Michelle Perez Ferrer

Michelle Perez is a senior program officer for U.S. Programs at Winrock International, a leading nonprofit organization that uses community development and entrepreneurial ecosystems to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. Michelle leads the organization's rural community development programming in the Mid-South region, focusing on public health and placemaking. In her role, she builds the capacity of rural leaders in historically underserved areas empowering them to improve their communities. To date, Michelle has provided technical assistance to leaders in 25 rural communities in Arkansas. Michelle is passionate about equipping rural leaders to design and manage equitable and locally driven initiatives that improve their towns' quality of life and economic outlook while creating strong grassroots support systems to sustain them.