Meet John Gardner |
Washington State University President Elson Floyd created the office of Economic Development and Extension in July of 2007, appointing John Gardner as Vice President to lead this new effort. In March of 2009, Dr. Gardner was reappointed as VP of Economic Development and Global Engagement, reflecting the merge of Economic Development and International Programs. Having worked in both universities and business, Dr. Gardner works to engage private, public, and philanthropic sectors to better leverage all of WSU’s assets for economic growth and vitality of the state. Gardner is a native of the Kansas City area where he earned degrees in agriculture and agronomy at Kansas State University, and a PhD at the University of Nebraska in plant physiology. His US-AID funded graduate work focused on the sorghum/millet program INTSORMIL directed at Africa and India. He then moved north to Carrington, North Dakota, and spent much of his twenty years there as Director of the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center. His work on the domestication of new crops led to business interests throughout the 1990’s and he became one of the founders and chief executive of AgGrow Oils, a 540-member LLC that integrated the production, processing, and marketing of both novel and designer oilseeds. Just prior to WSU, Gardner spent six years at the University of Missouri as the Associate Dean/Director for Research and Outreach in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources after which he became the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. Download John Gardner's CV (opens PDF with links to articles) |
Meet Marcia Garrett
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Marcia Garrett presently serves as the Executive Director of WSU West, the westside office of Washington State University serving the greater Puget Sound basin. Prior to that she worked on the university’s main Pullman campus, serving as Chief of Staff to the Vice President for Extended University Affairs. Before moving to academia, Ms. Garrett worked for a number of years for Burlington Resources, a billion-dollar holding company headquartered in Seattle, where she worked as the Director of Corporate Affairs, and earlier as the Director of Federal Affairs and the Director of Policy Analysis. Before moving to BR, Ms. Garrett spent ten years working in government and politics. She holds an MBA from the University of Washington, and a BA from Washington State University. |
Meet Alexis Holzer
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Alexis began working for WSU in January 2008. She serves as Secretary Senior to Vice President John Gardner and provides admistrative support for Economic Development and Global Engagement as well as WSU West. An alumnus of the University of Puget Sound, and a Washington resident for over 9 years, she finds it extremely rewarding to be part of an organization striving to better Washington’s economy and the overall quality of life for its residents. Outside of WSU, she serves as the production manager of Seattle’s theatre company Macha Monkey Productions which produces all new fearless, funny, female theatre. She lives in Seattle with her husband Mike and dog Lulu. |
