advisor.

OK Cancel