Board of Trustees
Lawrence is a retired Senior Vice President, Global Credit & Risk, John Deere Financial, a position he began in 2014. He was responsible for all John Deere Financial global credit and risk activities, including risk management, credit policy, credit administration, credit audit, and credit training. In addition, Sidwell was responsible for ensuring compliance with financial services regulators globally and manages relationships with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Reserve. Sidwell joined John Deere in October 1999 as Process Owner, Market Development for John Deere Financial. He became Senior Vice President of e-commerce in 2000 and Senior Vice President of iVesta, the Company's dot com joint venture with CoBank in 2001. In 2003, he was named Senior Vice President, Ag Financial Services. In 2012, Sidwell was appointed Senior Vice President, Credit and Operations, Region 4 and led the wholesale, retail, and credit operations groups supporting customer service and credit management activities for all financial services operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Before joining John Deere, Sidwell worked for Farm Credit Services in Perry, Iowa, holding the positions of Vice President and Credit Supervisor, from 1976 to 1985. He was Vice President for Rabobank Nederland in New York, New York in 1985, and went on to be Vice President at the company's Chicago location in 1993. In 1996, he became Chief Executive Officer for Agri credit Acceptance Company in Des Moines, Iowa. A native of Galion, Ohio, Sidwell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He is President, Hyperion Field Club, a member of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement USA, and former Chairman of Capital Campaign for Olney Friends School.