Jason brings more than 13 years of insurance experience in commercial farm and commercial agriculture. His most recent position was a property manager for commercial agribusiness with Nationwide Insurance, where he developed and managed a team of property adjusters that handled complex claims in excess of $1,000,000. Prior to working at Nationwide Insurance, Jason started his insurance career in claims at Farmers Insurance Group and moved to the role of quality assurance and training consultant for field operations. Jason graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
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Leadership Team
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.
Benji Borner
Chief Information Officer
Benji has served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) since November of 2018. His hiring represents ProAg’s continuing commitment to innovation as well as being more focused on technology solutions for our growing agent and policyholder base.
Benji comes to us with over 20 years of IT experience including seven years as the Vice President of IT at AIMIA, a global leader in loyalty programs. He obtained his MS in Software Engineering at Saint Thomas in Minnesota and his BS in Business Management at Saint Cloud University in Minnesota. In his spare time, Benji volunteers for youth baseball, hockey and waterski teams.
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.
Jason Blubaugh
National Sales Manager
Matt King
National Claims Manager
Matt brings over 12 years of experience in the crop insurance industry with 10 years at ProAg. Matt started his career as a claims adjuster for RCIS. In 2009, he joined ProAg as a claims adjuster and shortly after became a product specialist. In 2015, Matt accepted the role as a Claims Manager for the eastern region.
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.
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 of ProAg’s Southern Region
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.
Mark Parde
Regional Vice President of ProAg’s Northern Region
Bringing 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.
Tyffany Basila
Regional Vice President of ProAg's 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.
Joe Sharp
Regional Vice President of ProAg's Eastern Region
Joe 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.