Our Investors

Jenal joined the Rural Center in April 2020 and manages the Center’s funding partnerships, oversees grants management, and led the strategic planning process for the organization’s current strategic plan. She has 15 years of experience in the fields of economic development, community health, and education and is highly skilled in project management, partnership building, and strategic planning. Jenal is a graduate of Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and holds an MBA in Social Impact. She also has extensive international experience including teaching in Buenos Aires, Argentina and studying in Geneva, Switzerland.

Born and raised in a small rural town in Southern California, Jenal grew up enjoying the many animals on her family’s pet resort-style farm and exploring the mountains nearby. Her parents each had their own very successful small businesses. Her mom ran a local accounting firm and her dad installed and maintained water wells for rural people who were not connected to urban water systems. Jenal attended high school and college in San Diego and then, to satisfy her itch for travel, she studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and ended up staying for 18 months to volunteer and teach English. She then moved to Boston, where she worked for various public and nonprofit organizations, including a community college, a large university, and a health and human services agency. She moved in 2016 to the great state of North Carolina, where she worked and served as a consultant for several youth-serving nonprofits before joining the Rural Center.

Jenal is passionate about strategic collaborations, collective impact, and social entrepreneurship. Outside of work, she loves to spend time with family and friends, hike with her sweet black Lab, cycle the back roads of Orange County, grow fruits and veggies in her backyard garden, and do front porch yoga in the sunshine.