Janet Harris of Conway knew from the time she started going to college that she wanted to “make an impact” in the public sector.
The 44-year-old’s resume makes it pretty clear she’s done that.
Before becoming director of programs for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton a year ago, Harris’ job history included working for former U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton, and for Charlie Daniels, former state land commissioner, secretary of state and auditor, not to mention her experience working on her father’s pig farm.
“I’m a fabulous generalist,” she said, laughing.
The Marmaduke native’s intention, when she attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway for four years on a basketball scholarship, was to become a lawyer.
However, she said that one day Lawson Veasey, her political-science professor, pulled her into his office and asked her to think about what she really wanted to do with her life.
Harris earned her degree in public administration and political science, and she was on her way to the life she wanted.
She first served as an intern for Thornton.
“He would let us go to Washington, which was a wonderful experience,” she said.
He asked her to stay on his staff as a district aide, and representing the congressman, she attended constituent meetings and worked on grants and other projects with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
When Thornton’s term ended, Harris had a stint working in public relations for the city of Little Rock’s Public Works Department — using newsletters, cable TV and other methods to explain to the public the importance of public works and how tax dollars were used for everything from traffic lights to the landfill.
“It was a big learning curve, but I really enjoyed it,” she said. “That job really gave me the bug for helping people understand how government works.”
Neighborhood associations played a big role in her position, and “my biggest takeaway” from the job “was what citizen participation could mean,” Harris said. “I think, most importantly, that there was to be that link between the public servants and the citizens.”
Both have to understand each other “and try to come to some kind of consensus when decisions are made,” she said.
Harris wrote her thesis on citizen participation when she earned her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Working for Daniels, whom she still considers a good friend, she honed her skills in working with the public, as well as with government programs.
When he was land commissioner, Harris started working for him as a legislative liaison, a position in which she followed bills on land-management issues, primarily.
When Daniels became secretary of state in 2003, Harris had plenty to do.
“We had just come through the 2000 [presidential] election, with the hanging chads,” she said.
The Help America Vote Act was signed into law in 2002.
It included a federal mandate to upgrade voting technology, and Harris, a deputy secretary of state, worked with Arkansas’ 75 counties to institute electronic
voting machines. A centralized statewide voter-registration system was instituted, too, in which counties could share information. She also helped oversee a program used in the public schools to inspire kids to go into public service and to teach them
Arkansas history.
Daniels, 77, who lives in Bryant, said he didn’t know Harris when she first came to work for him.
“It didn’t take long to realize what a very intelligent person she was,” he said.
He said her work to institute the electronic voting machines and statewide system was her greatest contribution, although “there was more than one, of course.”
After Daniels was elected state auditor, Harris stayed with him and helped modernize The Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt, where people can find unclaimed property and money, so claims could be made online. Instead of taking several weeks, claims were paid out in a few days.
“She has an innate ability to get things done, and any kind of a project, whether it was at the auditor’s office or secretary of state’s office, she took it very seriously, and it was done in a short manner of time,” Daniels said. “She’s just a highly capable individual. If I knew I wanted something done, I could turn it over to her.”
When he retired, Harris left state government to become director of operations for a year with the Information Network of Arkansas.
“It’s a lot more fun than it sounds,” she said. The public-private partnership builds official websites, online services, such as renewing vehicle registration, and secure-payment processing for more than 350 state and local government agencies.
Harris said she was intrigued when she saw an opening for director of programs at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.
“One thing I missed from state government … was solving problems. I missed that discourse and public-service component,” she said.
Harris got her wish with her new job. She develops programs in the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute’s five priority areas — agriculture, arts and humanities, civic engagement, economic development and health.
“We create a space, which is usually on the mountain at the institute, where people of all different backgrounds and ideas can come together and collaborate on solutions to problems,” she said.
Harris said advocacy groups, business and educational partners, and others are brought together to sit down to talk about issues.
“We try to get the right people at the table and ask the right questions,” she said.
It goes back to Gov. Winthrop
Rockefeller himself.
“His philosophy was if you get the right people in the room, you can solve any problems,” Harris said. “We are all inspired by his legacy, and that’s what motivates us.”
Marta Loyd, executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, said Harris brings “the ideal skill set” to the position.
“She is intellectually curious, has a keen understanding of Arkansas and its people, is a talented mentor for her team and is adept at building strong working relationships with new and existing partners,” Loyd said. “She is completely aligned with our mission to continue serving Arkansas in the way Winthrop Rockefeller did. I’ve never been afraid to hire people smarter than me, and with Janet, that’s exactly what I did.”
Harris said one of her more satisfying accomplishments in the year she’s been on the mountain is a summit she organized and led on civil discourse in conjunction with the National Institute for Civil Discourse.
“It’s seeking to understand another person’s viewpoint, even if you don’t agree,” she said. “It’s listening.”
Although the summit was geared toward legislators, “it’s helpful for all of us, especially now as divided as we are. We all need it,” she said.
“Now, how do we bring the conversation about civility to other groups, not just politicians? There is merit to being free with expression and speech, but by the same token, we have to understand our adversaries and why they hold those views. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We all share things in common,” she said.
The institute’s Uncommon Communities initiative is in its second year. It involves five rural counties: Conway, Perry, Pope, Van Buren and Yell.
“They’re learning that community development has to come before economic development,” Harris said. “We’re giving them tools to be successful in a 21st-century economy. If you are seeking solutions to a problem that affects your community or your state, other people are bound to be asking these questions, too. There is power in getting people together, and that’s what we do.”
For example, a rural health summit is scheduled for March to address the issue of the aging physician population and fewer physicians going to practice in rural areas, an issue a doctor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences asked the institute to address.
Harris said that after an exploratory program last year, the summit was planned to see what creative solutions can be found.
“Let’s see what resources are out there to fill the gaps,” she said.
It’s hard to keep Harris on track to talk about herself, but she maintains that her job at the institute is a big part of who she is.
“We’ve done so many great things,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., introduced a bill to expand agricultural trade with Cuba, and a summit was held at the institute in March in partnership with the Cuba Consortium in Washington, D.C., and Winrock International to discuss the pros and cons. The summit brought together representatives from the Cuban Embassy, the University of Havana and the Arkansas Farm Bureau, and Crawford, who attended
via Skype.
“That was a really monumental program for us in that we helped elevate that process, the discussion,” she said. “It was the first time, as far as I know, that we have had something that expansive in nature in Arkansas.
“It is a very complex policy issue, and of course, it’s continuing to evolve — we have a new administration.”
In a retreat atmosphere at the conference center on Petit Jean Mountain, “people come to get a bigger-picture view,” she said.
She said one of her favorite quotes is by Winthrop Rockefeller: “Every citizen has a duty to be informed, to be thoughtfully concerned, and to participate in the search for solutions.”
And that’s why Harris goes to the mountaintop every day.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansas
online.com.