Ensuring people have the information they need to benefit professionally and personally has been at the core of Michelle Olgers’ marketing and communications career. At home, she is a hobby farmer, managing a small orchard, vineyard, vegetable and herb garden, backyard poultry flock and a variety of farm animals. She is also a self-proclaimed “foodie,” cook and wine enthusiast.
As a Communications Officer at the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), Olgers combines her work experience and personal interests to support FFAR’s vision of a world in which every person has access to affordable, nutritious food grown on thriving farms.
Prior to joining FFAR, Olgers was the first director of marketing & communications for Virginia State University’s College of Agriculture. During her tenure there, she built a team of communication professionals and developed and executed strategies to support the university’s Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Research Station programs. She served four of those years as co-chair of the 1890s Land-Grant University Communications Committee and one year as chair of the Southern Region Cooperative Extension Communications Committee. Olgers also served as a writer/editor on the National Land-Grant Impact Database team and was the 2020 recipient of the Leadership & Management Learning Community Award of Excellence, issued by the National Association for Communications Excellence.
Earlier in her career, Olgers worked in marketing and communications roles at non-profit organizations, government agencies, advertising agencies and a Fortune 500 financial institution.
Olgers holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Art History from Mount Holyoke College. She is also a graduate of VALOR, Virginia’s premier leadership development program for agriculture professionals and of LEAD21, the national leadership program for land-grant university agricultural professionals and their USDA/NIFA and non-government organization partners.