Strategic Vision

A VISION BEYOND 2020

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBERS

BRENT BIBLE (Purdue 93) Owner & Operator Stillwater Farms

ERIC BYMASTER (Purdue 90) Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance Vanderbilt University

KEN CONVERSE (South Dakota State 81) Campaign Gifts Officer Simpson College

RYAN DOWNS (Nebraska 88) Chief Executive Officer Proxibid

GABRIEL ECKERT (Kansas State 95) Executive Director Building Owners and Managers Association of Georgia

BRIAN HOGUE (Texas A&M 05) Founder/Chief Executive Officer Arable Media

BOB KNIEF (Illinois 89) President Bartlett Grain Company

ALLISON RICKELS, cfre Executive Director, C.E.O. FarmHouse Foundation

DOUG SIMS (Illinois 65) Retired Chief Executive Officer CoBank

ERIC STEINER (Purdue 98) Senior Director, Government Affairs Elanco Animal Health

CHRISTIAN WIGGINS Chief Executive Officer FarmHouse International Fraternity

The current Fraternity and Foundation strategic plans expire in 2020. Given the depth of challenges facing Greek life today the Fraternity and Foundation have decided to conduct a joint planning effort, which will allow our organizations to better align priorities and funding needs. While there is a joint planning committee who will do the majority of the work, there is an intentional effort being made to engage key stakeholders throughout the process.

A SWOT analysis from long-time volunteers, staff and board members give a perspective needed to think strategically about our shared work. We will also bench-mark our work against a few organization peers to evaluate what can be learned from their own planning efforts, particularly broad observations about changes in higher education.

We also know our alumni, volunteers and students need to be engaged in this process. Their feedback will be critical to understanding needs of current and future students, as well as perceptions about resources needed to excel. Towards that end, we will take the next few months to assemble a student leader focus group, engage association oresidents through calls with members of the International Executive Board, host listening sessions with chapter advisors, and offer chapter officers a chance to engage in-person at the FarmHouse Leadership Institute.

Throughout the process we invite any member to share their thoughts and ideas for the strategic plan by sending an email to Fraternity CEO Christian Wiggins at christian@farmhouse.org. We look forward to sharing updates in the coming issues of Pearls & Rubies and are committed to sharing the final plan in summer 2020.

Beyond 2020 Timeline

JUNE 2019 Collect peer organization strategic plans and other reference materials; host first committee call

SEPTEMBER 2019 Draft member survey; Establish chapter president feedback group

APRIL/MAY 2019 Fraternity and Foundation Boards appoint committee members

JULY—AUGUST 2019 SWOT analysis conducted by board members and select audience; In-person committee retreat in Kansas City, Mo.

NOVEMBER 2019 Survey data and listening session data to be analyzed; strategic themes to be developed

OCTOBER 2019

Conduct member survey; host listening sessions with focus chapters and alumni groups

DECEMBER 2019 Begin drafting strategic priorities

FEBRUARY 2020 Refine plan

APRIL–JUNE 2020 Plan to be refined; marketing plan to be developed; tactics to be adopted

JANUARY 2020 Conduct student leader listening sessions at FLI; in-person committee retreat

MARCH 2020 Fraternity and Foundation Boards revise plan

JULY 2020 Plan to be unveiled at Conclave