Heartland Center for Leadership Development

Board of Directors

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 address 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.

Gordon Goodwin, Vice President
Principal Consultant

Fieldstone Alliance

St. Paul, Minnesota

Gordon Goodwin has been involved in nonprofits, foundations and community building for 20 years. His rich experience encompasses key positions in some of the nonprofit sector’s leading institutions, including Northwest Area Foundation’s Ventures Program: Rural development and Finance Corporation; The Aspen Institute; and Corporation for Enterprise Development. In addition, Goodwin operated a consultancy, Development Solutions, which helped public, private and nonprofit organizations collaborate to improve economic opportunity and quality of life in rural communities and central cities.

Gordon has worked with regional and national foundations, affiliates of national nonprofit service organizations, community-based organizations and community development loan funds to help them hone their strategies that are grounded in market trend analysis and perceptions gathered from partners, customers, clients and staff. These strategies can then be translated into work plans designed to achieve and document social, economic and structural impact.

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), the Heartland Center for Leadership Development 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.

Cornelia Butler Flora
Director, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development
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 and Director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, a twelve state research and extension institute. 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, and Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones. Her newest book is Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, Third Edition.

She has published over 140 referred 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.

Mrs. Flora has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965 and has 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 of 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

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

Director of Constituent Relations

Rural Policy Research Institute

Washington, D.C.

Marcie McLaughlin is the Constituent Outreach Director for the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) in Washington, DC. RUPRI conducts policy-relevant research and facilitates public dialogue to assist policymakers in understanding the rural impacts of public policies and programs. 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 as director of Minnesota Rural Partners, Ms. McLaughlin 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, The Heartland Center for Leadership Development 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, HarvardUniversity. She has an elementary education degree from SouthwestStateUniversity in Marshall, Minnesota and advanced studies in adult education from KansasStateUniversity, Manhattan, Kansas. Ms. McLaughlin moved to WashingtonDC in 2004 and continues the experiment in the similarities and differences of rural and urban life.

Pat O'Neill

Associate

Camp Dresser McKee

Kansas City, Missouri

Pat O’Neill has over 17 years of environmental engineering experience, including planning studies, preliminary and final design and construction management, and has been involved in a wide range of projects involving stream restoration, stormwater management, water supply, CSO/SSO issues and wastewater facilities. He currently serves as a Client Service Manager for CDM’s Kansas City office, and is responsible for business development in Nebraska and Iowa.

Mr. O’Neill holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nebraska and M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from University of Kansas.

Jessica Kolterman
State Affairs Assistant

Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation
Lincoln, Nebraska

Jessica Kolterman serves as Nebraska Farm Bureau's Director of NFBF PAC and as a State Affairs Assistant. As the head of NFBF's PAC, Jessica is responsible for fielding agriculture friendly candidates, advising those candidates on campaigns and handling the day-to-day operations of the PAC. In her duties as a State Affairs Assistant, Jessica assists with lobbying and policy development activities.

From 2002 to 2006, Jessica worked as a Legislative Aide for State Senator Elaine Stuhr. A former Washington D.C. intern for Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY), Jessica brings legislative experience from both the federal and state levels of government. Jessica also successfully ran Shane Osborn’s campaign for State Treasurer in 2006 and has coordinated various state and local races over the years. In addition, Jessica teaches a Political Communications course at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. A native of Seward, Jessica continues to be involved with Seward’s 4th of July Celebration, St. Vincent DePaul parish and many other volunteer organizations.

Jessica earned a BA in political science from William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, in May of 2001 and earned a MA in mass communication from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004.

Katherine Madsen
Student

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Stuart, Nebraska

Katherine Madsen is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying Business Administration with a Pre-Law emphasis. 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.

Valerie Shangreaux
Director of Leadership Programs

Blandin Foundation

Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Valerie Shangreaux is currently the Director of the Blandin Community Leadership Program for the Blandin Foundation. 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. 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.

Jose Zapata
Executive Director
Central Nebraska Community Services
Loup City, Nebraska

Jose is the Executive Director of Central Nebraska Community Services with headquarters in Loup City, Nebraska. He is also a member of the City Council in Grand Island, Nebraska.