Bob Kaplan
Candidate Statement:
I live in Ashland with my wife Lorrie Kaplan. We spend as much time as possible outdoors–hiking, cycling, paddling, camping, or just sitting on our porch with friends. We have two grown children, and all of us love to cook fresh healthy food. That was the spark of my relationship with the Ashland Food Co-op! Before moving to Ashland, I spent three decades working in Latin America and the Caribbean on economic and community development and environmental policies and programs, including over six years as president of the Inter-American Foundation and 16 years as an executive at the Inter-American Development Bank. I have a longtime love for Latin America, have traveled widely in the region, and I speak both Spanish and Portuguese. My undergraduate and graduate degrees are in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Princeton University, respectively. In addition to serving on the Co-op’s finance committee, and before that the AFC Gives committee, I also serve on the City of Ashland’s climate policy commission and citizens budget committee, the board of OHRA (Options for Helping Residents of Ashland), and Semilla Nueva (SemillaNueva.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in Guatemala. I also volunteer with Unete (UneteOregon.org), and each winter and spring finds me reading over 60 new play scripts for the Ashland New Plays Festival (AshlandNewPlays.org).