Released: April 15, 2008

KARL Elects Board Members, Officers

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The board of directors that oversees the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) Program has undergone a leadership change

During KARL board’s annual meeting in Hutchinson, Daniel Synder, Lyons, was recognized for six years of service to the board. During his tenure, the KARL Program had its most successful fund development event, The Flinchbaugh Roast, which raised more than $50,000 in net proceeds to the Flinchbaugh Endowment Fund of the KARL Foundation. Snyder served as planning chairman for the event.

Three new members were elected to the board including, Raymond Flickner, Wichita, an officer of the Zions Agriculture Finance Company; Terry Nelson, Long Island, a farmer and stockman/swine production owner and Irwin Porter, Quinter, a farmer with Porter Farms. KARL has an all volunteer board of directors.

KARL president Jack Lindquist said, “board members promote the program, construct and evaluate the curriculum, assist in raising funds and set policy for the program and organizational structure.”

In addition, Lindquist announced the program’s officers for 2008-09. They are Jim Bassett, Dover, chairman; Lance Woodbury, Garden City, vice chairman; Clark Boyer, Kingman, treasurer; and Carolyn Harms, Derby, secretary.

KARL is a non-profit, intensive two-year study and training program for emerging leaders of the agricultural industry and rural communities of Kansas. Class members’ training includes nine in-state seminars, a national study tour to a blue chip corporation, a study tour to Washington, D.C. and a 12-day international study tour.

Since the office opened in 1990, KARL has helped 270 Kansans from 93 counties improve their leadership skills. The two-year cost per adult participant is $15,000 with class members paying a tuition fee of $3,000. The remaining $12,000 per person is supported by donations.

For more information, interested persons may contact Lindquist at the KARL office on the campus of Kansas State University at 785-532-6300, or visit the program’s Web site at http://www.karlprogram.com/.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Mary Lou Peter-Blecha,
mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News