Des Moines-based venture capital firm Next Level Ventures (NLV) has announced the promotions of Liz Keehner and Wyatt Powers. Keehner has been promoted to vice president from senior associate. She joined NLV in 2021 and has led investments in several companies, including Tractor Zoom, hummingbirds and iotaMotion. Powers has been promoted to associate from senior […]

America’s SBDC Iowa has announced Melissa Fabian and Dustin Rhoades as the winners of its 2024 special entrepreneur awards. Fabian, owner of Simply Nourished Market & Mercantile in Mason City, is the winner of the 2024 Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award. Simply Nourished offers organic, specialty and local food products as well as catering services and cooking […]

Submitted by Jim Chaffee, executive director of learning innovation and technology, University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business Virtual reality is changing the world and changing business, two points driven home when I participated in a virtual roundtable in December with Facebook’s technology boss and leading global technology thinker Sir Nick Clegg. The roundtable brought together […]

The Technology Association of Iowa has announced that Kathy Kay, executive vice president and chief information officer at Principal Financial Group, has been appointed as the 2024 board chair of the TAI board of directors. “Iowa is rapidly becoming a new hub for innovation and technology full of opportunities for growth, advocacy and connection,” Kay said […]

America’s Cultivation Corridor has announced its board officers for the 2024-25 leadership term.  Kevin Rasmussen, pictured on the right, is the owner of Owl Lake Production Co. and board member of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, will chair the board of directors. “Across the entire state, we’re seeing state-of-the-art innovation in a diverse range of agricultural […]

The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council at the Iowa Department of Education announced the opportunity for Iowa pre-K-12 educators, both in and outside the classroom, to apply to expand and launch STEM Scale-Up programs for the 2024-25 academic year. The program aims to provide students with a range of STEM units and activities. The program serves over […]

The Business Record recently hosted its 2024 Legislative Forecast event where business leaders discussed their group’s priorities for the 2024 session, which began Jan. 8. Mollie Ross, Technology Association of Iowa’s vice president of operations, was among the panelists. Here is some of what she shared about how TAI will navigate conversations around cybersecurity and […]

The Department of Management Division of Information Technology, formerly the Office of the Chief Information Officer, is requesting public comment on the state of Iowa Digital Equity Plan. The plan details Iowa’s proposed implementation of digital equity funding made possible through the Digital Equity Act of 2021, which is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and […]

The Jacobson Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Education have partnered to provide all Iowa educators access to the BizInnovator Startup curriculum at no cost. BizInnovator Startup is an innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum designed for high school students. “BizInnovator Startup provides strategies and methods for educators to […]

The founder and CEO says he hopes to create a ‘movement’ of organizations meeting complex challenges with a curious, innovative mindset Jeff Reed’s entrepreneurial journey started almost six years ago when he left his job to start his first consulting company, the Elevate Co. Since then, he’s been evolving and developing his own vision for innovation […]