ABI Executive Committee Meets Next Week - Monday Memo 8/1/22
August 1, 2022
Executive Committee Teleconference a Week from Wednesday; Board Will Meet in September
ABI Chair Kim Augspurger (Pigott, Des Moines) and members of the association’s Executive Committee will hold their August meeting a week from Wednesday, on August 10. Agenda items include discussions related to public policy, membership and events, and Foundation programs.
Speaking of leadership meetings, the board will next meet on September 14. The board will meet in the new headquarters/conference center of a longtime ABI member, the Iowa Bankers Association in Johnston.
The September meeting is an important one for several reasons. First, it marks the first board meeting of the fiscal year and the first meeting for newly-elected board members. Second, it will involve board consideration and approval of the policies developed through the annual policy development process (by September 14, literally hundreds of ABI members will have participated in meetings to propose a slate of policies for 2023). This part of the meeting will be led by ABI Vice Chair Rich Phelan (LyondellBasell, Clinton). Please mark your calendars and make plans now to participate in this important meeting.
ABI Employment and Workforce, Workplace and Product Safety, and Environment Committees to Meet Next Week
Speaking of the annual policy committee meetings, the meetings will be kicked-off in earnest next week. Members of the ABI Employment and Workforce, Workplace and Product Safety, and Environment Committees will hold their annual policy meetings August 9, 10, and 11. These committees will meet at ABI and thank you to Committee Chairs Kelly Jorgensen (AGP/Ag Processing, Eagle Grove), Amy Larsen (United Equipment Accessories, Waverly) and Rex Butler (CIPCO, Cedar Rapids).
The ABI Economic Growth Committee and ABI Tax Committee meet later in the month. You can register for any of these meetings by clicking on them in the ABI Events Calendar at Events Calendar | Iowa Association of Business and Industry (iowaabi.org).
LIU Opens Session Next Week
The annual class of Leadership Iowa University will kick off its 2022 session a week from Yesterday, on August 7. The program seeks to educate, inspire, and develop college students as a foundation for Iowa’s economic growth and to encourage their on-going involvement in community and state initiatives.
Go to http://www.leadershipiowauniversity.com/ to learn more. As I mentioned last week, class members come from public, private, and community colleges all across Iowa. These students will be tomorrow’s workforce and business owners; we look forward to their participation in LIU.
New Board Member Orientations Continue
Meetings with new members of the ABI Board of Directors continue. Thank you to these newly-elected ABI Board Members for their time and service: Steve Anderson (Merrill Manufacturing, Storm Lake), Lesley Bartholomew (Wells Enterprises, Le Mars), Ken Feldmann (Employee Owned Brands, Fairfield), Liz Hobart (GROWMARK, Waterloo), Eric Moerman (Interstates Companies, Sioux Center), Hank Norem (Ramco Innovations, West Des Moines), Gretchen Spear (International Paper, Cedar Rapids), and Nate Weaton (Weaton Capital, Fairfield). The honorary Leadership Iowa board representative this year is Nick Glew (Marion Economic Development Corporation, Marion). You will have an opportunity to meet the new board members at a future meeting.
ABI Holds Fabulous Executive Forum
Last week in Okoboji, ABI held the 2022 edition of the annual Executive Forum. This fabulous program gets better and better every year.
Last Thursday and Friday, fifty ABI leaders met in Okoboji to hear from terrific speakers, visit great venues, and tour terrific operations. Members tell us that they can’t wait for next year’s program. Thank you to all those who attended and to the many members who served as panelists and speakers!
Annual ABI Executive Open on the 29th
Many of you have commented to me that you are looking forward to the annual ABI Executive Open best ball golf outing. The open will be held on Monday, August 29. As this memo goes to press, over 70 ABI members have already registered. The event will be held at the Glen Oaks Country Club, a fabulous private golf course in West Des Moines. Register now to play golf.
By participating, you’ll have fun and have an opportunity to network with great ABI members. To find more information or to register, please go to the ABI webpage at www.iowaabi.org and click on the events tab.
Iowa Public Health Association Reaches Out to ABI
Officials with the Iowa Public Health Association reached out to ABI last week. Various county public health agencies were quite helpful to ABI during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every five years local public health organizations perform a community health needs assessment to identify the most important factors affecting health in the community and to plan strategies to build on strengths and work on gaps. Currently, many local public health organizations are in the middle of gathering their community input and would appreciate hearing from you and your employees. The county data can be viewed at this link: https://idph.iowa.gov/cha-chip/Data and you can also sue that link to provide feedback.
Espeset Shares Lawson Perspective in Story Construction Newsletter
You all know how much we enjoy your company newsletters. As we seek to model the business of ABI after the way your run your companies, reading your newsletters is a terrific resource to help us do it.
StoryLine is the newsletter published by longtime ABI member Story Construction. In it, company CEO and ABI Board Member Mike Espeset (Story Construction, Ames) always writes a President’s Perspective column, which I have frequently called to your attention in the past. Mike shared another strong column this month, and it features Duke University Women’s Basketball Coach Kara Lawson.
Coach Lawson shares a fantastic perspective and one worth thinking about. You can see Mike’s column, and watch Coach Lawson, here: Handle Hard Better - Story Construction. Thank you, Mike, and Coach Lawson!
Note: Last Wednesday, thanks to Mike, I had the privilege of touring one of Story’s latest big projects: the brand new Ames Public High School. Wow! What a gorgeous facility! Congratulations to the school district and to Story for partnering on such a fabulous project.
Belated Happy Birthday, Jack
Ladies and gentlemen, I did it again. I forgot to note the birthday of a great ABI leader, none other than Immediate Past Chair Jack Hasken (Jackson Mfg., Maquoketa). Jack celebrated on July 23rd and happy belated birthday, Jack!
Jim Tyler Turns 98
Each year about now, because it coincides with his birthday, I note that former ABI Chair Jim Tyler (Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Atlantic) is a terrific Iowa leader and a great guy. Jim turns 98 on Wednesday (August 3rd) this year! Happy birthday, Jim!
Anniversary Tomorrow for Bill and Mary Zinkewich
Tomorrow is the 53rd wedding anniversary of former longtime ABI Board Member Bill Zinkewich (SSAB, Muscatine), and his wife, Mary Zinkewich. Best wishes to Bill and to Mary and congratulations all around!
The Business of ABI: Connections
For some reason, summer is a time when ABI members want to connect with each other (they do that all year long, but perhaps more so during the summer). We receive these types of requests all the time and of course are pleased to do it. This is an essential benefit you get as an ABI member, the opportunity to connect with others. You certainly don’t need to pay anything additional for it.
Want to add a customer? Ask about a manufacturing process? Seek information on a new location? These topics and just about anything else you might want to discuss can be a part of a conversation with your fellow ABI members. We want ABI members to do business with each other and will work hard to make it happen. Connecting folks is really what ABI is all about, so let us know how we can help you and thank you!