Chad Rupe

Managing Member of Rural America Strategies

Chad recently served as the 21st Administrator of USDA’s Rural Utilities Service for the Trump Administration. He led the ReConnect broadband program, and implemented the 2018 Farm Bill changes to rural broadband, including Smart Grid deployment of fiber for rural electric cooperatives’ distribution networks. In his time as Administrator he deployed over $18 Billion in federal loans and grants for rural broadband, rural electric cooperatives and investor owned utilities, and rural drinking water systems throughout the United States for over 8,000 utility borrowers. Chad served as Secretary Sonny Perdue’s representative to the FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force and co-chaired the American Broadband Initiative for 23 federal agencies. He also led coordination with the US Department of Energy for deployment of developed emerging technology to improve resiliency, reliability, affordability, and security of the electric grid. Prior to that time, he served as USDA Rural Development State Director in Wyoming, where he worked with the State of Wyoming in delivering its State Broadband Plan following recently passed state legislation.