NC Agricultural Finance Authority - Board Members
Keith Beavers, Chairman
Keith Ray Beavers of Mount Olive is a fourth-generation farmer and has over 50 years of farming. He was born and raised in the northern end of Duplin County. He is the owner and operator of a 900-acre farm.
He and Glenda Britt Beavers have been married for 54 years. He has two daughters, both NCSU graduates, Mrs. Jeanette Beavers Creech and Mrs. Annette Beavers LeBron and four grandchildren.
Beavers was one of the first farmers to operate a stocker cattle operation and sell by the tractor-truck load lots on new nationwide video cattle auction. He traveled over 27 countries around the world to promote the sale of tobacco for North Carolina tobacco farmers.
He attended the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Executive Development Seminar for Tobacco Farms, NC State University Short Course on Modern Farming, East Carolina College and Graduated from Mount Olive High School. He has held or currently holds positions with the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, Flue-cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. (U.S. Tobacco) and Tri-County EMC. Member of Duplin County Farm Bureau, North Carolina Farm Bureau State Board member, Southern State Cooperative Board, Corn Growers Association of NC, Career Planning at James Sprunt Community College, University of Mount Olive Advisory Agriculture and NC Agricultural Finance Authority. Beavers received the Melvin G. Cording Service to Agriculture Award for Duplin County.
Jeffrey Smith, Vice Chairman
Jeffrey Smith resides in Boonville, North Carolina, which is located in Yadkin County. He is married to Becky Smith and they have 2 daughters Amber, 26, and Heather, who was 32, who recently passed away. Jeffrey is a member of Deep Creek Friends Meeting. As a 4th generation farmer of Smith Farms, we grow 500 acres of tobacco, 1500 acres of corn, 1350 acres of soybeans, and 400 acres of barley. We also have 4 chicken houses and beef cattle. Jeffrey serves on the Yadkin County Planning and Zoning Board, the Yadkin County Board of Elections and the Agricultural Finance Authority Board. He has previously served on the Yadkin County FSA board. Currently a member of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina and the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina. I am a Chairman on the Farm and Labor Advisory Board for Farm Bureau.
Keith Purvis
Keith Purvis started his agricultural career with Dale Bone Farms in Nash county NC in 1999. We grew, harvested, packed, shipped and sold melons, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and squash. In 2004, Keith joined L&M Companies in Raleigh, NC. L&M is a national grower/shipper of melons, eastern vegetables, potatoes, onions and tropicals. Keith worked with growers and customers all over the United States. In 2012, my wife and I bought Greenville Produce Company in Greenville, NC. We are a regional distributor in eastern North Carolina. We work with local farmers to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to restaurants, schools and grocery stores. Keith was born and raised in Washington NC and proud to call eastern North Carolina his home!
H. Gregg Strader
Born in Durham, NC, Gregg grew up in Lexington, NC. He earned a B.S. degree in Economics at Davidson College. Gregg also earned an MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business in St. Louis.
Gregg started his banking career with summer positions in Lexington, NC with First Union National Bank. He later joined First Union on a full-time basis in 1980. Over his ensuing 40 years in the banking industry Gregg worked with various financial institutions, including First Union/Wachovia Corporation for 23 years, where he specialized in real estate lending and real estate credit. He served Wachovia as their Chief Real Estate Credit Officer and separately as the Managing Director of the Special Assets area of Wachovia. He joined IBERIABANK Corporation headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2009 serving the company as their Executive Vice President & Chief Credit Officer. He also led numerous due diligence efforts on targeted banks as IBERIABANK grew their banking footprint in Louisiana and into Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and Texas. Gregg joined American National Bank And Trust Company in 2013 and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer. During his tenure with American National, Gregg played a key role in the bank’s market expansion in the Triad and the Triangle, as well as Roanoke and Rocky Mount, Virginia. Gregg’s bank leadership and expertise includes managing teams focused on lending, credit, risk management, workouts, merger due diligence and successful merger integrations both locally and across broad geographies.
Gregg’s community engagement over the years includes serving as a Trustee for Greensboro Day School, the Board of the YMCA of Greensboro, Board Member and Board Chairman of The United Way of Greater Greensboro, Board Member of the North Carolina Bankers Association and Provost for the North Carolina School of Banking. Currently Gregg serves on the Board of the Laurel Grove Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Inc. and the Board of the North Carolina Agricultural Finance Authority.
Following his retirement from American National Bank And Trust Company in 2021, and after farming part-time for many years, Gregg is now pursuing an energizing, full time agricultural career growing wheat, soybeans and apples, as well as managing pine and hardwood forests. Gregg’s farming interests began while visiting his grandparents’ farms in Rockingham and Wayne Counties many years ago. Those fond memories have continued and provide the motivation necessary for Gregg’s gratifying second career.
Gregg is married to Sara E. Stoneburner, MD and they live in Greensboro, NC. They have two grown and married children, and two grandsons. Gregg is a member of Arbor Baptist Church.
N. David Smith, Deputy Commissioner
N. David Smith is the Chief Deputy Commissioner for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. As Chief Deputy Commissioner, he is responsible for the core business functions of the department. Smith began his career with the department in 1972.
Smith received his B.S. degree in biological and agricultural engineering from North Carolina State University in 1972. He has been the chief deputy commissioner of agriculture for the past sixteen years.
In 2005 Smith was named to a one-year term as Chairman of the Board of ASTM International, a globally recognized leader in the development and publication of international voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services. Prior to being named Chairman of the Board, Smith served as chairman of ASTM Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants from 1994 until 1999. He is well versed in developing voluntary consensus standards and how to get individuals with differing opinions to achieve a common goal.
Smith has also served as chairman of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM). He has held numerous other positions in the NCWM as well as serving in leadership positions with other professional organizations.
Meghann Lambeth
The Lambeth name and agriculture, in my biased opinion, is comparable to NASCAR and the Petty’s, minus the national recognition. The fondest memories from the most formative years in my life were in either a tobacco field or barn and all include my entire family, both parents, two brothers, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. When the rest of the students in my class were excited for the school year to end so they could sleep late and watch cartoons, I was bracing up for even earlier mornings and much harder work with another summer tobacco season. Being the only daughter, I had it a little easier than my brothers and didn’t start working until I was six, yes, you read that correctly, 72 months after I was born, I was nestled in the seat of a rusty red Farmall 140, which we referred to as “the 140.” My job was to drive the tractor pulling two trailers of freshly picked tobacco leaves up and down the sled rows of the Triple L Farms tobacco fields. Once full and secured with rope, I would deliver the two heaping trailers of tobacco to the barn and pick up another tractor with two empty trailers and repeat the process. The lessons I learned from this early start, in terms of my age and the time of day, were invaluable and served as the foundational pillars for my work ethic, character, beliefs, and values.
My name is Meghann Lambeth and I am honored to be sharing my deep agriculture roots with you. Circling back to my opening sentence with a racing reference, farming, as they say of racing also, is in your blood. I represent the fifth generation of farming Lambeths.
Although my two brothers and I have careers outside of Triple L Farms in Derby, we have all continued to work in some capacity for the family farm and in various other arenas of agriculture. My oldest brother, James (Jamie), served as the Richmond County Farm Service Agency Director, prior to becoming a GIS Specialist for the USDA Farm Service Agency. William (Jed) is a livestock producer of poultry, growing for Mountaire Farms with 10 houses, and cattle, in addition to directing Ag Product/ Chemical sales for Trinity Manufacturing. Along with managing the family farm, my father, Donald (Jim) Lambeth was recently reappointed for a second term on the NC Board of Agriculture in 2022. My mother, Marcia Lambeth, a retired English teacher with Richmond County Schools, is the familiar face in the Derby Store, where the produce from Triple L Farms has been sold every summer from around Memorial Day to Labor Day. Not only has she formed countless relationships with travelers from all over the country who return every summer, but she has beautifully decorated the century old general store, where my great grandfather, Herbert Currie, sold everything from gasoline to clothes, to display historical agriculture and farming equipment, signage, photos, and other memorabilia. Another point of pride for our matriarch- she was the first female to serve on the Pee Dee Electric Board of Directors and is currently in her 23rd year as the District 6 Director.
As for my aptitude beyond my lineage to represent Richmond County and the great state of North Carolina in regard to all things agriculture, I am a passionate advocate for equity, civic responsibility, and my community. I know firsthand the importance and value of agriculture and farming for ensuring a sustainable future, economically and environmentally. Although my specific tasks and focus has changed dramatically in my professional experience, from being a school counselor for the public school system of Richmond County from 2008-2019 to my current position as the Executive Director of the Richmond County Tourism Development Authority, the overarching theme in both has been empowering and supporting my community through advocacy and leadership. Additionally, I am currently serving on The Seaboard Festival Planning Board, Richmond County Chamber of Commerce Board, and Rockingham Rotary Board, and served as the Chapter Leader for the Richmond County Chapter of the Autism Society of North Carolina from 2020-2021.
Women’s History Tribute from Richmond Observer in 2022
Triple L Farms named Richmond County Farm Family of the Year 2019
Faylene Whitaker
Faylene is Co-owner of Whitaker Farms LLC and Whitaker Equipment LLC. They farm organic tobacco, corn, and wheat. The farm also has two garden centers, bakery, agritourism, landscaping, strawberries, and forty acres of vegetables.
She serves on the NC Board of Agriculture and has for the last seven years. She also serves on the NC Farm Bureau Board. She is an active member of Red Cross Baptist Church. She is the mother of two sons and four grandchildren.
In October 2024, she was named the 2024 Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year, and the first woman ever to receive this recognition in the Expo's 34-year history!
Allan Baucom
Allan Baucom is a prominent figure in North Carolina's agricultural and business communities, known for his deep roots in Union County and his extensive experience in farming and entrepreneurship. Born and raised in Union County, Baucom has dedicated his life to agriculture, operating A.L. Baucom Family Farms, which spans multiple counties including Union, Anson, Scotland and Robeson. His businesses employ over 150 people, highlighting his role as a significant local employer.
Baucom's commitment to agriculture is evident through his long-standing involvement in farming, where he has cultivated crops such as wheat, soy, cotton, and corn for over 47 years. He also actively participates in various agricultural boards and initiatives. He serves on the advisory board of the Executive Farm Management program and the Advisory Board of CALS at NC State University, reflecting his dedication to advancing agricultural education and practices.
In addition to his agricultural endeavors, Baucom has been involved in public service. He is a former Chairman of the Union County Commissioners and the Union County Soil and Water Conservation District. His leadership extends to his participation in conservative politics, where he is recognized for his business acumen and conservative values.
Baucom's personal life is characterized by strong family values. He is an active member of Lee Park Baptist Church. He cherishes his family, which includes four children and ten grandchildren.
Allan Baucom reflects a life dedicated to agriculture, community service, and conservative leadership, as affirmed by his induction into the Union County Agricultural Hall of Fame. His contributions to North Carolina's agricultural landscape and his efforts to influence positive change in governance underscore his commitment to preserving the values he holds dear for future generations.
Peter Daniel
https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/peter-daniel-an-advocate-for-agriculture-and…
Angie Maier
Angie Maier has worked in and around NC politics for more than twenty-five years. She is the founder of Valley View Insights, a lobbying and government affairs consulting firm in Raleigh, NC. Her lobbying clients include the pork, cattle and dairy industries.
She previously served as the director of government affairs and sustainability for the NC Pork Council for fifteen years. Before that, Angie worked on staff at the NC General Assembly in several different capacities, including as a policy analyst in the Office of the NC Speaker of the House of Representatives and a legislative assistant to two state senators. Early in her career, she also managed several state legislative races.
As a lobbyist, Angie has achieved successful outcomes under both Democratic and Republican majorities on issues involving general agriculture and farming, regulatory reform, manufacturing and processing, transportation, and renewable energy, among others.
In addition to her role as a government affairs consultant, she is currently serving as the interim executive director of the NC Dairy Producers Association.
Angie is a McDowell County native and holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from North Carolina State University. She lives in Raleigh with her husband Neal and their 12-year-old daughter, Amelia.