After 28 years of service and leadership with the AgrAbility program, the time has come for me to step away and accept a new challenge as President/CEO of Easterseals Wisconsin.
Over the years, I worked with many farm families in transition periods. Some families were transferring the farm from one generation to the next while others were transitioning to learning to live and farm with a disability. During those times I’ve seen the stress and frustration as well as the joy of triumphs when people made the transitional journey and realized that the result of the transition was a positive and successful one.
I feel that I can relate now too many of those same things that I heard consumers say over the years: concern of what lies ahead and fear of letting go of what I know. I’m encouraged by those experiences and know that all will be alright in my time of transition, as I have learned by watching when our consumers have taken the steps on faith that all has worked out and will be as it should.
It has been my privilege and true honor to have shared the kitchen table or spent some time leaning on the bulk tank with so many AAW farmers over the years. To all of you, I say thank you.
With this personal change, the Easterseals side of the AgrAbility partnership will transition leadership to Jeff Kratochwill, a farm kid and true leader well-known in the community and ready to lead the program into the future. I will still be around and hope to see some of you at events in the future. For now, make sure the gate’s closed, the tractor’s full of fuel, and you’re headed in the right direction.