Background/Experience
Steve McWilliams
McWilliams obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri in 1978 and 1979, respectively. Creating a financial model that analyzed three different types of pork production systems, McWilliams completed a thesis titled “An Economic Evaluation of Investment, Energy and Labor Trade-Offs in Swine Production.” After completing his graduate education, he continued to pursue his life-long interests in agriculture through a series of professional positions in agricultural finance, as a chief financial officer and consulting.
McWilliams gained extensive experience working in the agricultural lending arena for 19 years. He was employed for 15 years in a major insurance company’s agricultural investment unit and for 4 years with a specialized agribusiness lending group at a bank. At the insurance company, his career began working with farm real estate loans prior to moving into company-owned and joint-venture agricultural operations, corporate finance, real estate investments and agribusiness loans. During his last 6 years with insurance investments, he was instrumental in implementing an agribusiness lending program. In the banking agribusiness lending unit, McWilliams developed and managed a large portfolio, with a focus on syndicating loans in the pork and poultry sectors. Senior debt was arranged for several of the largest US pork production companies during their formative periods.
McWilliams served in CFO roles at pork production companies for 6 years, working closely with financial and accounting teams. He was a significant driver in the development of systems that interfaced accounting, financial and operating activities. He developed production-driven budget models that focused on income statements and cash flows, an organized and detailed cost analysis both for the overall operation and on a per-pig basis. Individual farm budgets fed into a consolidated budget that were further linked to balance sheets, loan borrowing base and loan availability, loan ratios, coverage calculations and return analysis. These budget models became very valuable in projecting cash needs, developing expansion plans and projecting returns. He was also instrumental in analyzing new acquisitions, negotiating terms sheets and documentation, arranging financing and closing deals. During his tenure as a CFO, lender meetings were organized and arranged to review recent results, production-driven budgets and growth plans.
In 2006, McWilliams formed McWilliams Agribusiness, Inc. to provide financial consulting services – primarily to pork production operations. Consulting services involve part-time CFO support functions such as: financial modeling; linking financial reports to budget-to-actual analysis; assisting with loan structures and analyzing changes. Production-driven financial modeling also has many applications and benefits beyond CFO-support work – including business interruption claims and acquisition/disposition analysis.
Pershing's Defender
Pershing’s Defender – Grand Champion at the Missouri State Fair and Grand Champion at the National Swine Show (1925). Bred by R. P. McWilliams (grandfather of Steve McWilliams)