New Executive Director Selected

Board President Deanna Tribe has announced that the selection committee has negotiated a contract with Jane Forrest Redfern to be the new executive director of Rural Action beginning January 5, 2004.

Jane, who was born in Columbus, Ohio and has six brothers and sisters, is set to replace outgoing Executive Director Carol Kuhre, who is retiring after 13 years at the helm of one of Southeast Ohio’s most prominent nonprofit community development agencies.

Jane Forrest Redfern graduated from Bexley High School and did undergraduate studies in Botany and General Science at Ohio University. In 1986, she accepted a position in Dayton with Ohio Public Interest Campaign, now known as Ohio Citizen Action. Between 1986 and 1996, Jane served as Program Director for Dayton and Southwest Ohio at Citizen Action, where she has worked on that region’s consumer, senior citizen, utility rate and environmental issues. She has held the position of Environmental Projects Director since 1996.

Jane has also served on local, state, regional and national advisory boards and held various volunteer positions with St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and other local organizations. She has won numerous awards for her dedication and commitment to her community and the protection of the environment. She is married to Thomas Redfern and has two sons, Eli and Samuel.

“ I look forward to returning to Southeast Ohio to work for improvements in this beautiful area,” Jane said in September 2003. “It’s an honor to be asked to work with such a wonderful staff and board, and I look forward to our continuing successes in the region with programs designed to empower people for a more sustainable future.”

Carol Kuhre has served as executive director for Rural Action since 1990, when she took over the position vacated by previous director Jim Hart, who left to take a position with the Perry County Recycling Program.

Beginning the 1990s based in a small Athens office and still operating as the Appalachian Ohio Public Interest Campaign (AOPIC), the organization changed its focus (and its name) as the decade progressed from an agenda of working with local groups fighting environmental and social injustices to a focus on sustainable development alternatives.

According to Carol, this change mainly resulted from two factors: “While many of our struggles had resulted in victory, in other cases members were worn out from their battles, and some were running out of money needed to win their issues.”

The different focus allowed members to shape a forward-looking agenda for the region, culminating in the 1994 publication of The Strategy for Rural Renewal. “The strategy, forged by 13 citizen-based committees and hundreds of members, has served as our guide to this date,” she said.

Carol considers the development of a strategy that integrates economic, community and environmental interests to be Rural Action’s greatest achievement during the last decade. Also of primary importance has been the use of community organizing as the basis for development. Supplemented by a large contingent of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTAS) and active members, Rural Action staffers jointly carry out programs in 14 Ohio counties and throughout the Appalachian region of the United States. Rural Action also collaborates with other organizations throughout the region that seek sustainable alternatives (see article on the AORIC collaboration).

“ Working at Rural Action has been one of the highlights of my life,” Carol added, “and I am honored to leave the leadership of the organization to such an able person as Jane Forrest Redfern, a person I have admired for decades. I hope to remain active with Rural Action as a volunteer by helping to raise new memberships and donors for the organization.”

Here’s a warm thank you from Rural Action staff, members and associates to Carol Kuhre for her enormous contribution to this region. We also welcome Jane Forrest Redfern and look forward to her arrival in early 2004.

--Rural Report, Fall 2003

Download a complete copy of the Fall 2003 Rural Report (PDF)

Download notes:
File type PDF
Size: 836K