By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Kathleen Norman announced in January she would be leaving her role as executive director with Stafford County Economic Development. Ryan Russell has been named as her replacement. Russell, now 40, has lived in Stafford County and abroad, and is ready to put a life of experiences to use as the new director.
"It kind of fits what I've done in the past," he said. "It's a little different; I've never been in charge of building houses, which I'll be doing that. I'm sure it will be okay. I'll be learning a lot here in the next few months."
Russell was born in Lyons, spent some time in Pawnee Rock, and lived in St. John for approximately eight years between second grade and his sophomore year of high school. His family moved to Kentucky where he graduated from high school before attending a small Bible college in Tennessee. Russell then spent five years working for a non-profit in Florida, and he recently spent 12 years working in southeast Asia before returning to Hudson last October. His work as a missionary in Asia transitioned into economic development.
"When I moved there, I figured out pretty quickly there were not a lot of jobs for young people, and the education system there wasn't very good," he said. "I created a program to help youth transition from a bad education system to creating their own jobs."
He helped youth apply for loans to start their own businesses, then started a similar program for adults. He founded and operated Opportunities Now which still functions today. He transitioned into working with larger businesses, teaching owners about the importance of investment and how to secure funding.
Upon moving back to Stafford County in October, Russell worked as a substitute teacher when the Eco Devo job opened.
"A lot of the work Stafford County Eco Devo does is around economic development and being a bit entrepreneurial," he said. "I'm kind of familiar with trying to figure out funding because I did a lot of that where I was in southeast Asia; putting together funding, starting programs, and starting businesses."
He hits the ground running. On June 2, Eco Devo submitted a grant to build nine more homes in Stafford County. He's also catching up on the Stafford County Port Authority grain terminal project.
"Right now I'm just getting my feet wet a little bit," he said, "getting to know people, trying to understand the business climate here, who's involved."
Down the road, Russell would like to expand Stafford Eco Devo's small-loan program with the help of Network Kansas, connecting those loans to education opportunities about marketing and financial management. He also wants to expand youth programming in the county, and help existing businesses utilize e-commerce while maintaining local storefronts.
Russell plans to fully take on his executive director duties at the end of July.