Owen Hart

Owen Hart is the Legislative Director for Agriculture and Rural Affairs at the National Association of Counties (NACo). In this role, he serves as staff liaison to NACo’s Agriculture & Rural Affairs (AgRA) Steering Committee and the Rural Action Caucus, leading advocacy on county priorities related to agriculture, rural development and food systems. He also analyzes federal legislative and regulatory activity and helps plan and execute NACo’s conferences, events and member engagement initiatives.

Before joining NACo, Owen worked as a graduate researcher at the Center for Effective Lawmaking and assisted Professor Gerald Felix Warburg in the development of Saving Point Reyes: How an Epic Conservation Victory Became a Tipping Point for Environmental Policy Action.

Owen holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and a Bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies and Geography with a minor in Arabic from UCLA. He was raised in Clackamas County, Oregon.