Named to Presidential Rank Award Review Board

Press Coverage: Kansas City Call, 2000, Troy Nash Named to White House Board; PTPI Board of Trustees Meeting, 2001

In May 2000, the White House submitted my name and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management selected me to serve on the Presidential Rank Award Review Board, which evaluates nominees for the Presidential Rank Awards for federal executives. Separately, I was elected to the Board of Directors of People to People International.

I received that recognition through my involvement with People to People International, the citizen diplomacy organization founded by President Eisenhower in 1956. My appointment to the PTPI Board of Trustees placed me in a network of national and international leaders committed to promoting understanding between people of different nations and cultures.

What PTPI Does

People to People International is built on Eisenhower's belief that ordinary citizens can accomplish what diplomats sometimes cannot: genuine understanding between people. The organization facilitates citizen exchanges, professional delegations, and community partnerships across national borders.

Eisenhower created PTPI because he understood that peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of relationships between people who understand each other. The organization has facilitated millions of citizen-to-citizen exchanges since its founding, creating personal connections that transcend national boundaries, political differences, and cultural barriers.

My role on the board involved strategic governance of the organization's programs, international partnerships, and operational direction. Board members were drawn from business, government, academia, and civic leadership across the United States. Board service carried the practical responsibility of guiding an organization with global reach.

Why This Appointment Happened

In my case, the appointment recognized a combination of local leadership, international engagement, and demonstrated commitment to the kind of cross-cultural understanding that PTPI promotes.

By the time of the appointment, I had already traveled extensively, served on the Kansas City Council, chaired the Planning, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee, and built a track record of community engagement that extended across cultural and geographic boundaries. The appointment was recognition that this local track record had national relevance.

The Connection to Our Work

International engagement is not separate from community development. It informs it. Every country I have visited, every delegation I have led, every international partnership I have built has expanded my understanding of how communities work, how development succeeds, and how different societies balance growth with equity.

When The Nash Group evaluates a transit oriented development project, our analysis is informed by models we have studied internationally. When we design community engagement strategies, we draw on approaches we have seen work in different cultural contexts. When we advise clients on complex development challenges, we bring a breadth of perspective that comes from decades of international engagement.

The PTPI board role reflected that this global perspective has national value. For clients and partners who work with The Nash Group, it reflects leadership experience at the national and international level.

Board service at the national level established relationships and perspectives that continue to inform our work. The network of leaders I engaged with through PTPI spans multiple sectors and multiple countries. Those relationships create opportunities for knowledge exchange, partnership, and collaboration that a purely local firm could never access.

The Nash Group is a Kansas City firm with a national practice and an international perspective. These board roles are foundation stones of that positioning.