USDA names Nevada Rural Development and Farm Service Directors

July 30, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today made the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) appointment of Sarah Mersereau-Adler to be state director of the USDA Rural Development agency in Nevada and Clinton Koble to direct the Nevada Farm Service Agency.

“I am pleased that USDA agreed with my recommendations and has appointed Sarah and Clinton to their posts,” Reid said. “Both have extensive experience serving Nevada and its rural communities and I am confident that they will use all their talent to help Nevada’s farmers and ranchers weather these challenging economic times.”

Mersereau-Adler currently serves as Grants and Special Projects Manager for the Carson City School District in Carson City, Nevada. From 1993-2000, she served as State Director of USDA Rural Development in Nevada, where she dramatically increased service levels to rural communities and oversaw significant investment in grants, loans and loan guarantees. From 1986-1993, she served as Rural Program Co-Director for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. She also has served as Deputy Director for the Nevada Office of Community Services, and from 1982-1983 served as a VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) volunteer with Advocates to End Domestic Violence.
 
Mersereau-Adler received her B.A. in Political Science from Williams College in Massachusetts, her M.P.A. from the University of Nevada-Reno, and teaching credentials from Sierra Nevada College in Nevada.

Koble most recently served as the Executive Director of the Nevada Rural Development Council in Carson City, Nevada, where he specialized in community strategic planning and leadership. He also served in Carson City as the Western Region Representative for the Rural Nevada Development Corporation in Ely, Nevada, providing small business assistance and housing programs for Nevada's rural communities. While serving for the Rural Nevada Development Corporation, Koble also performed small business counseling services for the Nevada Small Business Development Center. Working with and for the rural communities took Koble back to his rural roots.

Koble grew up on a farm in North Dakota that remains in his family today. Koble received B.A. Degrees in Political Science and History from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota.