Living and farming in drought country, Terry Baker is used to challenges.
Last week he took on a new one when he was elected president and board chair of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
He replaces Marvin Wiens, who resigned Feb. 29 after four years in that position.
Baker said he is looking forward to leading a rejuvenated Sask Pool and thinks the mood in the country will help it once again become a strong company.
“The excitement – you can almost touch it out there,” he said.
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Baker farms with his wife Nancy near Denzil, in northwestern Saskatchewan, where they seed about 2,000 acres to cash crops and have a 300-head cow-calf operation. They have three children and two grandchildren.
“I’ve always had a fairly strong sense of responsibility,” he said, referring to his work on the local school board, credit union board, St. John’s United Church and the province’s cattle marketing deductions act advisory committee.
Baker has a degree in civil engineering and pursued graduate studies in environmental engineering. He has taken the Canadian Securities course and the Canadian Futures exam.
He became a pool delegate in 1998 and director three years later. He represents District 4.
In addition to the presidency, Baker now chairs the company’s executive-management committee. He also sits on the strategic and business planning and member relations-communications committees.
Baker said he has utmost confidence in the company’s executive management team to lead it to a stronger future.
The president’s role has changed over the past year, no longer working full-time out of the Regina head office. Baker said this doesn’t bother him because it gives him more opportunity to spend time in the country with producers and delegates.
He also said his job is to communicate on behalf of the board but not directly manage the company.
Because it is 500 kilometres door-to-door from his farm to head office, he plans to be “as visible as I can be under the circumstances.”
Thad Trefiak of Leross was re-elected vice-president, while Douglas Kitchen was re-elected to a second term as lead director and vice-chair.
In district elections, Rick Jensen from Webb replaced Wiens as director in District 3.
Kyle Korneychuk, who farms at Pelly and opposed the pool’s decision to become publicly traded, replaced Allan Beblow in District 6.
Vic Bruce of Tuxford and Ferne Nielsen of Turtleford were re-elected in districts 2 and 8, respectively.
