Albany Area Business Portfolio — Dec. 25, 2016

FINANCIAL

Ragan Fretwell has been named a relationship manager at Southwest Georgia Farm Credit and will be based in the Dawson office. Fretwell will work with clients and prospects to finance farms, ranches, recreational properties, timberland and real estate.

Ms. Fretwell also will continue to manage Farm Credit EXPRESS, the point-of-sale financing program available through dealerships for the financing of new and used equipment,

“Ragan has a diverse finance and credit background that lends itself well to working with farmers and agribusinesses,” Liz Nogowski, chief marketing and administrative officer at Southwest Georgia Farm Credit, said. “With 13 years in the Farm Credit System and solid knowledge of the agriculturally-based community, Ragan will help our association continue to meet our clients’ needs in Dawson and surrounding communities.”

Fretwell, who joined Farm Credit in 2003, is a graduate of Georgia Southwestern State University and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She has a bachelor of business administration from Troy University. A resident of Lee County, Fretwell is a board member of the SOWEGA Council for the Aging. She and her two children live in Leesburg.

AGRIBUSINESS

Don Wood, of Rochelle, has been re-elected to a two-year term representing the Georgia Farm Bureau’s 8th District on the organization’s state board of directors.

Voting delegates from the 17 counties in Georgia Farm Bureau’s 8th District elected Wood during GFB’s 79th annual convention held on Jekyll Island Dec. 4-6. The 8th District includes Clay, Crisp, Dooly, Houston, Lee, Macon, Marion, Pulaski, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Terrell, Turner, Webster and Wilcox counties.

Wood, who grows row crops, pecans, watermelons and raises cattle, has served as a GFB 8th District director since 1982 and is a Wilcox County Farm Bureau director. He chaired the WCFB Legislative Committee during the past year. He has served on numerous state commodity advisory committees for Georgia Farm Bureau and represents the organization as a voting delegate to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In addition to his Farm Bureau leadership, Wood is chairman of the Middle Georgia EMC Board of Directors and serves on the Georgia Watermelon Association Board of Directors.

Wood and his wife, Toni, have three children Melissa, Brad and Kim and four grandchildren. The Woods attend Rochelle Baptist Church.

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