The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) today announced a major realignment in its senior leadership. Charles W. Fluharty, RUPRI Founder and current Vice President, Policy Programs, today becomes President and CEO, assuming responsibility for the creation and execution of the RUPRI strategic vision, the alignment of resources to implement the plan, external and internal communication, and all aspects the RUPRI public policy program. He will continue as a Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, providing leadership for GMF's comparative rural policy foci, and as a Research Professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri-Columbia. Fluharty will shortly be relocating to the RUPRI national office in Washington, D.C.
Brian Dabson, current President and CEO, will become Vice President and COO, and director of a new RUPRI venture, the RUPRI Rural Futures Lab. He will continue in his position as a Research Professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri-Columbia, and as chair of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship Board. The Lab will focus on, among other things, regional food systems, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and alternative energy, looked at through the lens of regional collaboration, equity, and innovation. "We are creating a vehicle for thinking about what's next for rural America, and for engaging exciting new practices and research from around the nation to inform public policy choices and investments over the next decade," said Dabson. The Lab will be formally launched sometime later in the year, after a period of research, consultation and preparation.
RUPRI also announced two important realignments of senior RUPRI leaders. Keith Mueller, Director of the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy, Chair of the RUPRI Rural Health Panel, and Professor and Chair, Department of Health Services Research & Administration, University of Nebraska Medical Center, has accepted a position as Head of the Department of Health Management and Policy in the College of Public Health, University of Iowa, where he has also been named the Gerhard Hartman Professor. The Department includes a fifty-year-old program in Health Administration, a concentration on health policy in the M.P.H. program, and a Ph.D. in Health Services and Policy. Two research centers there will be natural collaborators with RUPRI--the Center for Health Policy and Research, and the Public Policy Center. Mueller will assume his responsibilities at the University of Iowa on June 1, 2010, at which time the RUPRI Center and Panel will be housed there.
Finally, Mark Drabenstott, the former Director of the RUPRI Center for Regional Competitiveness, has been named Secretary General of the Global Coalition for Efficient Logistics (GCEL), a worldwide, non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. (www.gcel.net) GCEL is a public-private partnership that brings together leading firms, governments, and non-profit organizations to lower the cost of trade and trigger new economic developments around the world. As Secretary General, Drabenstott will be responsible for monitoring a major new global initiative to drive down the cost of trade, and for maximizing its global economic benefits.
"These changes offer tremendous new public service opportunities for each of us," Fluharty said. "We feel certain these realignments will advance our commitment to rural policy innovation, both domestically and globally. Brian's leadership as President over the past three years has added significantly to RUPRI's breadth and stature, and we are very excited about the potential for the Rural Futures Lab. Keith's national leadership in rural health research will only be enhanced by his new position in Iowa, and Mark's new position will have global impact. RUPRI is very grateful for the public service commitment of these leaders, which has significantly advanced the prospects for rural people and places."
The Rural Policy Research Institute announced today that Mark Drabenstott, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute's (RUPRI) Center for Regional Competitiveness, has been named Secretary General of the Global Coalition for Efficient Logistics (GCEL), a worldwide, non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland (www.gcel.net). GCEL is a public-private partnership that brings together leading firms, governments, and non-profit organizations to lower the cost of trade and trigger new economic development around the world.
Dr. Drabenstott was founding director of the Center for Regional Competitiveness, which was based at the University of Missouri. Over the past three years, the Center became one of the nation's leading research organizations helping regions compete in the global economy. The Center was a catalyst for the Southern Minnesota Regional Competitiveness Project, widely recognized as one of the most innovative regional development initiatives in rural America. The Center's path-breaking work was also the focus of a book just published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs: Past Silos and Smokestacks: Transforming the Rural Economy in the Midwest. Dr. Drabenstott is also chairman of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Territorial Development Policy Committee, the premier global forum on regional economic development.
The Center's research and on-the-ground projects helped to advance a 21st century model for regional economic development. This new model emphasizes innovation, competitive advantage, and region-wide partnerships instead of the community rivalries, subsidies, and smokestack chasing of the past. This new development framework is now gaining global traction, as reflected in the Obama Administration's new place-based policy initiative.
As Secretary General, Dr. Drabenstott will be responsible for monitoring a major new global initiative to drive down the cost of trade, and for maximizing its global economic benefits. GCEL is implementing a new program, Humawealth, with three innovative elements. The first is a Global Logistics System, an open platform technology that delivers significant new efficiencies to the industries associated with trade--operations, logistics, finance, insurance--all at no cost to end users. The second is a trusted network of 28 leading firms around the world, all working together in a monitored environment to implement the Global Logistics System. The third is rapid deployment of the new system, in a manner which fully addresses any monopolistic and geo-political concerns.
"What excites me the most," Dr. Drabenstott said, "is the huge potential to fuel economic gains around the world. This promises to spur regional development in powerful new ways, much as containers changed the way the whole global economy works. GCEL is committed to ensuring that no region is left behind in seizing these potent economic benefits."
Charles Fluharty, RUPRI President, praised Dr. Drabenstott's leadership in the development of this new public policy framework. Dr. Drabenstott is one of the world's preeminent thought leaders on regional economic development. This position is a terrific opportunity to advance his global leadership on issues in which he excels, at a time when the world desperately needs such vision. It has been a privilege to work with Mark over the past decade on this effort, and RUPRI has been honored to share his gifts with our global colleagues."
Dr. Drabenstott will be based in Geneva and begins his duties this month. He is a longtime resident of Kansas City and formerly was the Director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He holds PhD and MS degrees from Iowa State University and a BA from Earlham College. He was born and raised on his family's farm in Markle, Indiana.
Fluharty indicated that RUPRI remains firmly committed to the regional work begun by the Center for Regional Competitiveness. "Mark's new appointment only confirms the value the world now attaches to regional development. RUPRI has been a leader in fostering this policy framework, and we and our partners will continue to advance the strong foundation Mark has built, for which we are most grateful."
