Farm Credit scholarship honors late employee

Farm Credit of the Virginias, Staunton, Virginia, started a new scholarship that will support students in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and honor alumni Brian Wilkerson.

The $100,000 endowment will support a scholarship for students majoring in any program within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The first recipients will be announced in fall 2023.

The fund honors the legacy of the late Brian Wilkerson, a graduate of the department of agricultural and applied economics and a 10-year Farm Credit of the Virginias employee.

“Brian began his career at Farm Credit in 2011 and was an outstanding agricultural loan officer in South Boston and Chatham,” says Brad Cornelius, Farm Credit of the Virginias CEO. “He brought his passion for agriculture and commitment to Farm Credit and our customer-owners with him each and every day and worked tirelessly to serve ‘his farmers.’”

After Wilkerson’s passing in October 2021, the Farm Credit of the Virginias Board of Directors was inspired to establish a scholarship in his honor.

“The Farm Credit of the Virginias’ Memorial Scholarship at Virginia Tech will have a profound impact on its recipients, much like Brian Wilkerson had on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and his colleagues and customers at Farm Credit,” says Alan Grant, dean of the Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The scholarship will be managed by the Virginia Tech Foundation Inc. Future recipients must be residents of Farm Credit of the Virginias’ 96-county service territory, which spans Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland.

“The Farm Credit of the Virginias Memorial Scholarship at Virginia Tech will help prepare our students to become future leaders in the agriculture industry,” says Matthew Holt, head of the Virginia Tech’s department of agricultural and applied economics. “Brian’s dedication and work ethic will serve as a lasting example to our students and alumni for years to come.”