A formal delegation of authority took effect May 20, making Jeffery S. Hall the acting chief executive officer of the Farm Credit Administration (FCA).

Under normal circumstances, FCA’s board chairman serves as its CEO. However, under the delegation of authority, if the chairman is incapacitated either temporarily or permanently, the duties of the CEO fall to the longer-serving member of the board.

Board chairman Dallas Tonsager, 64, was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and died shortly after the announcement.

Hall takes over the role of acting CEO in the management of the agency’s day-to-day operations.

Tonsager, chairman of FCA since 2016, earlier served as an undersecretary for rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Tonsager grew up on a dairy farm near Oldham, S.D. He served two terms as president of the South Dakota Farmers Union from 1988 to 1993, when he was named by President Bill Clinton to be USDA’s state director for rural development in South Dakota -- a job he held until Clinton left office in 2001.