Barbara Leach is the Founder and President of My Rural America Action Fund and a skilled political leader. A native of Atlantic Iowa, she is a former co-owner and manager of a 1000-acre Iowa farm. Appointed by two Presidents, Leach has served in four senior positions in the federal government: Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Chief of Staff and Associate Administrator for the Risk Management Agency, and a Senior Advisor within the Office of the Secretary for the USDA. Her achievements include advising on the development of more than 100 new crop insurance products, including overseeing the R&D of the first 20 insurance products for organic crops. She also held a key role in the development of a crop risk management program in over 40 countries, such as Spain, South Africa, and Turkey. For over 20 years, Leach was elected to local, state, and national leadership positions in the Democratic Party in Iowa. She holds a B.S. with special emphasis in Journalism and Communications from the University of Maryland University College and also studied at Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Government. Two favorites of her recent Op-Eds published in the Des Moines Register are “Five rules for Democrats running for Iowa Caucus Campaigns” and “As Amy Coney Barrett formally takes the bench, now who will fight for equal rights for women?”