Rebekah Starkey Keasling | Partner Manager

​As Partner Manager, Rebekah Starkey Keasling is responsible for advancing the efforts of the Leadership Transformation Grant initiative and other community partner work. Through intentional relationships, she stewards the journeys of grant partners building leadership capacity within their organizations and communities across the state.

Prior to joining the Kansas Leadership Center, Rebekah served most recently as director of community engagement for the City of Hutchinson, a position that deepened her own commitment to civic engagement. Rebekah is passionate about impacting homelessness and housing equity and serves as the mayor’s appointee to the City of Wichita Affordable Housing Review Board. Her experience leading from all levels of authority in public, private, and non-profit institutions has instilled a desire to forge connections between those facing shared challenges from diverse perspectives.

Born and raised in the “Last Frontier” (Alaska, not space, “the final frontier”) Rebekah is now at home in Kansas, where she has lived since 2003. When asked about her hobbies, she is all over the place. Whether singing torch songs and opera arias or spending time in nature, creating visual art or playing disc golf, running (slowly) or nerding out on Marvel movies, YA fantasy, sci-fi, or peer reviewed articles, there is no discernable pattern to where she finds joy. Rebekah holds a BA from the University of Northern Colorado and an MPA from Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She lives with her husband and their two young children here in Wichita.