Leadership

Jeff Svennes understands the challenges growers face because he has been a farmer his entire life. He experienced a couple of disasters years in the 80s and it would have been devastating to his business if it wasn’t for crop insurance. Jeff started selling crop insurance to help protect his neighbors. His business kept expanding until the founding of PRM in 2017. To this day, Jeff is passionate about protecting growers because he personally knows how much a loss can hurt.

Don Preusser has over 30 years of executive and operational leadership of Property/ Casualty Insurance Companies. Don has a broad background in Agriculture including prior to PRM, serving as President of John Deere Insurance Company and member of John Deere Financial where he led the effort to integrate precision farming technology into crop insurance.

Tommy Jones has over 35 years in agriculture, including 28 years with John Deere in multiple roles in North America and Australia growing Deere’s financial services business. During his time with Deere, one role was sales and marketing for Deere’s crop insurance division where they developed the first industry integration of precision field data directly to required crop insurance reporting.

Heidi brings over 20 years of experience in project management, product development, data analytics and management, compliance, and risk management within the insurance sector. She oversees the compliance program for PRM to promote awareness of and compliance with company values, applicable laws, regulations, and policies, in addition to implementation and oversight of governance programs and risk management practices.

Ryan Jones is an expert storyteller and data wonk. He started his career as a broadcast journalist producing news for a Nielsen top 10 market. Ryan transitioned into marketing to become Creative Director for one of the largest advertising agencies in the South. There he led teams of producers, graphic artists, web developers, social and SEO experts to shape powerful messaging for Fortune 300 companies. Ryan crafts all marketing and communications for PRM to help farmers understand crop insurance. He has an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado and an M.S. in Business Analytics from the University of Iowa.

Landon’s professional and educational passions are finance and economics. Landon has worked in finance for 10+ years providing invaluable education, experiences, and growth that helps him serve PRM and its stakeholders. Landon is passionate about formal and informal education, sports, and his family. Landon has degrees in Economics and Finance from Liberty University.

Gary has almost 25 years of experience in the crop insurance industry and provides a unique perspective that few others share. From his personal lifelong involvement with farming and his early years as an agronomist to his years in crop insurance roles in Marketing, Claims, and Compliance, Gary understands the industry and what is important to growers. One of Gary’s strengths is his ability to communicate with all stakeholders, and he believes strongly in ensuring all parties understand the policies as well as the regulations governing them.

Erick began his career in crop insurance in 1986, initially working at his father’s insurance agency while pursuing farming. In 1989, he transitioned to being an independent loss adjuster, a role he grew to enjoy as he traveled across states handling various crop claims. In 1994, Erick pursued full-time work in the insurance industry and eventually relocated to Illinois to work as a field representative.
Over time, he moved into management roles, including Assistant Regional Claims Manager and later National Training Manager, where he expanded his knowledge of crop insurance on a national scale. After multiple company transitions, Erick joined John Deere Risk Protection, managing strategic accounts and expanding crop insurance operations in underdeveloped regions. Despite his plans to retire at 55, Erick continued working, helping to drive significant growth for Farmers Mutual Hail.