Kentucky Native Appointed Rural Utilities Administrator
10/05/01

Hilda Gay Legg, a Kentucky rural development leader and Adair County native, was sworn in on October 2 as the 15th Administrator of United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman.

As the Administrator of RUS, Legg will oversee financing for construction of rural infrastructure, including rural electrification, telecommunications, and drinking water programs, and will administer the distance learning and telemedicine loan and grant program. She will also serve as the eighth governor of the Rural Telephone Bank, a public/private lending institution that also finances rural telecommunications infrastructure.

“RUS has a believer in the philosophy of cooperatives and the values and mission of cooperatives” in the new administrator, said Ron Sheets, president of the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives. Legg will also make RUS “a better and stronger agency,” he added.

Prior to her nomination to the top RUS post, Legg directed a rural development center, served on the Appalachian Regional Commission and was an aide to Senator Mitch McConnell.

Since 1994, Legg served as executive director and CEO of The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. The Center is a national model for economic development in rural areas and for related educational, cultural and recreational purposes. The Center has a national reputation for innovation and meeting the economic development needs of Eastern Kentucky. 

Legg was appointed by President George H. Bush as alternate federal co-chairman for the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1990 and served through 1993. She represented and promoted economic policies for the 13 Appalachian states and assisted in the management of a $190 million budget for job creation, building infrastructure, education, and work force training, as well as research programs for economic development. She assisted in the development and implementation of a telecommunication program designed to maximize technology hardware in rural communities.

Legg received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Campbellsville College, Campbellsville, and a master’s degree in education from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

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