MOUNT VERNON —The new County Executive Director for the Knox County Farm Service Agency office is no stranger to Knox County. Katie Mills-Thobe grew up at Gambier on a grain, beef and horse operation, where she was a member of the Blazing Saddles 4-H Club.
After graduating from The Ohio State University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Mills-Thobe spent three years with ADM Alliance Nutrition in western Ohio as a dairy nutrition field sales representative, working with farmers and feed dealers marketing livestock feed.
Mills-Thobe continued her education at Wright State University, graduating in August 2009 with a master’s degree in business administration. While at Wright State she was a graduate assistant, serving as the MBA Program Coordinator assistant and was on the adjunct faculty, assisting in the development of the university’s first agriculture program. She taught bachelor-level courses in the new program.
In 2009, Mills-Thobe entered the FSA County Operations Trainee program for Ohio. In that program, trainees travel around the state to study FSA programs and learn office operations. Graduates of the COT program are then eligible for CED positions open around the state. If no CED positions are open, graduates of the training program “float” to FSA offices around the state.
