Meet Our Team
Our innovative approach to agricultural finance would not be possible without our leadership team who inspire, empower, and propel the success of both our company and the clients we're proud to serve.
Executive Team
Brian G. Philpot, JD
Chief Executive Officer & Principal Owner
Brian Philpot is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Owner of AgAmerica, with headquarters located in Lakeland, FL. His background includes extensive experience in real estate investing, agriculture lending, real estate law, market analysis, and negotiation.
AgAmerica developed from Brian's long-time investment company, Land South Group. Founded in the late 1990s, Land South Group was an investment firm with a particular focus in timberland, agricultural, and conservation real estate across the southeastern U.S. Land South Group also made value investments in residential development, industrial real estate, manufactured housing, office properties, mitigation banks, broadcast towers, and distressed real estate debt.
Dan Kashdin
Co-President
Dan Kashdin joined AgAmerica in August 2018 and serves as Co-President.
Dan brings over 20 years of experience in financial services, including 12 years in New York City. Before AgAmerica, Dan served as Senior Vice President of Finance at Ditech Holding Corporation (f/k/a Walter Investment Management Corp), a publicly traded servicer and originator of residential mortgage loans. While at Ditech, he was a member of the company's Operating Committee, led the Financial Planning & Analysis department, had responsibility over process improvement and efficiency projects, and executed the acquisition of a loan servicing platform.
Dan's experience includes providing strategic advice on financing transactions and M&A to traditional asset managers, alternative asset managers, and BDCs, which he gained as Director of Investment Banking in the Financial Institutions Group at Barclays. Prior to Barclays' acquisition of Lehman Brothers, Dan was Vice President of Investment Banking in the Global Finance Solutions Group at Lehman Brothers where he provided structured solutions across a wide range of products with a focus on accounting, tax, regulatory, and legal implications.
Dan started his career in the Transaction Services Group at PwC where he advised corporate clients and financial sponsors on complex transaction structuring issues.
Dan received his Masters and Bachelor of Accounting from the University of Florida where he graduated with Highest Honors, and he is a Certified Public Accountant.
Courtney Eelman
Co-President
Courtney Eelman serves as Co-President of AgAmerica, where she plays a pivotal role in aligning the company’s strategy, processes, people, technology, and knowledge across its lending operations. With over two decades of experience in agricultural credit, Courtney brings a deep understanding of risk management and operational strategy to her leadership.
Since joining AgAmerica in 2017, Courtney has overseen the development and integration of key functions including Credit, Applications Strategy, Project Management, Data Solutions, IT Operations, and Retail Production, as well as the Closing and Post-Closing processes. Her leadership has been instrumental in establishing in-house departments for Appraisal, Credit, and Servicing, and in securing Central Servicer status with a major agricultural government-sponsored enterprise. She was also instrumental in creating AgAmerica’s Probability of Default (PD) rating system, a classification framework that supports credit risk assessment and loan pricing decisions
Courtney also leads AgAmerica’s FinTech function, guiding the firm’s technology roadmap to support scalable, client-centric solutions. Her vision for the company includes transforming the agricultural lending experience through enhanced speed, transparency, and innovation—making it more accessible and efficient for borrowers nationwide.
Prior to AgAmerica, Courtney spent 17 years at Farm Credit of Central Florida, where she rose to Chief Credit Officer. Her responsibilities included credit risk management, loan portfolio compliance, and credit policies and procedures implementation. She also assisted in the development of a centralized credit department for the Central Florida ACA expansion.
Beyond her corporate leadership, Courtney is deeply engaged in the Lakeland community. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Lakeland Economic Development Council (LEDC) and is an active participant in its High-Skill, High-Wage Initiative, which supports workforce development and the recruitment of research-oriented companies to the region.
Courtney holds an MBA and BS from the University of South Florida and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.
Dr. David Mieczkowski
EVP, Chief Investment Officer
Dr. David Mieczkowski is the SVP & Chief Investment Officer for AgAmerica. Since 2018, he has been an involved and highly respected member of AgAmerica’s Advisory Board.
Prior to AgAmerica, Dr. Mieczkowski held the role of Director of Fixed Income & Credit and a Portfolio Manager for SCS Financial—an $18bn investment and wealth management firm that serves families, family offices, and institutional investors—where he is responsible for managing $3bn in capital across cash, core fixed income, and multi-sector credit fund-of-fund portfolios.
Prior to joining SCS, Dr. Mieczkowski was the lead fixed income strategist for Fidelity Investments' Strategic Advisors—a $200bn managed account business—where he advised on asset allocation, manager selection, and business cycle modeling. He was also the Head of Fixed Income Quantitative Research at FactSet Research Systems, where he built out and led a research team that developed fixed-income analytics and multi-asset class risk models for the firm.
Dr. Mieczkowski was a principal editor and contributing author to Investment Risk and Uncertainty: Advanced Risk Awareness Tools and Techniques for the Intelligent Investor.
Before his career in investments, Dr. Mieczkowski worked in academia as a research fellow and lecturer and has taught mathematics at SUNY Stony Brook and Penn State University. He holds a B.S. in Honors Mathematics from the University of Michigan, a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Penn State University, and an MBA from Cornell University.
Adara Richter
EVP, Chief of Staff, & Chief Brand & Talent Officer
Adara Richter joined the AgAmerica team in April of 2017 and currently serves as Executive Vice President, Chief of Staff and Chief Brand & Talent Officer, leading Brand/Marketing, Media, Talent Strategy & HR, and CEO Office Operations.
Adara plays a pivotal role in driving AgAmerica’s strategic vision, ensuring seamless alignment between the company’s mission, brand identity, and internal culture as the organization reaches new heights of sophistication. As a key leader, she oversees comprehensive marketing strategies, spearheads the systematic development of employee training programs, and effectively delegates company-wide priorities and values. Adara is instrumental in fostering AgAmerica’s growth by championing employee development, cultivating a strong and cohesive company culture, and maintaining a dynamic internal communication cadence that supports sustained organizational success.
In addition to leading talent operations and strategy, Adara drives AgAmerica’s overarching brand strategy, guiding the teams responsible for delivering a cohesive and compelling brand voice across all internal and external channels. Her efforts ensure that key stakeholders—including clients, investors, and employees—experience a consistent and impactful representation of AgAmerica’s values and mission at every touchpoint.
Under Adara’s leadership, AgAmerica has received local, state, and national recognition from top industry publications and organizations, including:
- Fortune’s Great Places to Work
- Inc. 5000 Best Workplaces
- Inc. 5000 National and Regional Fastest Growing Private Companies
- Financial Times Fastest Growing Companies
- American Advertising Awards
- Tampa Bay Business Journal Fast 50 Fastest Growing Companies
- Florida Trends Most influential Business Leaders
Prior to her role at AgAmerica, Adara worked in higher education recruitment in the Mid-West and South-East markets, overseeing a team responsible for relationship management, marketing strategies, and pipeline development. She is a Florida native and graduate of Florida Southern College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Sociology, as well as a Master of Science degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Outside of her professional endeavors, she is an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters and former board member of the Florida Children’s Museum.
Fernanda Ospina
EVP, Chief Operating Officer
Fernanda Ospina serves as EVP & Chief Operating Officer at AgAmerica. She joined the team in February of 2019 and has a B.A. in business administration as well as a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in accounting and finance.
Early on in her career, Fernanda worked as a Financial Analyst for Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions and later as a Senior Cost Analyst in the agricultural sector at Pacific Tomato Growers. In this role, she prepared cost accounting information to determine daily business activity expenses.
Prior to joining AgAmerica, Fernanda was one of the Senior Associates at Benchmark International, a sales-side M&A firm in Tampa, Florida. As a financial associate, she communicated with business owners to obtain information regarding the company’s operations and financial situation. She analyzed clients’ financial statements and other corporate documents to find the unique strengths each company possessed to increase valuation once negotiating the desired exit strategy. During her career at Benchmark International, Fernanda developed relationships with private equity and venture capital funds, family offices, and active trade buyers. Along with her team, Fernanda completed successful transactions in diverse industries such as pharmacy software, engineering, healthcare, commercial landscaping, communications as a service (CaaS), software as a service (SaaS), wholesale, multi-location retail, media, and enterprise software, among others. Through this experience, Fernanda gained a deeper understanding of common struggles business owners face and how to provide support that best suits their specific needs.
In her role, Fernanda manages the operations of the organization, where she formulates business strategies with other executive team members, designs policies and procedures, manages performance, and implements technology solutions. With her M&A, finance and accounting background, and extensive understanding of analytic reporting and servicing, she is able to communicate with internal team members, as well as with prospective and existing clients in an efficient and effective manner. Fernanda prioritizes exceptional customer service, professionalism, and transparency throughout the loan process, making it a refreshingly manageable experience for all parties involved.
John Culbreth
EVP, Chief Financial Officer
John Culbreth has been with AgAmerica since December 2018 and serves as the Chief Financial Officer. He oversees the treasury functions and operating budget within the company. John earned a Master of Business Administration in Finance and bachelor’s in accounting at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
John brings more than 26 years of experience in accounting and financing. He spent nearly 21 years with Ditech Holding Corporation (f/k/a Walter Investment Management Corporation). The constant evolution of the company gave John the opportunity to manage a broad spectrum of responsibilities for the publicly traded independent servicer and originator of residential mortgage loans. Some of these responsibilities included corporate accounting functions, captive reinsurance accounting, and balance sheet loan accounting. He managed fund accounting for the company’s capital partner and centralized shared services accounting functions.
Prior to Ditech, John was an Internal Auditor promoted to Controller at Jim Walter Homes—one of the largest national on-your-lot home building companies. He managed an array of accounting functions including forecasts, metrics, statistics, and strategic planning. He uses his extensive experience in the finance world at AgAmerica to develop more robust internal reporting strategies, further automate financial processes, and perform upgrades to the accounting system.
Cameron Flowers
Chief Growth Officer
Cam Flowers is the Chief Growth Officer at AgAmerica, joining the company in 2013 with a B.S. degree in food science from Clemson University and deep roots in American agriculture.
Cam is a seventh-generation South Carolinian who grew up working on his family’s tobacco and swine farm. Agriculture has always been a fundamental part of his life. In high school, he won both the state FFA soil judging and farm business management competitions. Today, he operates a small cattle herd in South Carolina with the help of his brother that offers healthy, grass-fed Angus beef to the surrounding local market.
In college, he served as Student Body Vice President where he helped oversee a $2.4 million budget and led a team that raised the Clemson PSA (agriculture) funding by almost 10 percent. This initiative helped refocus Clemson’s emphasis on keeping agriculture a top priority long after he graduated. Other organization memberships he held during his collegiate career included the Tiger Brotherhood, Blue Key Honors Society, Interfraternity Council, and Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity–a fraternity based on the principals of agriculture. His active campus involvement in both academic and agricultural organizations developed his ability to network and build meaningful relationships with those he worked with to implement positive change.
After graduation from Clemson, Cam chose to follow his passion for agriculture and found a company that aligned with his mission to advocate for and support the dreams of American farmers nationwide. As Chief Growth Officer, Cam leads the retail team in customizing loans to meet the specific needs of the clients they serve. His lifelong experience as a farmer and rancher enables him to take a hands-on approach in ensuring each product is structured in a way that will support the success of his clients’ agricultural operations for years to come.
Leadership
AJ Porreca
Chief Credit Officer
A.J. Porreca serves as the Chief Credit Officer at AgAmerica. A graduate of Florida Southern College, he holds a double-major in Accounting and Business Administration. A.J. began his career with AgAmerica in May 2014, following a pivotal internship with Land South Group in his senior semester.
Over the years, A.J. has leveraged his extensive background in finance and strategic management to enhance AgAmerica's credit operations. His early career was also marked by his competitive spirit as a member of the US barefoot water-skiing team and a world-ranked athlete, experiences that honed his leadership skills and ability to work effectively across diverse cultures.
In his current role, A.J. leads the credit department with a focus on maintaining the integrity of credit processes and driving financial strategies that support AgAmerica's growth and client relationships.
David Melton
Managing Director, Capital Markets
Joining AgAmerica in 2023, David brings more than 15 years of financial services experience and an extensive industry network to the company.
David graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University in 2008 and has been in the capital markets sector ever since. Prior to AgAmerica, David was a Director on the Institutional Solutions team at Credit Suisse where he was responsible for providing financing, hedging, and alternative risk premia strategies to several of the largest asset owners across the United States. Prior to that, he was a Vice President at
Deutsche Bank where he advised hedge funds, asset managers, and pensions on structured derivatives and financing.
As Managing Director of Capital Markets, David oversees capital markets operations, with a primary focus on optimizing the company's capital allocation, enhancing liquidity, and overseeing key financing partnerships. Through his expertise in global financial services, he brings sophisticated capital structuring and modeling capabilities to Rural America and is instrumental in guiding AgAmerica’s financial strategy to better support the American farmer.
Donya-Faye Wix
Head of Marketing
Donya-Faye Wix serves as Head of Marketing at AgAmerica, where she oversees the company’s Marketing and Inbound Relations departments. Since joining AgAmerica in 2019 as a Digital Marketing Specialist, Donya-Faye has played a central role in advancing the company’s marketing strategy, strengthening its digital presence, and building the marketing infrastructure that supports AgAmerica’s continued growth.
In her role, Donya-Faye leads the strategy behind AgAmerica’s marketing and inbound sales initiatives, helping connect the company’s brand presence with measurable business growth. Her work has helped shape how AgAmerica reaches prospective borrowers, supports revenue-generating teams, and uses technology to create more targeted, efficient, and data-informed marketing programs.
During her time at AgAmerica, Donya-Faye has helped lead several major marketing milestones, including a full company rebrand, two major website redesigns, and the implementation of the company’s marketing automation platform. She has also contributed to award-winning marketing work recognized by the American Advertising Federation, including 2022 Benny Awards for AgAmerica’s Website Redesign Launch campaign and the Cooley Documentary cinematography. Some of her most meaningful work has come through helping tell the stories of AgAmerica’s customers, giving her a deeper understanding of the resilience, sacrifice, and responsibility carried by the farmers who support our global food system.
Prior to AgAmerica, Donya-Faye gained experience across both B2B and B2C marketing in higher education, retail, and veterinary medicine with previous roles at Echo Delta agency and W.S. Badcock Corporation. Her background in lead generation, customer experience, and digital strategy continues to shape her approach to building marketing programs that are both brand-aligned and revenue-focused.
Donya-Faye holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland.
Walker Gibson
Head of Institutional Production
Walker Gibson has been with AgAmerica since April of 2020. Walker is a proud Clemson University alumnus, holding a B.S. in Financial Management from the Calhoun Honors College. He is also a CFA charter holder through the CFA Institute.
Walker has been making credit decisions and managing investments within the agribusiness industry since 2013. Most recently in his role as Vice President at AGR Partners, he was a member of the investment team. He sourced, structured, and underwrote new deal opportunities as well as held board positions within portfolio companies across the tree nut and stone fruit industries.
Before AGR Partners, Walker worked at TIAA as a Derivatives Services Team Lead then later a Private Markets Associate within TIAA’s real assets team. His derivatives team lead responsibilities included trade research and structuring, collateral management, and P&L analytics on derivative portfolio sleeves across the organization with a focus on hedging interest rate, currency, and credit risk. As a Private Markets Associate, he managed the investment underwriting and portfolio construction of TIAA’s real asset investment program with a focus on direct equity originations across both farmland and vertically integrated agribusiness sectors. Walker was also responsible for spearheading business development activities and the strategic direction of the certain asset classes across both private equity and fixed income.
In his current role, Walker leads the analysis of potential loan opportunities of $7MM or greater. He is responsible for developing a credit team and implementing operating efficiencies regarding AgAmerica’s large loan process as well as assisting in the development of alternative products and structures.
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