Barbara Rater currently serves as director of the Census and Survey Division where she provides leadership and oversight to sustaining the high quality of United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) census and survey data collection processes. She has a wide range of professional experiences and has led national programs and spearheaded international initiatives related to the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of agricultural statistics. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and is a graduate of the Key Executive Leadership Program from American University’s School of Public Administration. Barbara has a passion for producing timely, quality results that can readily be used by decision makers to assess markets and policies and improve organizational performance and productivity.