Stuart Rosenfeld
Principal and Founder
Dr. Rosenfeld has over 30 years of work experience in public policy research and analysis, with an emphasis on education and workforce training, rural development, and technology policy. He is principal and founder of RTS, Inc., and started the Trans-Atlantic Technology and Training Alliance. Stu is known for his work with networks and clusters. He wrote the Guides to Cluster-Based Economic Development for both the National Governors’ Association and the European Union and, in 2004 was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Competitiveness Institute in Barcelona. He has published and spoken extensively on rural development, community colleges, clusters, networks, education policy, and creative economies.
Previously Stu served as Deputy Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, where he founded and directed the Southern Technology Council and Consortium for Manufacturing Competitiveness. Before that he was a Senior Associate at the National Institute of Education in Washington, DC, where he designed and worked on a Congressionally mandated national assessment of vocational education and co-authored the final report. Rosenfeld has carried out comparative research across Europe and has presented papers to eight international meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and has advised or testified before various panels and committees of the U.S. Congress and National Academy of Sciences on technology and education policies. Other past experiences include directing a private elementary school in Vermont and eight years in manufacturing/operations research at the General Electric Company.
Stu holds an Ed.D. in Educational Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science cum laude in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently is a Senior Policy Fellow with the Southern Growth Policies Board and Senior Research Associate with the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University.
J. Trent Williams
Principal
Mr. Williams plays a leadership role in RTS projects and research activities focusing on regional economic development, entrepreneurship, developmental finance, industrial competitiveness policy, high value-added manufacturing, R&D management, technology development and commercialization, and strategic planning. From 1994 – 1998, Trent served as RTS’ Director of USNet. USNet was a national flexible manufacturing network partnership project funded by fifteen partner states and the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
He has served as a Founding Director of eight technology-based companies as well a faculty member of a team formed from other technology company CEOs and venture capitalists from the Research Triangle area to deliver a business launch course for faculty and graduate students at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flager Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Venturing. In his capacity as RTS Principal, he currently functions as the economic development advisor to the Rapides Foundation in Alexandria, Louisiana.
His professional experience includes service in positions as Undersecretary of the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Vice President and Research Director at Gulf South Research Institute (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, New Iberia). Prior to joining RTS in the spring of 1994, Trent served as Executive Vice President of the Louisiana Partnership for Technology and Innovation. During his five-year tenure at the Louisiana Partnership, Mr. Williams managed the organization's pre-seed investment portfolio and led the Partnership's various industrial competitiveness and technology policy efforts. He has authored numerous articles and papers published by organizations such as the New York Academy of Sciences, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, the Aspen Institute, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council, and FORMEDIA (Lisbon, Portugal) and has served as chair, co-chair, or member of over twenty state, regional and national committees, task forces, and councils. He holds a magna cum laude B.B.A. from the University of Memphis and a M.S. in economics from Louisiana State University.
Chris Beacham
Director, Economic Development Programs
Mr. Beacham has 25 years experience in research, policy and strategic economic development. For the past decade he has focused on developing strategies for improving regional economic health particularly in rural and distressed areas. Much of this work has involved working closely with regional and local economic development professionals as well as organizations that have not traditionally been integrated into economic and workforce development efforts. Prior to joining RTS in 2007, Chris served as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Research & Strategic Planning within the North Carolina Department of Commerce. He led the division in developing pro-active economic strategies for the Governor’s Office, General Assembly and the state’s Economic Development Board. Key efforts included streamlining and focusing tax incentive programs, developing competitiveness strategies for traditional and emerging industries and analyzing the role that sustainable production methods can play in positively affecting companies’ global competitiveness.
As Research Director at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center from 1999 to 2003, Chris had the opportunity to work with rural towns, cities, counties and regions to develop sustainable economies. His time at the Rural Center coincided with the dramatic loss of traditional manufacturing jobs in rural areas. He assisted rural communities in re-thinking their economic strategies to include integrating place based strategies, value-added agriculture, and entrepreneurial programs.
A key focus for Mr. Beacham has been to foster collaborative working relationships between state and federal agencies, non-profits, policy organizations and colleges and universities. At the Department of Commerce these efforts broadened the perspective of the department and integrated its efforts with workforce development, transportation, environmental issues, education and a broad range of strategic policy areas. He was a core leader of the state’s National Governor’s Association Sector Strategies Policy team, an effort to develop sector-based and demand driven workforce training systems. With the Governor’s office he also led a multi-agency effort to integrate the state’s place based economic development programs.
A native of Louisiana, Chris is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Louisiana State University with B.A. and M.S. degrees in economics.
Dan Broun
Director of Special Projects
Dan's role at RTS includes helping manage the “Just Clusters” initiative for the Northwest Area Foundation, which trains workforce and economic development professionals on cluster-based strategies that reach underserved populations and communities. Other projects Dan has participated in include an analysis of the challenges facing minority-owned contractors in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for the Ford Foundation, creating an economic development plan for the town of Carrboro, NC that stresses the importance of the creative economy, and helping devise a cluster-based workforce development program for Palm Beach County, Florida. In 2005, Dan returned to RTS after working four years with the organization in the 1990s. Dan’s previous role with RTS included a variety of research and analytical projects, including studying industrial clusters and manufacturing networks.
Prior to rejoining RTS, Dan served as the Director of Policy and Program Development of the North Carolina Minority Support Center, a statewide intermediary that provides technical and financial assistance to community development credit unions. Dan also worked with the Center for Community-Self-Help, one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions, helping analyze the impact that innovative organization is having on its borrowers. He holds a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina and a BA from Carleton College.
Jenna Bryant
Research Analyst
As the newest team member to join RTS, Jenna focuses on cluster-based occupational analysis, the development of regional economic development profiles, and measurement and assessment of local regional economies.
Prior to joining RTS in 2008, Jenna worked at the North Carolina Department of Commerce as an Economist focused on analyzing North Carolina’s economy and modeling incentive programs. Before that, she was employed in the Labor Market Information Division of the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina. Her time there was spent in the Policy and Program Evaluation department. Jenna holds a Master of Economics from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business with a concentration in Finance from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Butzen
Senior Research Associate
Since arriving at RTS in 2000, Sarah Butzen has focused on the strategic use
of technology and innovation to expand local and regional economic capacity, and on integrating workforce and economic development policies to create economies driven by advanced skills and creativity. She is currently directing projects that focus on developing entrepreneurial capacities, enhancing the competitiveness of traditional industries, and identifying and building upon the assets that drive local and regional creative economies.
Previously, Sarah managed RTS’ two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which compared the education of the IT workforce in Denmark and the U.S., and conducted analyses of biotechnology industry and workforce needs in South Florida and North Carolina. She has also analyzed the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in Montana’s economy, assessed technology infrastructure and resources in Virginia’s Region 2000, and conducted an assessment of industrial change and future trends for the New Orleans area. She has directed RTS’ development of several industry definitions based on cross-sector platforms and serves as methodology advisor on several benchmarking projects.
Prior to joining RTS, Sarah was a Research Associate for the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the UNC School of Public Health, where she participated in an analysis of organizational change in health care systems. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College and a Master's of Public Policy from Duke University.
Jana Shannon
Research Associate
While at RTS, Jana has concentrated on the roles of science, technology and social capital in innovative education and development policies. Most recently, she coordinated the North Carolina BioNetwork BioForum, and currently works closely with both the Montana BioScience Alliance and Montana Information Technology Alliance to strengthen and develop their missions and their presence as Montana-based industries.
She has also completed research and analysis in support of several projects, including evaluations of Pike County, Kentucky’s recent economic development; the South Carolina ATE Center at Florence-Darlington Technical College; and the North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology. Jana has also worked on projects investigating potential avenues for funding collaborative education, determining workforce needs for a nascent regional biotechnology industry, and analyzing the structure of biotechnology membership organizations. She co-administers the L-sITes (Learning through Simulated IT Enterprises) and TA3 (Trans-Atlantic Training and Technology Alliance) initiatives. Additionally, she performs data and GIS analysis for various RTS projects.
Prior to joining RTS, Jana served as Assistant Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for former Miami-Dade County, Florida Mayor Alex Penelas, where she worked on a wide array of policy issues. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Miami and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.
Elizabeth Williams
Office Manager
