Position Title
Deputy Chief Economic Development Officer, Rural County Representatives of California
Robert Burris is engaged in the effort to bring greater attention and resources to rural California. As Deputy Chief Economic Development Officer of Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), an advocacy and service organization, Robert focuses on economic development and infrastructure issues for RCRC’s 40 rural California county members. An area of particular focus is ensuring that these counties are not left behind in the transition to zero-emission vehicles and autonomous vehicle technology development. Robert brings 25 years of leadership experience with municipal, regional and state economic development agencies and organizations, as well as economic research as Sr. Researcher for the California State University Real Estate and Land Use Institute (RELUI) and Sr. Associate with Economic & Planning Systems. Robert received a BA in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from Sacramento State University. He also holds an honorary Doctorate from Drexel University-Sacramento as Board Chair and lecturer. Robert is a member of the Massachusetts-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy-Accelerating Community Investment and Executive Committee member of both the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) and California Enterprise Development Authority (CEDA).