Dr. Ann Ruzow Holland

• Public Policy and Administration
• Domestic Policy
• Environmental Politics and Policy

Since 2011, her academic research has been published in Research in Social Problems and Public Policy (RSPPP), Rural Society, the Environmental Planning Journal (APA), and the Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies.  She has presented at meetings of the International Political Science Association, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Northern Forest Institute Symposium, Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences, Adirondack Research Consortium, and the Antioch University New England Colloquium.  Ann is also widely published in the professional world including more than two dozen planning documents and reports.  Her work can also be found in professional periodicals such as Municipal World Magazine, ICMA Public Management Magazine, Empire State Magazine, and The Yankee Planner.

Dr. Ruzow Holland’s specialization in applied public policy and administration, with particular emphasis on environmental and community economic development, is grounded in Critical Theory and utilizes Participatory Action Research and Mixed Methods.  In her earlier professional life, Ann managed community and environmental planning, housing, infrastructure and agricultural development, renewable energy, housing, health care, hazard mitigation, disaster assistance, and facility improvement projects and programs. Holland is considered a master grant writer.

Ann founded, and then for 21 years acted as executive director of Friends of the North Country, Inc., a nonprofit organization recognized as a leader in sustainable development. She has collaborated with federal and state agencies to bring financial and technical resources to local communities. Holland has special experience working as a project liaison for multi-million-dollar green technology projects, as a GASB advisor and a grants subject-matter-expert. She now works with governments, non-profit organizations, universities, and businesses as a freelance consultant and advisor. She provides a range of services associated with environmental planning, sustainability, citizen participation, and organizational management.

Dr. Ruzow Holland’s consulting company is a registered NYS Woman-Based Enterprise. In this capacity she created and piloted the Advanced Circuit Rider Management Coaching and Training Program for the New York Land Trust Alliance, prepared an extensive variety and number of economic, comprehensive land use, watershed, and strategic plans for regional environmental organizations and local governments. She has served as an advisor to many local, regional, and international organizations and currently serves on the Board of the Lake Champlain Committee, the Northern Forest Center, and the New York Main Street Alliance. She also serves on the International Joint Commission Lake Champlain-Richelieu River Study Team Public Advisory Group and is a long-standing member of the League of Women Voters, Plattsburgh, Clinton, and Essex Counties.

Ann has received several awards, including the prestigious Harriet Tubman Community Service Award for her work in social justice.  Her work designing and executing regional deliberative stakeholder engagement strategies using mixed Social Science methods earned recent recognition from the American Planners Association.