Frank Lenk is Director of Research Services for the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) where he is responsible for overseeing the development of the Region’s economic and demographic forecasts upon which MARC’s transportation and environmental plans are based. Additionally, he manages the department responsible for collecting, maintaining and analyzing the economic, demographic and geographic information about the region. His department also manages MARC’s information system.

Frank joined MARC in January 1979 as an Economist and has worked to continually improve MARC’s analytical capabilities. Using tools such as public surveys, statistical analysis, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and economic impact studies and regional economic models, Frank has authored several reports that help put the region’s growth and development in context.

Frank’s major professional achievements include 1) designing and directing the implementation of Paint the Town, a tool for producing alternative scenarios for how the region might grow and making clearer their policy implications, 2) preparing a report (Metro Outlook) that tracks the Region’s progress on a wide variety of social, economic and environmental indicators, 3) a report describing the reasons for the issues facing the oldest parts of the Region (Metropolitan Kansas City’s Urban Core), and 4) helping to increase the level of data sharing, especially of geographic data, among local governments in the region. Frank is currently working with the Civic Council and UMKC to better understand the issue of poverty in the Kansas City region.

Frank attended Stanford University where he received a Bachelor and a Master of Arts degree in Economics. He is currently pursuing an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.