Jocelyn Batko Richgels, MPP, is the Director of National Policy Programs for the Rural Policy Research Institute. She joined RUPRI in September 2004 as the associate director of national policy programs.

Richgels ensures that our nation’s policymakers access and utilize the research and practice conducted by RUPRI centers as they consider legislation that affects rural America. She participates on RUPRI’s Health Policy Panel and tracks national agriculture legislation. In the past, she directed the policy outreach efforts for the RUPRI Rural Health and Human Services portfolio.

Richgels was born and raised on a family farm in rural southwest Wisconsin and her understanding of rural America stems first-hand from this experience. She has extensive public policy experience, beginning her career as staff to a Member of Congress from Minnesota, who represented one the most rural Congressional district in the country at the time. In between public policy work, she gained extensive experience in fundraising, sales and marketing through careers as a major gifts development officer at Mills College in California and an advertising sales manager at The Atlantic Monthly magazine.

Richgels earned a Masters of Public Policy (MPP) from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland – College Park. She graduated with honors from the Management, Finance, and Leadership specialization, with a research emphasis on rural policy analysis. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has served on the Maryland School of Public Policy Alumni Board for a number of years.

Ms. Richgels currently lives in Washington, D.C.