For the fifth straight year, Dan Houston, chairman, president and CEO of Principal Financial Group Inc., has been voted by Business Record readers as the Most Influential Business Leader in Greater Des Moines.
Houston topped the annual list of the top 25 influential leaders that appears in the 2023 Book of Lists.
The online survey of Business Record readers, which was conducted in 2022, asked participants who they think the most influential leader is and asked them to pick nine other influential leaders.
The votes were tallied and IP addresses were analyzed, much as we do for Best of Des Moines, to remove suspicious voting and obvious attempts to fraudulently influence rankings.

The Business Record also released its list of the Top 25 Most Influential Nonprofit Organizations. View them here

Top 25 Most Influential Business Leaders

1. Dan Houston, Chairman, president and CEO, Principal Financial Group Inc.

3. Don Coffin, President and CEO, , Bankers Trust Co.

4. Dennis Albaugh, Chairman, Albaugh LLC

5. Suku Radia, Retired, Bankers Trust Co.

6. Teree Caldwell-Johnson, CEO, Oakridge Neighborhood

7. John Pappajohn, Owner and CEO, Pappajohn Capital Resources

8. Kyle Krause, CEO, Krause Group

10. Connie Wimer, Chairman and founder, Business Publications Corp. Inc. 

11. Jim Cownie, Founder, JSC Properties

12. Renee Hardman, Chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer and vice president of human resources, Broadlawns Medical Center

13. Debi Durham, Director, Iowa Economic Development Authority & Iowa Finance Authority

14. Emily Abbas, SVP, chief consumer banking and marketing officer, Bankers Trust Co.

15. Mary Sellers, President, United Way of Central Iowa

16. Izaah Knox, Executive director, Urban Dreams

17. Denny Elwell, Chairman of the board, Denny Elwell Company

18. Angela Connolly, Member, Polk County Board of Supervisors

19. Fred Hubbell, Retired, ING Groep NV

20. Richard Hurd, President, Hurd Real Estate Services

21. Greg Edwards, President and CEO, Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau

22. Kristi Knous, President, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines

23. Richard Deming, Founder and chairman, Above & Beyond Cancer

24. John Ruan IV, Chairman, Ruan Companies

25. Michelle Book, President and CEO, Food Bank of Iowa