Farm Bureau Financial Services
Photo: Art Sidner
Sleepy Eye: Farm Bureau Financial Services
Sister and brother team Randi and Mike Wise, ages 26 and 33, respectively, became Farm Bureau Financial Services agents at 135 Main Street West in October 2013.
Both Randi and Mike graduated from New Ulm High. In a telephone interview, Mike said, “We grew up in Lafayette, where my grandfather owned the bank. My father worked there, and still does. It was purchased by Citizen’s Bank Minnesota.”
After high school, Mike earned in 2000 an associate’s degree in computer programming. He worked for Mankato-based Norsoft four years and Ad Associates in New Ulm another four years. In 2009, he went full-time with his own company, Notion IT, in which he became the IT department for smaller companies that didn’t have one. He has sold that company to Thriveon.
Randi graduated from Minnesota State Mankato in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in finance. She worked for the co-op in Hanska before joining an independent insurance agent for two years. Randi and Mike had always gotten along well and had kicked around the idea of working together. Mike said, “Then a long-time Farm Bureau agent in Sleepy Eye passed away. We knew the Farm Bureau agent in New Ulm and he approached me. We officially opened our office on October 1, 2013, after our training.”
According to Mike, Farm Bureau Financial Services is a multi-line company providing all kinds of insurance, including home, auto, life, health, business, farm and ranch, and investments, from mutual funds and retirement funding to estate strategies. He said, “People often think we do only farms, but we insure people in town. In fact, I was a Farm Bureau policy holder a few years before I became an agent.”
Of Randi, Mike said, “I admire her dedication. She always has been one to go to bat for you, going above and beyond what duty calls. In insurance, things happen all hours. We are available all hours, not just 9-5.”
Farm Bureau Financial Services
Telephone: 507-794-4421
Websites: michaelwise.fbfs.com or randiwise.fbfs.com