Dr. Mark A. Edelman is Professor of Economics at Iowa State University and Director of the Community Vitality Center (CVC), a federally-funded center with a board of 30 leaders representing diverse community interests from across Iowa. The CVC mission is to serve as a catalyst in developing innovative demonstration, collaboration, and dialogue projects for enhancing the vitality of Iowa communities and rural areas. The CVC has three initiatives – Community Entrepreneurship, Community Philanthropy and Rural-Urban Policy Studies – that support actionable strategies for enhancing community vitality. ISU Extension serves as the fiscal agent and administrative host for the CVC. Edelman has been a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and an ISU Extension Economist since 1986. He was a faculty member and Extension Economist at South Dakota State University from 1981 to 1985. Mark is a native of Sabetha, Kansas and received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University. He received a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics & Policy from Purdue University in 1981.