100 in 100, Ask a Leading Woman

Ask a Leading Woman with Colleen Landkamer

Held Friday, April 1st, 2022

Colleen shared her life experiences and current work followed by a Q & A session. We invite you to join us exactly as you are for an empowering presentation about the different paths leadership can take in rural areas. Missed it? No problem. Watch the recording below.

Smiling white woman with short brown hair. She is wearing a pink blazer and lovely silver necklace.

Colleen Landkamer

Minnesota state director of Rural Development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Colleen Landkamer was first elected to the Blue Earth County Board of Commissioners in 1988. After 21 years of service, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as USDA Rural Development State Director for Minnesota in 2009. Following her eight-year appointment and almost 10 years away from serving on the Blue Earth County Board, Landkamer was re-elected to the board in 2019. In southern Minnesota, Landkamer represents a district located within the county seat of Mankato.

Landkamer has an enormous passion and energy for county government. She has brought the concerns of counties to the national stage since her involvement in forming the National Association of Counties Rural Action Caucus (RAC) in 1998. Landkamer’s enthusiasm for RAC helped take it from an organization of 20 members to several hundred. In 2006 and 2007, Landkamer served as President of the National Association of Counties (NACo) and has also served on NACo’s executive board since 2002. Landkamer is a past president of the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC). In 2000, Landkamer was recognized by American City and County Magazine as 2000 County Leader of the Year. She has attended the Army War College, has been a Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow, a Columbia University rural policy fellow, graduate of the Senior Executive Program in State and Local Government at Harvard University, and a graduate of the 2005 New York University leadership program.

About Ask a Leading Woman

Welcome to our Ask A Leading Woman series, one of our organization’s projects dedicated to featuring amazing women leaders in rural! Currently, the majority of leadership roles in rural are held by men, meaning we don’t always get the same opportunity to witness strong women leadership. Ask a Leading Woman is an opportunity for our community to actively engage with leading women by hearing about their pathway to leadership and asking questions. Learn more information here.

Another way we highlight rural women is through our Spotlight Profiles! While they are similar projects in that they highlight women doing incredible work, they differ in how they’re executed. Spotlight Profiles are not public meetings, but the recordings are available on our YouTube. These go more in-depth about their story, what they do, and their advice.