Shanna E. Ratner

Shanna E. Ratner is the founder and principal of Yellow Wood Associates, a firm specializing in rural economic and community development since 1985.She has worked extensively in rural America and in several developing countries as a researcher, facilitator, and trainer with local, state, and federal government agencies, universities, non-profits, foundations, community foundations, and citizens' groups. Her interest in rural development began with a trip across America in 1972 in which she lived in four small towns in Kansas, Idaho, Utah and Oregon studying value systems and seeking to understand the connection between historical settlement patterns, natural resource endowments, culture, and values. More information on the work of Yellow Wood Associates is available at www.yellowwood.org.

Ms. Ratner was selected by the Ford Foundation to conceptualize and support implementation of a new approach to rural economic development that became WealthWorks. Ms. Ratner was trained in systems thinking as a member of the first class of Donella Meadows Fellows and has been a Mel King Fellow at MIT. She holds a MS degree in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and a BA in Value Systems from New College in Sarasota, Florida, and lives in rural Vermont with her cat, Percyval.

Now semi-retired, Ms. Ratner enjoys making art, studying classical guitar, and volunteering.