Karl N. Stauber//
President & CEO
Danville Regional Foundation
Karl Stauber is President and CEO of the Danville Regional Foundation, based in Danville, Virginia. DRF’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for innovation and as an agent for transformation in the area of Caswell County, North Carolina, Pittsylvania County and Danville in Virginia. Prior to becoming the Foundation’s president in 2007, Karl served for eleven years as the head of the Northwest Area Foundation. Karl earlier served as a senior appointee in the Clinton Administration at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. As the first Senate-confirmed Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, he oversaw the consolidation and integration of USDA’s “knowledge producing agencies.” Before being nominated for the Under Secretary position, Karl served as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at USDA. From 1986 to 1993, Karl was vice president of programs for the Northwest Area Foundation. He also served as executive director of the Needmor Fund, based in Toledo, Ohio, and as assistant director of the Babcock Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Stauber holds a Ph.D. in public policy from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, a certificate from the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in American Studies from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He has written and spoken widely on rural development and public policy issues. He is a native of Statesville, NC. As a volunteer, Karl is a member of the Board of Directors of the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and the advisory committee of the Aspen Institute’s Non-Profit Sector Research Fund and on the boards of many nonprofits.