JULY 22, 2016 The business journal serving Central Iowa’s Cultivation Corridor Price: $1.75 Design team keeps fun alive for developer KIM AND MIKE WHALEN Heart of America Group pleASe joIn uS AS We Honor THeSe ouTSTAndInG WoMen businessrecord.com | Twitter: @businessrecord @businessrecord | Twitter: businessrecord.com THE HONOREES Debi Durham Director | Iowa Economic Development Authority Nora Everett President of Retirement and Income Solutions | Principal Financial Group Inc. Monica Friedman Vice President of Human Resources | Nationwide Insurance Diane Glass Author & Founder | Pine Spirit LLC; Practicum Coordinator | PrairieFire Barb Kniff-McCulla Owner & CEO | KLK Construction Inc. Cathy Lacy Philanthropist and Community Volunteer Dawn Martinez Oropeza Executive Director | Al Exito Ruth Randleman Mayor | City of Carlisle CAPTRUST Woman Business Owner of the Year Eileen Wixted Owner & Principal | Wixted & Company Meredith Emerging Woman of Influence When: Thursday, August 4 | 4-7 pm Emily Abbas 4 pm Complimentary hors Chief Marketing Officer & Chief of Staff | Bankers Trust Co. d’oeuvres and cash bar reception 5:15 pm presentation of honors SponSored by Where: downtown Marriott Hotel 7th and Grand TICKeTS: businessrecord.com/events July 22, 2016 22, July Individual $39; Table of 10 $375 Woman business owner of the year SponSor emerging Woman of Influence SponSor Business Record | | Record Business 2 CONTACT US (515) 288-3336 [email protected] FOLLOW US www.businessrecord.com TABLE OF CONTENTS FB: www.facebook.com/DMBusinessRecord VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 30 | JULY 22, 2016 Twitter: @BusinessRecord EDITORIAL EDITOR Chris Conetzkey (515) 661-6081 [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Anne Carothers-Kay A PLAYGROUND (515) 661-6085 8 [email protected] Beats: Culture | Retail | Sales & Marketing FOR DESIGN @businessrecord | Twitter: businessrecord.com SENIOR STAFF WRITERS Joe Gardyasz HEART OF AMERICA GROUP (515) 661-6084 [email protected] HAS REASONS BOTH Beats: Insurance & Investments | Health & Wellness | Manufacturing & Logistics | HR & Education PRACTICAL AND FANCIFUL Kent Darr (515) 661-6083 FOR KEEPING A TEAM OF [email protected] Beats: Real Estate & Development | ARCHITECTS ON STAFF Banking & Finance | Law & Government Perry Beeman (515) 661-6086 [email protected] FOCUS: ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN Beats: Economic Development | Transportation | Tech & Innovation | Energy & Environment NEWSROOM OPERATIONS MANAGER John Retzlaff (515) 661-6082 [email protected] Calendar | On the Moves COPY EDITOR Kurt Helland ART & PRODUCTION SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brianna Schechinger ON THE COVER: GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Danielle Miller KIM & MIKE Lauren Hayes WHALEN PHOTOGRAPHER Duane Tinkey Heart of America Group SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING SUBMITTED PHOTOS SUBMITTED PHOTO BY DUANE TINKEY Ashley Holter DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Carole Chambers SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lori Bratrud THIS WEEK VOICES Katherine Harrington WHO’S IN Maria Davis We want to hear from you. To submit an article MARKETING COORDINATOR 4 INSIDER NOTEBOOK THIS ISSUE? Catherine Skepnek for the Guest Opinion column or to send a letter to The reason for data centers, the editor, please contact editor Chris Conetzkey A list of local people and the page number ADMINISTRATION more secret projects, a sailing at (515) 661-6081 or [email protected]. of the article in which they are mentioned. DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Jason Swanson expedition, reverse exchanges, TERRY BRANSTAD, 4 and a $100,000 toilet. HOW TO LEAD BETTER BUSINESS MANAGER 22 DAVID BROWN, 4 Eileen Jackson MEETINGS MATT BROWN, 6 ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST 6 MATT BROWN Becky Hotchkiss IowaBiz blog: By Rowena Crosbie RO CROSBIE, 22 Take a closer look at the OFFICE MANAGER KEVIN FOLEY, 4 Laura Stegemann president of a recently formed 25 LEADERS NEED TO JANN FREED, 25 INSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE construction consulting firm. Alison Damon BUILD COMMUNITY DAVID MAAHS, 4 RECEPTIONIST Guest Opinion: By Jann Freed MATTHEW MITCHELL, 4 Amanda Kurovski 13 ONE BIG QUESTION: MANUFACTURING MIKE RALSTON, 13 LEADERSHIP 26 CAN DONALD TRUMP CHAIRMAN What’s behind the slowdown TOM ROOT, 13 Connie Wimer BE CIVILIZED? in manufacturing? DAVE SWENSON, 13 PUBLISHER The Elbert Files: By Dave Elbert Janette Larkin KIM WHALEN, 8 July 22, 2016 22, July 14 CALENDAR PICKS MIKE WHALEN, 8 Business Record® (USPS 154-740, ISSN 1068-6681) is MAKING YOUR FACEBOOK published by Business Publications Corporation Inc., Your first look at upcoming events 26 ART WITTMACK, 4 The Depot at Fourth, 100-4th Street, Des Moines, Iowa ADS WORK 50309, (515) 288-3336. Contents © 2016 Business CHARLIE WITTMACK, 4 Record. Published weekly. Annual subscriptions $69.95. Marketing: By Drew McLellan Single copy price is $1.75. Copies of past issues, as 23 ON THE MOVE available, may be purchased for $4.50 each. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Moines, Iowa. POSTMASTER: Send Job changes, hires and promotions address changes to Business Publications, The Depot | Record Business at Fourth, 100-4th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. VIDEO: Slight increase in June General Fund Watch Senior Fiscal Analyst Jeff Robinson’s breakdown in his monthly video memo. Use the QR Code to access the video. 3 THE INSIDER notebook CHRIS ANNE JOE KENT PERRY Bits and bites of the finer side of Iowa business CONETZKEY CAROTHERS-KAY GARDYASZ DARR BEEMAN editor managing editor senior staff writer senior staff writer senior staff writer A tuneful hello FLASHBACK - The reason Iowa is businessrecord.com | Twitter: @businessrecord @businessrecord | Twitter: businessrecord.com for the nation’s ripe for data centers In case you BY CHRIS CONETZKEY governors missed it... News that Project Osmium will likley be another large data center had me A brief look back at members-only news BY PERRY BEEMAN thinking back to a Business Record story from 2012. Iowa had recently been from the past week on BusinessRecord.com showing a propensity to land large data centers, but this was mostly before The airport commission the likes of Facebook, Microsoft and Google — and local company LightEdge agreed to let the Greater Business lessons Solutions — really began carving up Iowa’s countryside with their mega data Des Moines Partnership centers. The 2012 story cited a report from the Boyd Co. Inc., a corporate from Pokemon Go arrange for musicians location consultant based in New Jersey, that was conducted Matthew Mitchell, associate to perform near the to find highly secure, cost-effective sites, and includes professor of international business airport parking ramp as thoughts from the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s and strategy at Drake University the nation’s governors shares some business lessons David Maahs. The report predicted the Midwest arrived for the National and Iowa would see a big influx of companies and from the Pokemon Go craze. Governors Association jobs from the data security industry in the form of http://bit.ly/29UzpBP conference last week. The deal, data centers. The two primary reasons it cited, in a which involves no cash and will include nutshell: low operating costs and a lack of natural New flights to Des Moines? future events, also allows new displays disasters. Low operating costs: Des Moines ranked An aviation expert says the near the security check and baggage areas. No. 9 out of 45 cities in the study. Ames ranked No. Des Moines International Airport Some may be interactive digital offerings, 6. We have cheap power (MidAmerican’s wind projects is healthy, is poised well for a new said , the airport’s executive Kevin Foley have helped a lot), and lots of land. The Atlantic magazine terminal and could eventually get director and general manager. The chronicled this online. Security: Iowa has a relatively low service to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Partnership wanted music in the terminal, number of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Here’s Seattle and San Francisco. but Foley said there wasn’t room. two other interesting points that led to the growing attractiveness of Iowa. http://bit.ly/29JFAFu The article talked about state legislation passed in 2009 that gives data centers a sales and use tax exemption on computers and other necessary New apartments near equipment, including cooling systems and backup generators. Additionally, downtown YMCA Iowa’s tax policy was one reason Sioux Falls, S.D. outranked cities in Iowa Art Wittmack plans Hubbell Realty Co. and Shiffler in the study. Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to reduce commercial and industrial Associates Architects have designed property taxes was referred to by the consultant as a game changer that to sail a ‘great loop’ a long, narrow apartment complex would increase Iowa’s attractiveness. That plan, of course, came to fruition BY DAVE ELBERT that will fit a skinny lot immediately in 2013 with reform legislation that Branstad declared would lead to the north of the Wellmark YMCA. largest reduction in property tax bills in state history. Read the 2012 article: Art Wittmack, father of ultra-adventurer http://bit.ly/29Q5Grq Charlie Wittmack, is planning an unusual http://bit.ly/2a6venR trek of his own in 2017. You remember Charlie, the Des Moines native who created New convenience the World Triathlon, an 11-month swim, bike store chain and mountain climb journey from England to A Boston-based private equity firm Mount Everest. Art Wittmack, More ‘secret’ projects is bankrolling the launch of a new who formerly led Neumann BY KENT DARR convenience store chain called Brothers and the Science Yesway