Dr. Lilian Brislen joined the USDA as the Deputy Director of the Local and Regional Foods Division in February of 2023. Lilian’s experience and expertise lie in local and regional food economies and re-imagining the “agriculture of the middle.” She began her career at community-based organizations focused on rural economic development in Appalachian Ohio and the post-timber economies of rural Oregon. Following her graduate studies in Rural Sociology, she worked in the Land Grant University system, first at the University of Kentucky as the founding Director of The Food Connection (an award-winning local food systems center) and then at Colorado State University where she simultaneously served as Director of the State of Colorado’s Food Systems Advisory Council. Now at the USDA, Lilian leads a team supporting the newly established Regional Food Business Centers as well as a portfolio of applied reach projects focused on regional food economies. Lilian was raised in the Upper Midwest, has lived in 7 states, and now resides in the District of Columbia. She has an old dog named Crowder Pea, is an avid baker, and loves jazz.