Heartland Center for Leadership Development

Board of Directors

Rod Armstrong, Secretary-Treasurer

Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for the AIM Institute.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Rod Armstrong is the vice president of strategic partnerships for the AIM Institute. AIM is a non-profit information technology membership organization formed in 1992 by a group of business, education and government leaders in Nebraska. AIM’s mission is to provide information technology leadership to Nebraska and the surrounding region. In his position, Rod is responsible for building strategic partnerships throughout AIM’s service area with businesses, economic development organizations, government agencies, educational institutions and other non-profit organizations. Many of these partnerships leverage Careerlink.com, the AIM Institute’s online workforce recruitment system.

Prior to joining AIM, Rod served as general manager of Nebraska.gov, the State of Nebraska’s official Web portal. Rod also spent 20 years in the public policy field in Nebraska’s executive and legislative branches, and was the principal architect of legislation that created the Nebraska Information Technology Commission. Rod is a native of Broken Bow, Nebraska, attended Kearney State College and is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

James Calvin
Director of the Leadership Development Program at Johns Hopkins University
Columbia, Maryland

James R. Calvin, Ph.D. is currently associate professor of Management and Organizational Systems and Director of the Leadership Development Program (LDP) for Minority Managers at the Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University. He also serves as an Executive Board Member in the Center for Africana Studies in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

James has consulted in the areas of executive leadership development, executive coaching and organizational development with Fannie Mae, Verizon, KPMG, GENCO Corporation, QVC, Xerox Quality Services, the Brookings Institution, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), General Accounting Office (GAO), NASA/Goddard and other organizations. He is currently the Moderator of the Mid-Level Managers Symposium at the Executive Leadership Council (ELC).

James is a reviewer for Human Resources (in Executive Coaching) and Advanced Management Journal (AMJ). He is engaged in leadership and management research and has published articles in a number of referred journal articles and authored book chapters. He is currently pursuing research in the areas of global leadership practice, learning organizations and on knowledge transfers and cultures in organizational systems. James has taught at New York University and Marymount Manhattan College. He serves as chair of the Academy of Management Membership Committee (AoM), the International Association for Community Development (IACD) and he is a member of the Executive Board of the International Society for Advancement of Management (SAM).

James earned a B.F.A. from the Rochester Institute of Technology. His M.A. and Ph.D. (with distinction) with a concentration in phenomenology, culture and communication are from New York University.

Mary Emery, Ph.D.
Brookings, South Dakota

Mary Emery is the department head for Sociology and Rural Studies at South Dakota State University. Previously Dr. Emery was the associate director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, Ames IA. Before that she directed the Institute for Community Development at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. Mary has worked in rural economic and community development for more than 30 years. Currently, Dr. Mary Emery works on a variety of initiatives related to rural development including co-managing a Coaching for Community Change Initiative, conducting listening sessions on entrepreneurship, and using the Community Capitals Framework in evaluation and program planning. Other ongoing programs include chairing the Great Plains IDEA transdisciplinary multi-university distance degree in Community Development.

She is a former president of the International Community Development Society and is the new editor of the Rural Studies Series sponsored by the Rural Sociological Society. Mary received her Ph.D. in sociology from Rutgers University.

Cornelia Butler Flora
Distinguished Professor
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa

Cornelia Butler Flora is the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Sociology at Iowa State University. Previously she was holder of the Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems at the University of Minnesota, head of the Sociology Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a University Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University and a program officer for the Ford Foundation. A past president of the Rural Sociological Society, the Community Development Society and the Society for Agriculture, Food and Human Values, she is author and editor of a number of recent books, including Interactions Between Agroecosystems and Rural Communities, Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, Rural Policies for the 1990s (now in it's third edition) and Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones.

She has published over 140 refereed articles and book chapters and participated as an invited speaker at many international conferences in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Her current research addresses alternative strategies of community economic development and community-based natural resource management, with particular attention to poverty reduction.

Dr. Flora received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965 and M.S. (1966) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees from Cornell University, where she received the 1994 Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Science. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was chair of the Boards of Directors of the Henry A. Wallace Institute of Alternative Agriculture and the Northwest Area Foundation. Currently, she is serving on the boards of several organizations, including CONDESAN (The Consortium for the Sustainable Development of Andean Ecoregion), Winrock International and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. She previously served on the National Agricultural Research, Education and Economics Advisory Board.

Bobby Gierisch

Coordinator, Texas Rural Innovators Forum

Austin, Texas

Bobby Gierisch held a variety of policy positions in Texas state government before his engagements with RUPRI and

the Texas Rural Innovators Forum. His final state post, from 1993 – 2003, was director of research & policy for the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Bobby was a founding member of the National Conference

of State Legislatures’ Task Force on Rural Development in 2001. In 2006 Bobby created the Texas Rural Innovators Forum to bring innovative rural thinkers and practitioners from across the nation to Central Texas for the benefit of rural leaders.

Bobby serves as director of State Policy Programs at the Rural Policy Research Institute

(RUPRI) where his responsibilities include research on state rural programs and working with state legislators to improve rural policy and programming throughout the U.S.

Bobby holds a Bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Texas and a Master’s from the University of North Carolina. He taught at the University of Zurich, Switzerland before entering state service in Texas.

Marcie McLaughlin

CEO

Midwestern Assistance Program

New Prague, Minnesota

Marcie is CEO of the Midwestern Assistance Program, which is dedicated to helping dedicated to helping rural communities and tribal nations improve their environment, quality of life and achieve self-sustainability. Formerly she was the constituent outreach director for the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) in Washington, DC. For ten years prior to this position, McLaughlin served as the founding Executive Director of Minnesota Rural Partners, the state rural development council. Prior to her tenure there she served as a Renville County Commissioner. McLaughlin first worked in rural and community development in water planning for six southwestern Minnesota counties. She has owned and operated a small family business. Currently, McLaughlin is a board member of the Northern Great Plains, Inc. and Renewing the Countryside and a trustee emerita of the Blandin Foundation.

McLaughlin was a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow in 2002 and holds a master in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She has an elementary education degree from Southwes tState University in Marshall, Minnesota and advanced studies in adult education from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.

Katherine Madsen
Student

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Stuart, Nebraska

Katherine Madsen is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying Law. She is originally from Stuart, Nebraska, and became acquainted with the Heartland Center through her work with her county's involvement in the Hometown Competitiveness program. At UNL, she actively participates in student government, Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and a number of other volunteer and philanthropic activities. She also enjoys spending time encouraging her fellow students to consider making rural Nebraska a lifelong home. After completing her studies at UNL, Katie hopes to return to her hometown or another small town in Nebraska to raise a family and practice law.

Craig Schroeder, President
Senior Associate
Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
Lincoln, Nebraska

Craig Schroeder is the Senior Associate with the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, where he works primarily on entrepreneurial community development and youth entrepreneurship. Of particular note is Craig’s work in creating the Youth Attraction Formula, a tool for rural communities to recognize persistent population decline largely due to significant youth out-migration.

For three years Craig was the Executive Director at the Nebraska Rural Development Commission. In 1998, Mr. Schroeder established the Nebraska Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce Initiative, or NTEC, which assisted rural communities in expanding economic development and career opportunities via the Web. Craig has also worked as an appointee of Governor Ben Nelson and for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture as Ag Promotion Specialist.

Craig holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics with emphasis in Rural Community Economics and Marketing from the University of Nebraska.

Valerie Shangreaux, Vice President
Director of Leadership Programs

Blandin Foundation

Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Valerie Shangreaux is currently the Director of the Blandin Foundation's Community Leadership Program. Previously she worked as a Grants Manager and the Campus Coordinator for the Oklahoma Alliance for Minority Participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (LS-OKAMP STEM) Program at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater Okalahoma. Valerie was also a faculty member in the Department of Family Relations and Child Development at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Shangreaux holds a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in Educational Psychology. Her research topic was on Resiliency in a Native American Community. Her master’s degree, also in Educational Psychology, and Bachelor’s degree in Home Economics, are from the University of Nebraska.

Valerie is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and originally from Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Craig Smith

Executive Director, Rural Development Initiatives

Portland, Oregon

Craig Smith has been executive director of Rural Development Initiatives since 2009. He joined RDI in 1992, and since then RDI has grown from 3 to 26 employees. Prior to joining RDI, Craig was a small business owner, manager of the Portland Saturday Market, and director of the Rural Oregon Marketing Project at Eastern Oregon University. He has an undergraduate degree from Sonoma State University and an MBA from Portland State University.

RDI is a nonprofit dedicated to helping rural communities and people achieve the visions and goals they set for themselves. It has worked with leaders from more than 300 rural communities as neutral conveners, facilitators, trainers and advisors. RDI builds leadership networks and communities by working with individuals, organizations, and groups in the rural Northwest under five service areas: Community Building, Leadership Development, Economic Vitality, Networking, and Organizational Development. To learn more about the work of RDI, visit www.rdiinc.org

2012 Heartland Center for Leadership Development