After serving as president and chief executive officer of Farm Credit of Central Florida for 11 years, Richard W. Joyner has announced he will retire on March 31 and focus on his family and church.

"I felt a calling from a higher authority to devote more time to the needs of my church," said Joyner, an ordained minister of Baptist Purity Church.

Joyner, a Plant City resident, helped shepherd the farmer-owned cooperative through many changes and expansions, said Ron O'Connor, vice president of marketing for Farm Credit of Central Florida. During Joyner's tenure, the association's gross loan volume has almost doubled, from $341 million to $647 million, O'Connor said. Farm Credit is a major lender to farmers in the region.

Replacing Joyner as president will be Reginald T. Holt, who is senior vice president and director of Farm Credit's Agribusiness Lending Group, Bellotto said. [Read the full story in the Tampa Tribune.]