Maria Effertz

Maria Effertz is the Director for the ND Commerce Division of Community Services. She has spent the last twenty-five years exploring the Main Streets and side streets of North Dakota’s rural areas. She knows the best part of rural North Dakota, beside the great food and people, is the imagination and passion rural North Dakotan’s have for their towns and state. As Director, she helps a team who manages the Office of Community Development and Rural Prosperity, EDA Placemaking Grant program and HUD and Department of Energy programs distributed by the state.

Maria and her family also own and operate Black Butte Adventures, a rural tourism destination near Sawyer, North Dakota. She has degrees from University of North Dakota and University of Mary.