The Rabo AgriFinance leadership team is committed to agriculture.
Shawn Smeins serves as Head of Rural, North America, for Rabobank.
As Head of Rural, Smeins is responsible for the business development and growth of the rural business. Smeins leads the Rural Management Team to ensure Rabo AgriFinance continues to provide value-added financial products and services, client-focused solutions, and long-term business relationships nationwide.
In addition to leading the Rabo AgriFinance business, Smeins is a member of the Rabobank North America Executive Team, which oversees the business and operations of all Rabobank subsidiaries and business units operating in the region to serve the entire food and agribusiness value chain.
In 1993, Smeins joined Ag Services of America in a Credit and Special Assets role. He was later promoted to Chief Operating Officer and continued to serve as COO after Ag Services was acquired by Rabobank in 2003. He was later promoted to Managing Director for Rabo AgriFinance and held various leadership roles until named Head of Rural in November 2020.
Smeins graduated from Morningside College with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and economics. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northern Iowa.
Chris Olson serves as the Head of Rural, U.S. for Rabo AgriFinance.
In his role as General Manager, Chris manages the U.S. rural Direct Lending operations. He has ownership of the entire direct lending process at Rabo AgriFinance from origination through closing and leads the organization’s growth initiatives.
Olson joined Ag Services of America as a Credit Manager in 1998. He continued to serve in various relationship management roles, eventually transitioning into Area Account Manager just prior to the acquisition of the company by Rabobank. While with Rabo AgriFinance, Olson has had roles as Assistant Vice President Regional Coordinator, Regional Vice President, and Managing Director before accepting the role of General Manager in March of 2019.
Olson is a native of Iowa and has been involved in agriculture his entire life. He was raised on a farm in Grinnell, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in finance. Outside of work, Olson is actively involved with his two children and their various activities.
Van Dewey serves as Head of Major Agricultural Clients for Rabo AgriFinance.
Van Dewey oversees the Customer Relationship Management teams serving Rabo AgriFinance’s largest agriculture clients across the U.S. These teams bring extensive industry knowledge and provide specialized service to the largest operations in the animal protein, row crop, dairy, fruit, tree nut and other crop sectors across the country as well as Rabo AgriFinance’s agribusiness clients.
Actively involved with his family farm in Central Kansas, Dewey has over 30 years of agricultural lending experience. In 2004, Van opened one of the first Rabo AgriFinance offices, located in Wichita, Kansas, and grew the Kansas portfolio to one of the company’s largest markets. Following a promotion to Team Leader in 2005, he was further promoted to Regional Vice President in 2007, to Managing Director in 2010 and to General Manager in 2016.
Prior to his role at Rabo AgriFinance, Dewey held other roles in agricultural lending, with more than 15 years of Farm Credit Services experience managing local offices as well as experience at US Bank’s Agribusiness Group.
Van holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Kansas State University.