SOURCE | Spring 2022 5 he interviewed several times at the GROWMARK home office but didn ’ t get the position at the time .
“ I think Gary Nebergall ( current GROWMARK Executive Director Agri-Finance and Strategic Relationship Lead ) got the position I interviewed for , so Gary is one of the many people in this System I go way back with .”
Yet it wouldn ’ t be long before he was offered his first full-time position within the GROWMARK System , being hired on as the assistant controller for Schuyler- Brown FS .
“ Mike Turner ( recently retired GROWMARK Vice President of Midwest Operations ) was the controller for Schuyler-Brown at the time and took a chance on me . And that ’ s really what set my career in motion .”
Orr says even though he wasn ’ t inherently wired to be an accountant , Turner helped teach him the ins and outs of finance , with a focus on reconciling the financial statement each month .
“ Up until that point , I had only had one accounting course in college and pretty sure I got a C + in that , so Mike taught me everything I know about finance ,” Orr recalls . “ Going through that reconciliation process , I always felt confident handing over the financial statement to my general manager at the end of the month and saying , ‘ this is accurate ’ because it gives you the confidence that the numbers are correct .”
Back in the early 1990s , controllers often also functioned as the de facto IT department . It was the beginning of personal computers becoming commonplace in offices around the country , and Orr recalls planning to get all of the Schuyler- Brown locations up to speed with the current technology at the time .
“ It was the backbone of setting up my interest in technology , and that ’ s carried through my whole career ,” adds Orr .
After several years at Schuyler-Brown , Orr took his first controller position with Morgan County Service Company , which ultimately became part of Prairieland FS .
“ Ron Mowen was the general manager and a great mentor who trusted me and really helped me build my skills ,” says Orr . “ And that ’ s been key for me , building those relationships with other general managers and controllers within the System . And that ’ s what I value the most , those friendships I developed in the System and great working relationships with colleagues throughout .”
Orr says it was typical to move up to larger companies to further your career in those times , so within a few years he found himself as the controller at Ag-Land FS in Pekin , Illinois .
After several years there , Orr would move on to his first general manager role , at Piatt County Service Company .
“ That was a great experience ,” recalls Orr . “ Some call it Piatt University . It ’ s a great community and one that I still have friends at today . Working at a small member company like that really allows you to understand the whole gamut of what it takes to run a company .”
By 2006 , he would be moving onto another general manager role , this one at Ag View FS in Princeton , Illinois .
“ Once I got the job , I was like , ‘ what did I get myself into here ?’ They had some financial issues ; the working capital was actually negative ,” recalls Orr .
Yet Orr says over the eight years he spent there , the team was able to turn the ship around by focusing on centralization , especially with dry fertilizer , along with benefiting from the ethanol boom which he attributes to helping out the financial picture . Personally , the move was one of the best , he says , for his family .
“ My wife and I really enjoyed that community and will probably end up retiring there someday ,” adds Orr .
“ When you look back at that time , Ag View FS ended up winning the Performance Improvement Award for the System three years in a row ,” says recently retired GROWMARK CEO Jim Spradlin . “ I think that is a testament to the great work that was done there , because you have to keep improving to continuously win an award like that .”
In 2013 , Spradlin helped to bring Orr to GROWMARK as the Region Vice President , focusing on Northern Illinois .
“ I was able to do really good strategic planning with the company boards in that region and build those deep connections ,” says Orr . “ When you have those relationships , it ’ s like you still connect when you go back in the boardroom even after a long time .”
He wouldn ’ t be in that role long , as Spradlin promoted Orr to Vice President