Bill Hoffman Starts as Executive Director, Cooperative Extension System and Extension Committee on Organization and Policy at APLU and Cooperative Extension

Bill Hoffman, former Chief of Staff at University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) and former Chief of Staff at USDA National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA), started as Executive Director, Cooperative Extension System (CES) and Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) at APLU last week.

As Chief of Staff at UTIA, Hoffman served on the leadership team to assist the Senior Vice President and Senior Vice Chancellor in leading a 2,700-employee enterprise that includes a college of agriculture, a college of veterinary medicine, a State Agriculture Experiment Station, and a Cooperative Extension Service.

Hoffman championed Cooperative Extension nationally in various roles at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for over 20 years. As NIFA’s Chief of Staff, Hoffman served on the leadership team to assist the NIFA Director in leading a $2 billion extramural science funding agency. He supported the Director in key legislative initiatives including the formulation of the President’s budget request and annual appropriations process. He also developed and strengthened relationships with internal and external agencies, partners, stakeholders, and the public.

As a second-generation Cooperative Extension professional, Bill has been committed to Extension and the land-grant university mission throughout his life. He grew up on the Agronomy Research farm that his father managed as an Extension tillage specialist at Penn State University. He further developed his passion for Extension by visiting and seeing first-hand the impactful outcomes of Extension’s work across the U.S. and its territories at all types of institutions.

Hoffman earned a Doctor of Education: Higher Education Administration from George Washington University as well as a Master of Education: Instructional Systems, Master of Business Administration, and Bachelor of Science: Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology from Penn State University.