Board Members
Molly Peterson
President, Greenstone Farmers - Molly Peterson grew up on a farm near Brookings, South Dakota. She received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota and graduated from South Dakota State University with her Master of Business Administration. Molly is currently serving as Pipestone's Director of Marketing and Sustainability. Molly currently lives in Brandon, SD with her husband, Colby and their daughter, Madison.
Sean Simpson
President, Pipestone Partnerships - Sean obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa and his Juris Doctor degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Hamline University School of Law. He brought his expertise to Pipestone in 2013 as General Counsel. Today he serves as President of Pipestone Partnerships. Outside of his roles at Pipestone, Sean keeps busy with his wife and 3 sons.
Jeff Clark
Jeff Clark’s career includes strategy and business development roles within the agriculture and energy industries. His experience and skillet includes market analysis, strategic planning, commercial development, finance, and sales/negotiation. Jeff served on the United Way of the Plains Corporate Board for 4 years, where he Chaired the Strategic Planning Committee and served on the Executive Committee of the Board. He is an owner and Operating Manager of a fifth-generation cattle ranch in the Oklahoma Panhandle. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and Accounting from Oklahoma State University, and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Brad Freking
Brad Freking, along with his wife, Meg, founded New Fashion Pork in 1994 after expanding his parent’s farrow-to-finish sow operation in Jackson County, Minnesota. Now operating in seven states, New Fashion Pork employs over 400 team members, markets over 1.4 million hogs every year, and owns just under 60,000 sows. In 2004, Brad joined forces with four other like-minded producers to build Triumph Foods, a state-of-the-art pork processing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri. In 2011, Brad & Meg began purchasing land that is tied with the pig farms so the organic fertilizer from those barns could be used as the primary nutrient source for the farms. Today, approximately 16,000 acres are farmed domestically, primarily in a corn on corn rotation with all the corn delivered to one of the feed mills. In addition, another 30,000 acres are under cultivation in Belize, producing predominately sugar cane which is delivered to their own sugar mill, along with edible corn and beans. Brad also serves on a variety of boards and is very excited about the opportunity that Greenstone presents to its farmer/owners.
Michael Fruechte
Michael Fruechte is owner of Fruechte Family Farms, a now 6th generation diversified crop and livestock farm in Lincoln and Pipestone Co. MN. He has SDSU degrees in Animal Science and Plant Science as well as a background in ag finance and ag consulting. His years of land stewardship and implementation of soil health practices brings the farmer's perspective to the carbon market arena.
Rochelle Eichner
Rochelle Eichner, along with her husband Jay, is an owner operator of Eichner Farms LLC. Eichner Farms LLC runs 2000 acres of corn and soybeans with a 9000 head wean to finish operation. With conservation and sustainability at the forefront of the business, the farm is using regenerative agriculture practices to grow corn and soybeans. Off the farm, Rochelle currently serves as the Global lead for Microsoft’s Tech For Social Impact (TSI) Cloud Solutions Technical team. In this role, she is responsible for leading the technical specialists and architects consulting with the United Nations and nonprofit organizations around the world to use digital transformation to advance their missions. Prior to this role, Rochelle was the Director for Risk & Compliance for Microsoft’s Azure Engineering team serving State and Local Government and Enterprise customers across the United States.
Mike VerSteeg
Mike Ver Steeg has farmed just south of Inwood, Iowa, for 28 years. He produces corn and soybeans and raises hogs with his son Cody and cousin Nathan Nieuwendorp. On his farm they implement strip-till, no-till and cover crops. They also have a feedmill where they mix all their own feed for pigs and he is an owner in 2 sow farms and Wholestone Farms. Ver Steeg and his wife Sarah have three children, Cody (Kaylee), Evan (Grace) who is studying his Masters in Divinity and works part-time at a church, and Ella who attends North Central University for American Sign Language.