Arlisa Armstrong

Arlisa Armstrong has spent nearly three decades working in rural development. A native of Haywood County, TN, Arlisa has worked with local leaders in every West Tennessee county and understands the integral role that USDA Rural Development plays to promote growth and prosperity for rural communities. Arlisa has served in a variety of USDA Rural Development roles in Tennessee and served as Area Director for West TN from 2010 to 2021.  In this position, Arlisa served as a key member of the State Director's staff and fully participated in the planning, development, and implementation of rural development and rural assistance programs. She lead rural development initiatives throughout a 12- county servicing area by formulating objectives and allocating the necessary resources available to effectively implement residential, business, commercial and profit/non-profit loan and grant making authorities for direct and guaranteed lending programs available from USDA. 

From January 2020 through August 2021, Ms. Armstrong served as the USDA Area Director of the TN Pilot Program, which is based in Nashville, TN. In this role, she leads the effort to support State Program Directors and Area Directors, implements portfolio management and servicing for the Community Programs Division, implemented the Community Facility Deferral Process to assist with borrowers impacted by COVID-19, and provided updates and participated in meetings with National Director of Community Facility Portfolio Management Team. 

 Ms. Armstrong’s has been passionate to serve rural communities in Tennessee, and she has made it her goal to help bring prosperity and opportunity to those areas.  As State Director, she will use her leadership and experience to extend USDA Rural Development Programs to address COVID-19 Relief for our communities, ensure that all underserved areas are aware of resources available, and initiate investment solutions to assist communities that are impacted by disasters in their areas.

Arlisa earned her degree in Business Administration at Middle Tennessee State University. Previously served as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank Community Development Advisory Board. She became a member of the Westar Tennessee Leadership Program in 2014 and serves on the Westar Haywood County Alumni committee and African Leadership Conference Committee. She is a graduate of the Delta Regional Institute Leadership Class of 2011. She is a graduate of the Haywood County TN Leadership class of 2006.