Tracey Wehrs’ professional goal is to ensure that Farm Credit Leasing’s name is known throughout the equipment finance industry. She also hopes to set her successor, as senior relationship manager, up with plenty of leads and opportunities to succeed when she retires. Wehrs currently serves as a mentor and she hopes to pass on her contacts to her mentees so they can continue building those relationships while also establishing new ones. Ultimately, she hopes to leave her book of business stronger than when she inherited it.

Wehrs has been in the leasing industry for more than 30 years. After graduating from college, Wehrs accepted a position at a Centron DPL Company as a sales representative, getting her first taste of the leasing business, which made her realize she wanted to pursue it as a long-term career. After three years with the company, Wehrs accepted a job at Cargill Leasing as the remarketing specialist and spent 12 years with the company, moving up to become assistant vice president and remarketing manager.

In 2003, Wehrs left Cargill and started a new position at Heartland Funding as a consultant for leasing companies. Two years later, she shifted gears and accepted a job outside of leasing at Normark Corporation, following that up by accepting a position with Farm Credit Leasing as a relationship manager in 2005. She has stayed with the company for 17 years, rising the ranks to become a senior relationship manager.

Throughout her career, Wehrs has had many notable accomplishments, but the one she is most proud of is her ability to create a consistent work-life balance, She has worked hard at a career she loves while prioritizing her family and home life. Oftentimes, Wehrs has served as her own biggest advocate, allowing her to make career moves that wouldn’t have been possible if she didn’t open those doors herself.

‘Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. If you never ask or open up those conversations, you also lose the potential to create tremendous opportunities for yourself,” Wehrs says. “l have been extremely fortunate to have such a great work-life balance, but I was also a strong advocate for myself.”

Another notable accomplishment of Wehrs’ career came during 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although 2020 was a very hard time in many ways, Wehrs and her team worked tirelessly, ultimately closing their biggest deal to-date with Farm Credit Leasing.

Wehrs prides herself on creating and maintaining business relationships with an array of customers, which quickly grow into trusted partnerships. Wehrs has cultivated many of these relationships during her career with Farm Credit Leasing,

“Tracey was the driving force in establishing a business relationship between Northland Capital and Farm Credit Leasing more than 15 years ago,” Jerry Baker, CFO of Northland Capital, says. “Her creativity, persuasiveness and tenacity has helped grow the relationship to levels previously unimaginable. We are fortunate for Tracey leading our relationship — which has now grown into friendship — and hope it remains that way for years to come.”

Wehrs realizes that leasing, especially within capital markets, is still a very male-dominated industry and she wants to lead as an example for other women to show that they can succeed within the leasing world while still having a strong balance at home.