Personal Bio: Bette Brand, President and CEO
Bette Brand is President and CEO of Strategic Consulting LLC. She is driven by her commitment and extensive experience working with lenders, rural businesses, and communities to access much needed capital to improve the quality of life and prosperity of rural America.
She is the former Deputy Under Secretary for USDA Rural Development. Under her leadership, the Rural Development team delivered loans and grants totaling more than $40 billion/year and was committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in rural America. Agencies under her oversight included Rural Housing Service, Rural Utilities Service and Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
Prior to USDA, Brand was with the Farm Credit System for more than 35 years where she served as chief advocate for the agriculture industry and rural businesses, supporting producers at the state and national level and educating policymakers and consumers on agriculture. During this time, she served as Chief Sales Officer, overseeing the business development of a $1.6 billion credit portfolio, managing a team of commercial agriculture and agribusiness lenders, and supervising Farm Credit of the Virginias’ marketing and branding. Brand was instrumental in starting the Farm Credit Knowledge Center which has become an integral resource for producers. She has wide-ranging experience promoting rural communities, having served on the Virginia Agribusiness Council, the Virginia Horse Council, the Virginia Cooperative Council, and the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.
She currently serves as the Senior Advisor of the Generation Food Rural Partners fund, a recently launched $125 million target fund through Big Idea Ventures. Focused on driving innovation and economic growth across rural America, the Generation Food Rural Partners fund collaborates with universities across the U.S. to commercialize leading intellectual property innovations in food, protein, and agriculture.
She serves on the Virginia Racing Commission and the Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. Center for Rural Virginia. She is also a former member of the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
Brand has a degree in Animal Science and an MBA from Virginia Tech.
