Friest hired as Northeast Iowa RC & D Executive Director

The Northeast Iowa RC&D Board of Directors has hired Decorah resident Lora Friest as their agency's Executive Director. 

Lora was an RC&D employee from 1999 to 2002, when she worked as the Upper Iowa River Watershed Coordinator.  She left that job to work for one year as Fillmore County's Soil and Water District Administrator.  She returned to the RC&D a coordinator paid by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.  She served eight years in that job, securing tens of millions of dollars in grants to help Northeast Iowa accelerate the development, conservation and wise use of human, financial and natural resources in order to improve the standard of living and quality of life in Northeast Iowa.

When federal budget cuts eliminated the RC&D Program in 2011, she was transferred away from the RC&D to serve the USDA in a different capacity.

Northeast Iowa RC & D Board President Marilyn Rubner said, "Over the past eight years, she has proven her capacity to lead our organization and assist the region. We look forward to many more years of success with her as our Executive Director."