Henry Gordon, AFM, is a member of the Mid-South Chapter of the ASFMRA. He joined the ASFMRA in September of 2020 and earned his AFM designation not too long after that, in November. Henry works as the Vice President and Trust Real Estate Manager at First Horizon Bank in Memphis, Tennessee.
When did you begin your career in agriculture?I began working for First Horizon Bank in their trust division. The bank felt I might be a good fit for managing trust real estate because of my background in forestry and the environment. Since I began working with farmland assets, I have found managing farm assets to be extremely engaging and enjoyable.
What ag issues are you most passionate about or interested in?Water rights are very interesting to me. I am most interested in and motivated to be the best at improving yield with careful and thoughtful stewardship of the resource. I want my customer to be satisfied that I am doing the best I can for them and for their farm interests. I also am inclined to focus on the timber and wildlife habitat assets of a property.
How does it feel to have earned your AFM designation?It feels awesome! I think the most useful thing I learned was that there are some really super people in our organization and I had the privilege of meeting and interacting with many from all over the country. The ASFMRA is an incredible organization and I am really looking forward to growing with it.
Can you describe an professional experience that was especially fulfilling? Earning the AFM designation was especially fulfilling and rewarding, but developing and implementing the timber harvest management plan for one of our properties has been very rewarding. Though there is still lots of work to be done, I hope that I get to see where the plan takes the timber stand in future decades. My customer and his wife joined me for a tour and having them see and be pleased with the work on the ground was especially fulfilling.