O. Glenn Webb

Inducted: 2000

Glenn Webb has been an active cooperator, educator, and farmer for more than 40 years. He has held leadership roles in many co-op organizations on the local, regional, and national levels. His leadership is characterized as calm, focused, and rooted in the fundamentals of business and cooperative principles. This demeanor does not prevent him from crusading on behalf of controversial positions, however, such as consolidation of the Farm Credit System or partnership with an international investor-owned processor.

In 1980, he was instrumental in creating a cohesive regional cooperative named GROWMARK, Inc., consequently serving as its first elected chairman of the board and president. He also served as CoBank’s chairman during its critical early years, helping to assure its early and subsequent success.

Webb‘s commitment to cooperative education is another hallmark of his leadership. As an educator, he speaks and listens to young farmers, co-op directors, and employees. He has shaped educational programs for the National Institute of Cooperative Education, the Graduate Institute for Cooperative Leadership, Farm Bureau, and the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation.

Particularly noteworthy is that his contributions to cooperatives emerge not as an employee, but rather as a farmer who believes that cooperatives are a way to enhance lives.