Mike Swore is the Information Services Systems, Security, and Support Manager. He is also an entrepreneur, holds an engineering degree, owns and operates a successful farm, and is a devoted husband and father of five. Get to know Mike a little better as he answers a few questions below.

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Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, but moved to the family farm north of Tyhee after just a couple years. Farming became part of my everyday life, and after graduating from the college of engineering at ISU,
[Mike was the first-ever second-generation graduate from Idaho State University’s College of Engineering, following in his father’s footsteps],
I married my sweetheart and bought the farm next door to my family’s farm. 

 

What was your most interesting job before coming to Farm Bureau?

I grew up working on my grandfather’s farm. Nothing matches the variety of different types of work, hours worked, amount of work, or fun you can have working on a farm. My kids love to hear stories about things that happened back in the day, be it accidentally jumping a ditch and landing on a skunk, building a log pole potato cellar, fighting fires caused by lightning in wheat stubble fields, or staying up working for two days straight. Every day is a challenge and that keeps it interesting.

 

How did you come to work at Farm Bureau?

I had a standing offer to come work for Farm Bureau. I was part owner in a local computer store called Computer Hut. When we sold the store, I purchased the farm next to my grandfather’s farm. I originally planned to start a new computer store, but Wendy didn’t want me working 60 to 80 hours a week away from home, and she knew I had the standing offer at Farm Bureau [from Phil Joslin, Farm Bureau Insurance's CEO, and a steady Computer Hut customer]. I think I called Farm Bureau on Thursday and was told to start Monday morning. About two hours later, I received a call and was asked to come up to the office the next day and interview with my new boss.

 

What is your role at Farm Bureau and what aspect do you enjoy the most?

My role at Farm Bureau is to manage the design, implementation, and support for stable technology. This includes Farm Bureau’s state wide phone system, network, servers, workstations, printers, internet, email, and security.

 

What are some highlights from your Farm Bureau career?

Being able to make people happy.

 

What do you wish other people knew about your role or department?

They should Turn the computer on and off before calling the Service Desk. Totally kidding! Actually, we like fixing stuff. We want to make things work better for you when we can. We want people to be successful. That being said, we’re tired of resizing and downloading pictures.

 

What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?

New servers and storage. For about the last ten years, computers and storage have been pretty predictable. Each year the computers get a little faster (maybe 25% faster at the most), but it’s more or less the same. This year we purchased a new Pure storage array and it’s unlike anything we have worked with before. It's about 1,700% faster than our previous storage.

 

What are your aspirations in this position?

I just want to provide the tools that allows everyone to do their job well, and make it easier for the agents to make money.

 

What is your proudest accomplishment?

They all kind of blend in. But I did like it when we went through Microsoft Audit where they reviewed everything we had for a couple of months.  Initially, they sent an estimated invoice for over a million additional dollars, but after showing them that their audit process was flawed (which they said was impossible), I proved to them that it was, in fact wrong, and we didn’t have to pay anything beyond our already planned growth for the year.

 

Tell us a little about your family.

My wife, Wendy, and I celebrated 23 years together this fall. Wendy keeps busy on the farm with the produce, corn maze, and pumpkin patch. She also writes children’s books in the winter. Our five children range from 12 to 21 years old, with one graduating from BYU-Idaho this year, another in Georgia on a mission, two more in high school, and the youngest attending Connor Academy.

 

What motivates you to work hard?

I think if you’re going to do a job, you should do it well. It’s better to get it done right the first time so there’s no need to go back and fix it later.

 

Who inspires you?

My dad grandpa and uncle. They worked their asses off their whole life and always tried hard to do right by people. Good men.

 

Do you have any hobbies outside of work?

Netflix. Just kidding. The main thing I do for fun is farm. I have a small addiction to going to auctions and buying farm equipment. My favorite times of the year is planting and harvesting. Mostly because it encompasses two of my favorite things - driving tractors and driving big trucks.

 

What is your favorite game or sport to watch / play?

As a kid, I played soccer and baseball, but not so much these days. There are so many other worthy role models and individuals to look up to instead of professional athletes.

 

Do you have any hidden talents?

I can play "Great Balls of Fire" and "Star Wars" on the piano. Also, much to my wife’s frustration, when she says something is broken at home, I just walk in the room and it usually starts working again. That counts as a talent, right? Maybe hidden superpower?

 

What is your favorite vacation spot and why?

Hawaii, because it was warm and beautiful.

 

What book(s) are you reading these days?

Netflix. Ha ha!

 

What is your favorite book?

Do seed and equipment catalog books count?

 

Who is your favorite author?

My wife.

 

If you could tell one person “Thank You” for helping you become the person you are today, who would it be and what did they do?

I have to group three people into this: my grandpa, my uncle, and my dad.  We worked together as a team my entire childhood.

 

When are you the happiest? 

When the job is done, or when a lot of work is being done. When it’s done and it happened like it should have.

 

Fill in the blank: If you really knew me, you’d know... 

You can’t have too much of anything. Tractors, tools, cats [they have 25 on the farm], cars, computers, candy, etc. Except maybe tires. I’m tired of buying and fixing tires.

 

What would you most regret not having done by the end of your life?

Not teaching my grandkids how to do most of the stuff I can do.

 

What one memory do you most treasure?

Getting married and having a family of my own.

 

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the last year?

Life is short.

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EMPLOYEE PROFILES

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