Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s State Board of Directors has endorsed Valerie Detwiler and Matthew Espenshade to represent agricultural societies on the Penn State Board of Trustees.
Detwiler is seeking a fourth term, while Espenshade is seeking his first.
Detwiler currently serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Banker for Reliance Bank. Valerie has been involved with agricultural lending since 2004, when she began working for the USDA Farm Service Agency, Farm Loan Program.
Detwiler served as a Farm Loan Officer until March 2010, when she began employment with CBT Bank, and later transitioned to Reliance Bank in January 2018. In addition to her employment with the Bank, Valerie and her husband, C.A., own and operate Forshey’s Ag & Industrial, a New Holland machinery dealership, located in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, as well as a beef and crop operation located in New Enterprise.
Valerie graduated in 2006 with high distinction from the Pennsylvania State University, with a bachelor’s in accounting and a minor in legal environments of business. Detwiler aided the Penn State community during her tenure at University Park by serving as a Lion Ambassador from 2004 until 2006. Valerie currently serves on the Blair County Chamber of Commerce Farm City Committee, the Loan Committee of the Southern Alleghenies Planning & Development Commission, and the Pennsylvania Banking Association’s Agriculture and Rural Issues Advisory Committee as well as the Women in Banking Committee.
In addition, she is a member of the Martinsburg Grace Brethren Church and the Blair County Farm Bureau.
Valerie and her husband support Penn State as members of the Golden Lion Society and the Nittany Lion Club. The Detwilers are lifetime members of the Penn State Alumni Association.
Detwiler is currently completing her third three-year term as a member of the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees. Valerie grew up on a dairy farm in Martinsburg with her parents, Gerald and Linda Smith. Detwiler currently resides on part of the family farm with C.A., their daughter, Carly, and their son, Gabriel.
Matthew (Matt) Espenshade is a seventh-generation dairy farmer from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Matt operates Evergreen-Valley Farm alongside his father Harvey in Elizabethtown. They manage a 70-cow registered Holstein and Guernsey dairy herd and crop 250 acres, raising forages and corn. The farm has been owned and operated by the family since 1867.
In addition to operating the family farm, Matt was elected to serve as the Pennsylvania State Grange Master/President in 2022 and was re-elected to a second term in 2024. The Pennsylvania State Grange is Pennsylvania’s oldest rural and agricultural fraternal organization.
Matt grew up on the family dairy farm, learning the dairy business from the ground up, starting with many of the childhood chores that evolved into a genuine interest in continuing the family business. Espenshade graduated from Penn State with a degree in Dairy & Animal Science in 1995.
Espenshade has been a passionate advocate for agriculture and has represented the Grange and Farm Bureau speaking with legislators about key issues, served on the Lancaster County Blue Ribbon Commission for Agriculture, chairs the National Grange’s Conservation Committee and has served on the Elizabethtown FFA Chapter advisory board.
Espenshade is a member of the Wyoming-Lackawanna County Farm Bureau, Elizabethtown Area Grange #2076, Alpha Zeta Fraternity-Morrill Chapter Alumni (Penn State), Abraham C. Treichler Lodge #682 in Elizabethtown, and Mount Calvary Church.
Matt credits Grange and Farm Bureau for providing several unique opportunities as a young ag professional, winning the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher Excellence in Agriculture Award with his wife Charlene in 2005 and the state discussion meet in 2008. Matt and Charlene were the Pennsylvania State Grange Young Couple in 2005-2006. In addition, he was named the Pennsylvania Granger of the Year in 2019.
Matt has been married to his wife, Charlene, for 21 years. They have two sons, Evan (19) and Alan (16).