Sheldon Petersen has been our chief executive officer since March 1995. He joined CFC in August 1983 as an area representative where he provided financial management and consulting services to members in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana and the Dakotas. In 1990, Petersen moved to CFC headquarters where he held various management positions.

Petersen began his career in the rural electrification program in 1976 with Nishnabotna Valley REC in Harlan, Iowa. In November 1980, he became general manager of Rock County ECA, now Rock Energy Cooperative, in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Petersen serves as a director on the board of Homestead Funds, a family of publicly traded no-load mutual funds established in 1990 by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He is also on the NRTC board. A native of western Iowa, he received his B.A. degree in marketing from the University of Northern Iowa in 1975.

Graceann Clendenen, CFC’s senior vice president and chief administrative officer, is responsible for day-to-day operations management, internal audit, human resources, employee development, facility management, procurement, space planning and the business center. Clendenen also oversees CFC’s strategic planning and management of the organization’s business plan.

Clendenen joined CFC in 1982 and was vice president of human resources and corporate services before being promoted to senior vice president, corporate services in 2014. She was named CFC's senior vice president and chief administrative officer in 2018. In her more than 35 years at CFC, she has served in a variety of other roles including vice president of human resources, director of human resources and corporate services manager.

Born and raised in New York state, Clendenen received a degree in business administration and an M.B.A. degree in human resource management from the University of Phoenix.

Joel Allen became CFC’s senior vice president of member services in 2014. He manages member services and loan underwriting for electric distribution systems throughout the country. In his 25 years at CFC, Allen has held various roles including underwriting loans, analyzing capital markets funding sources, managing a collection of diversified consumer financing products and managing a credit delivery group. Allen previously served as vice president of portfolio management from 2010 to 2014.

Allen earned a degree in finance from Old Dominion University and an M.B.A. degree with a concentration in finance from George Washington University.

Roberta Aronson is CFC’s senior vice president and general counsel. Aronson is responsible for providing and coordinating all legal services for CFC, including governance and corporate matters, lending and capital markets transactions, and litigation.

Prior to joining CFC in July 1995, Aronson was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm of Thompson, Hine and Flory. She earned her B.A. degree (with high distinction) from The Pennsylvania State University and received her J.D. degree from The George Washington University School of Law. Aronson is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland bars, and is a corporate counsel in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is a member of the Non-Profit Forum for the Washington Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Association.

John Borak joined CFC in June 2002 as senior vice president, credit risk management, and is accountable for credit risk management and analysis, credit standards and policy.

He began his career in banking with Chemical Bank, now J.P. Morgan Chase, where he was an account manager in the Corporate Banking Group and later became deputy senior credit officer for Global Corporate Banking. He has real estate asset management and credit recovery experience with Mellon Bank where he was also deputy senior credit officer for the New York, Philadelphia and specialized industries corporate banking portfolios.

A native of New Jersey, Borak received a B.A. degree in economics and an M.B.A. degree from Rutgers University. Borak completed the graduate program in administration and management at Harvard University.

As senior vice president for corporate relations, Brad Captain has responsibility for corporate communications, meetings and conferences, financial training and federal relations.

Prior to joining CFC in 1999, Captain served as a special assistant to the undersecretary of rural development at USDA. His responsibilities at USDA included rural utilities and economic development issues. Captain also worked for NRECA as a government relations and communications consultant. Captain began his career as policy director for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana. He graduated from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business with a degree in economics and public policy.

Mary Ann Harden is senior manager, corporate administration, and manages all activities of the executive office. Her responsibilities include designing, implementing and managing the corporation’s board of directors’ administrative operational structure in a way that effectively supports organizational missions, goals and fiduciary responsibilities. Harden has been with CFC since 1991 and has worked in various positions within the company.

A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Harden received a bachelor of arts degree from Mercyhurst University.

As CFC’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, Andrew Don is responsible for the oversight of CFC’s treasury and finance group and the generation and transmission portfolio management function.

Prior to joining CFC in 1999, Don held the position of vice president and manager of the Washington, D.C., Loan Production Office for The Bank of Tokyo–Mitsubishi. Don started his banking career with the Bank of Montreal in New York in 1984 and subsequently was a vice president of corporate banking for The Bank of New York from 1987 to 1990.

Presently, Don serves on the business advisory counsel for Thanks USA, a national charitable organization dedicated to assisting U.S. military families. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he received a B.A. degree from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. degree from Fordham University.

Robin Reed is CFC’s senior vice president of loan operations. Reed is responsible for the systems and quality controls related to the origination and maintenance of loans as well as disbursements and other aspects of loan servicing. She is also responsible for the lending activity in the rural telecommunications industry.

Reed previously served as vice president of portfolio management for RTFC from 2002 to 2013 and was an associate vice president and account manager for 12 years. She joined CFC in 1987 as an account manager for the electric distribution lending group. Prior to joining CFC, Reed was employed in the IPO division of an investment banking firm.

A native of Pennsylvania, Reed received her B.A. degree in economics from the University of Maryland.

Greg Starheim is CFC’s senior vice president of business and industry development. Prior to joining CFC in July 2015, he held the position of president and CEO of Kenergy Corp., a 55,000-member electric distribution cooperative serving 14 counties in western Kentucky.

Starheim began his professional career in 1984 with General Electric Company where he held global leadership positions in various functional areas, predominantly in the power generation industry. He later served as CEO and general manager of Delaware County Electric Cooperative, a distribution and generation electric cooperative serving the greater Catskill Mountains area of upstate New York.

Starheim holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Clarkson University and an M.B.A. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a licensed professional engineer and a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.