"Ruralpreneurs": Tumbleweeds and Talents in Kansas Communities

Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University in Manhattan. He has a B.S. in Agricultural Education and a Masters in Mass Communications from K-State. He became a legislative assistant to Senator Nancy Kassebaum in Washington D.C., a staff member for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, and vice president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. In 1985, he returned to Kansas to become a vice president of the Farm Credit Bank of Wichita and in 1990 became director of the Huck Boyd Institute. Ron has written and produced more than 1,000 features about small town Kansas entrepreneurs and community leaders through his weekly radio program and news column called "Kansas Profile." He is a graduate of Leadership Kansas, has published numerous articles, spoken at national and international meetings, and appeared on C-SPAN.