Best business board to sit on

Principal Financial Group Inc.

The 13 members of Principal’s board of directors include locally known names such as William Kerr, chairman of Meredith Corp.; David Drury, retired chairman of Principal; and J. Barry Griswell, the company’s current chairman. The board also includes current or retired executives from such companies as AT&T Corp., W.W. Grainger Inc. and DuPont Co., as well as Federico Pena, who has served as U.S. secretary of energy and U.S. secretary of transportation.

They have helped guide the company to impressive results in recent years. As of June 30, Principal had $152.1 billion in assets under management, a record sum for the company.

In return, the board members are handsomely rewarded. Last year, the annual retainer for each non-Principal employee member was increased to $35,000 from $24,000. Committee chairs are paid an additional $5,000, and all non-employee directors receive $2,500 for each day spent attending a board meeting and $1,000 for participating in a board or committee meeting by conference call.

RUNNERS-UP: Wells Fargo & Co.; Mid-America Group Ltd.

Best CEO

J. Barry Griswell  Principal Financial Group Inc.

J. Barry Griswell joined Principal Financial Group Inc. in 1988 as an officer and agency vice president. What followed was a steady climb to the top – he was named a senior vice president in 1991, executive vice president in ’96, president in ’98, CEO in 2000 and chairman of the board in 2002.

What’s the key to his success? In the opinion of Jim DeVries, Principal’s senior vice president of human resources, “A good CEO is someone with the ability to lead people and with the intelligence required to manage the requirements of a very complex position. A good CEO has the innate strategic ability to manage what’s best for the business, its employees, shareholders and customers. He or she is someone who gives as much as he or she receives, contributing time and resources to not only employees, but also the community.”

People who knew Griswell as a young boy in Atlanta, Ga., wouldn’t have predicted such a bright future. If not for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, he tells young people, he might have ended up in jail or dead.

Instead, he found his way to Berry College in Rome, Ga., where he played basketball (he stands 6 feet 9 inches tall) and earned his bachelor’s degree. He continued his education at Stetson University in Deland, Fla., where he received his master’s degree.

As the head of Principal, Griswell has taken the company through demutualization and its initial public offering. Earlier this year, Principal made a major change in operations when it sold its mortgage business to Citigroup Inc.

Griswell serves as a director for the American Council of Life Insurers and the American Council for Capital Formation and as a trustee of the S.S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education.

Last year, Griswell received the Horatio Alger Association Distinguished American Award and the Oscar C Schmidt Iowa Business Leadership Award. He is also a member of the Iowa Business Hall of Fame.

RUNNERS-UP: Eric Crowell, Iowa Health — Des Moines; David Vellinga, Mercy Medical Center.

Best Metro Business Leader

J. Barry Griswell  Principal Financial Group Inc.

Tall and engaging, J. Barry Griswell naturally makes an impression wherever he goes. But he was named the best metro business leader – as well as being named the best CEO — for doing much more than that.

Among his many achievements and activities, Griswell is chair of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a director of the Business Committee for the Arts, a member of The Business Roundtable board, a member of the United Way of America National Tocqueville Council and a trustee of Central College in Pella. Of course, all of that is in addition to his duties as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Principal Financial Group Inc. In that job, he was instrumental in developing the planned Principal Riverwalk.

“Given my position at The Principal and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, I try to be involved in many community organizations and activities,” Griswell said. “My feeling is if you want others to pitch in and be involved, you need to be willing to participate yourself. With the number of exciting things happening this year, I imagine my name is a little more top of mind, but I hope this honor has a bit to do with people knowing that I care deeply about our community.”

Griswell arrived in Des Moines about 17 years ago with his wife, Michele, and their children after making many moves around the country for his career. They soon became deeply involved in helping with community matters.

“I am probably most proud of my work with social issues,” Griswell said. “We’re making great strides with several United Way and Project Destiny initiatives and I am truly gratified to be involved in efforts that have the potential to positively impact so many people.

“People are generally very appreciative of others’ efforts and are quick to tell you so. I’m just happy to be able to help in whatever way I can.”

RUNNERS-UP: Jim Hubbell, Hubbell Realty Co.; Marvin Pomerantz, Mid-America Group Ltd.

Best Up-and-Coming Leader Under 40

James Myers  Regency Homes

James “Jamie” Myers earned this year’s honor as the best up-and-coming leader under 40 with his steadily growing list of accomplishments in both business and community efforts. As vice president of Regency Homes, he helped develop the company’s impressive new corporate headquarters at 6600 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. As a community leader, he not only figures prominently in the “Character Counts” program, but also works with the annual Iowa Games, raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and sits on the Home Builders Association board of directors.

“We feel very passionate about our causes,” said Myers, 33. “We like to get involved in events that will ultimately help build the Greater Des Moines area.”

Myers worked his way up through the ranks of Regency, the family business, after graduating from Iowa State University in 1994 with a major in ornamental horticulture and a minor in design. He and his wife, Robin, have two children.

The new Regency building has 95,000 square feet, about 60,000 of which are occupied by the company. “Combining our headquarters with a design center puts us at the cutting edge of the home-building industry,” Myers said. “We went around the country and visited many of the larger home builders to make best one we could for the Des Moines area. It’s going to make the building process easier, because builders don’t have to run all over town to find everything they need.”

Regency is heavily involved with the Galleria at Jordan Creek development, just now getting under way adjacent to the Jordan Creek Town Center mall. “We’re very aggressive as far as trying to grow our business,” Myers said. “We have taken risks along way that have paid off and others that haven’t paid the dividends you’d like to see.”

All in all, “the community has been good in supporting Regency, and we want to give back,” Myers said. “It’s like farming; you deplete the soil if don’t put back what you’re taking out.”

He makes sure to acknowledge the efforts of other Regency employees who participate in fund raising and other community efforts. “It’s the people within the company who are doing the work to raise money and volunteer time,” he said. “They’re the ones who are pouring their time, effort and energy into trying to make Des Moines a better place.”

RUNNERS-UP: David Stark, Iowa Health – Des Moines; Aaron Kennedy, Flynn Wright.

Best business to support local charities

Wells Fargo & Co.

Wells Fargo & Co., which has been ranked among the nation’s top 10 corporate givers by Forbes magazine, says its first priority is to support programs whose chief purpose is to benefit low- and moderate-income people.

“In Iowa alone, Wells Fargo contributed more than $2 million in 2003 to non-profit organizations in the state,” said Patrick Corkrean, a company spokesman. “Across the United States, Wells Fargo last year contributed over $83 million to more than 14,000 non-profit organizations — an average of $1.6 million a week.”

In the area of community development, the company focuses on programs that provide affordable housing, job training and revitalization of neighborhoods for low- and moderate-income families. Wells Fargo also contributes generously to United Way fund-raising campaigns in the communities it serves throughout Iowa. It supports social and human services agencies involved in child-care and youth programs, health services and education and basic-needs assistance.

In addition to the relationships some of its local bank branches have with schools, Wells Fargo provides financial support to education through an educational matching gift program and a scholarship program for children of its employees. It also considers support for non-profit groups whose primary focus is to promote academic achievement to low- and moderate-income students in math and science, literacy and finance and banking.

The company also considers requests from artistic, cultural and civic organizations that enhance a community’s quality of life and promote diverse opportunities for residents.

Runners-up: Principal Financial Group Inc., Hy-Vee Inc.

Best non-profit organization

United Way of Central Iowa

United Way of Central Iowa is a results-driven organization. For instance, the non-profit group is currently working with seven seven day-care centers in some of Polk County’s poorest areas to achieve accreditation, so that children in those areas will be better prepared to start school.

“We’re also trying to address kids dropping out of high school, through programs such as the Des Moines Youth Leadership Institute, to show them how they can get involved in the community and really make a difference,” said Shannon Cofield, United Way president. “We just had our first class graduate this year; about 25 kids went through that program.”

Cofield succeeded Martha Willits as president of United Way of Central Iowa on June 1, after Willits left the organization to head the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

With 12 years of leadership experience in United Way organizations, Cofield leads a 25-person staff. She most recently was vice president of operations for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

The work of approximately 300 volunteers, on both the fundraising and investment sides of the operation, help to keep expenses low and maximize the percentage of contributions that can be spent on programs, Cofield said. Of each dollar contributed, about 10 cents goes toward United Way expenses, meaning the remaining 90 cents is directly invested to improve people’s lives in the community.

By achieving results in the community, the organization has been able to continue to be an effective agent for change, she said.

“We’ve had a long-standing, rich relationship with the community in terms of their involvement and engagement, and United Way has just been very effective in making a measurable difference in the lives of people in Central Iowa,” Cofield said.   “When you get results, you gain credibility, and I think that’s been the foundation of our reputation.”

Runners-up: Variety – The Children’s Charity, ChildServe

Best community board to sit on

United Way of Central Iowa

Serving on the board of the United Way of Central Iowa is enjoyable because everyone on it is fully engaged in the organization’s mission, says Steve Lacy, the board’s chairman. That mission is “to unite our community in measurably improving the condition of people’s lives.”

“The board very much supports the United Way agenda,” he said. The two-pronged agenda includes both direct support for the member agencies, as well as a community-impact component that focuses on specific issues such as improving high school graduation rates and early childhood education.

The community-impact aspect, which was added within about the past five years, has helped energize the board and spurred additional investment in United Way, Lacy said. Last year the organization raised a record $17.2 million, an increase of more than $1 million over the previous year’s campaign.

As the volunteer leaders and governing body for the organization, the 35 board members meet at least four times a year and at an annual meeting.. They’re also expected to participate in the annual fund-raising campaign by making campaign calls and making a personal contribution. In addition to participating in at least one committee or cabinet assignment, they also serve as United Way ambassadors by attending events such as the campaign kickoff and volunteer recognition events.

“The board is engaged in the future and having an impact on our community,” said Shannon Cofield, president of United Way, “and because of that we’re able to attract community leaders who are engaged with us. It’s a working board.”

The board members are chosen by a nominating committee and generally serve two three-year terms. The board’s diverse makeup reflects the diversity of the overall community, Lacy said.

Runners-up: Greater Des Moines Partnership, Variety – The Children’s Charity

Best politician on business issues

Sen. Chuck Grassley

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley looks out for Iowa’s interests as well as the nation as a whole, which undoubtedly led to his choice by readers as the best politician on business issues.

Grassley gives farmers and small business owners a voice in policymaking in Washington, D.C., and in global trade negotiations. The JOBS bill crafted by Grassley through the finance committee, for instance, addresses punitive tariffs on industries such as timber, paper and agricultural commodities by the European Union, and creates job-creating tax incentives for renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass and ethanol.

“Chairman Grassley has been a real champion for small business and the millions of Americans they employ,” said Bill Morley, vice president of congressional affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Just look at his record this year on trade. In a year when the prevailing wisdom was that no trade agreements could happen, Chairman Grassley was able to cobble together a strong bipartisan coalition and secure record support for two trade agreements that open the doors to billions of dollars in new U.S. export opportunities in Australia and Morocco.”

In the area of pension reform, Grassley played an instrumental role in the enactment of bipartisan legislation to reform pension funding rules to make it easier for employers to provide pension plans to their workers. In particular, that legislation replaced the obsolete 30-year Treasury bond rate with a conservative, long-term corporate bond rate for valuing pension liabilities.

Earlier this year, he sponsored an economic development forum that brought expert speakers from the Small Business Association, the Department of Commerce, the Commercial Service and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee to Iowa to talk to small business owners and managers. The experts focused on exporting; contracting with the federal government; regulatory issues; tax and health care policy; and contracts for reconstruction in Iraq.

Runners-up: Former Gov. Robert Ray, State Rep. Scott Raecker

Best minority business leader

Suku Radia

Though he’s nearly always found Iowans to be open and accepting of minorities, Suku Radia says that during the past year he has twice endured discrimination at the Des Moines International Airport security screening area just because he appears to be from the Middle East.

“It’s how you react to it that’s important,” said Radia, vice president and chief financial officer of Meredith Corp. “You have to keep your emotions in check.”

Radia, a longtime business and community leader in Des Moines, was chosen by the readers of the Business Record as the minority business leader of the year.

“I’m the least deserving but the most honored,” he said.

Of Indian descent but born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, Radia came to the United States in 1971 to attend Iowa State University. While in college, his family was forced from Uganda and he was unable to return. After earning his accounting degree and CPA certification, he joined KPMG, where he became a managing partner during his 25-year tenure. A nationally recognized tax expert, Radia joined Meredith in March 2000.

Maintaining a high level of personal integrity is an absolutely critical component of leadership, Radia said.

“The other thing is that you have to be part of a team, and you have to be committed to making everyone on the team better,” he said. “I think some of this clearly comes from having an attitude of open and honest communication. Also, you can’t be afraid of making decisions. Not every decision you make is going to be the right one, but it beats the alternative of being indecisive.”

Radia also believes in “paying one’s civic rent” by actively volunteering and serving within the community, a lesson he learned from his father.

“You have to leave the community a better place than you found it,” he said. “It takes a lot of time and effort, and also some of your personal resources to help the less fortunate. At the end of the day I feel very blessed to live in Des Moines. But if I decided I was just going to do my job and ignore any commitment to community betterment, then I’m really not doing my job.”

Radia said his favorite charitable activity is his participation in the United Way of Central Iowa, where he works on the leadership campaign annually. He has served on the boards and chaired a number of organizations, and has received the Iowa Society of CPAs Public Service Award and the Iowa State University Distinguished Alumni Award.

Runners-up: B.J. Do, Franklin Greene

Best female business leader

Martha Willits

When the board of directors of the Greater Des Moines Partnership began its search for a new president and chief executive officer earlier this year, Martha Willits’ name quickly rose to the top of the list.

Readers of the Des Moines Business Record have also put Willits at the top of their lists by choosing her as Greater Des Moines’ best female business leader for 2004.

Willits’ leadership experience is broad. Prior to assuming the top leadership position with the Partnership in February 2004, she served as president and chief professional officer of the United Way of Central Iowa, where she managed a staff of more than 40 professionals and a $22 million annual budget. A lifelong volunteer, she was involved with United Way prior to joining its staff, serving on the board of directors as well being a community campaign volunteer.

Willits also served for 12 years on the Polk County Board of Supervisors, of which she was elected chairperson four times. She helped lead the county’s early economic development efforts, partnering with the Partnership’s predecessor, the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Federation, to serve as the county’s development agency.

As president and CEO of the Partnership, Willits leads an organization representing more than 1,700 member businesses and 18 affiliated chambers of commerce. She is responsible for the operational oversight of a $7 million annual budget that supports economic development programs throughout the metropolitan area, and for maintaining strategic alliances with business, education and government organizations throughout the community.

Willits received her master’s degree in business administration from Drake University in 1997. She graduated in 1969 from Drake with a bachelor’s degree in music education. Willits went on to receive her master’s of teaching arts in 1972 from Drake. She began her professional career in 1969 as a teacher in Des Moines Public Schools.

Runner-up: Mary O’Keefe

Best city government conducive to business

West Des Moines

Once primarily a bedroom community, West Des Moines has blossomed into an employment center and a shopping and entertainment destination in its own right. This rapid growth has been the result of carefully planned and quality development, say city officials.

Led by high-profile projects such as the Jordan Creek Town Center, commercial construction in West Des Moines topped $123 million last year. Additionally, the city continues to expand its employment base as more companies decide to call the suburb home.

“I think that West Des Moines has proven that we’re willing to be innovative and strtongly support projects that are in the best interest of the community,” said City Manager Jeff Pomeranz. “An example of that is Jordan Creek Town Center and what has now become a very strong commercial center for the city. When that program was first proposed there was support but there was also a lot of opposition. Working with developers, we made the project happen. That’s the kind of leadership and vision that the mayor and city staff have had and will continue to have.”

City officials have requested a special census to verify their belief that West Des Moines has exceeded the magic 50,000 mark that would qualify them for additional federal funding. Now ranked as Iowa’s 10th largest city, West Des Moines could jump to eighth following the census, Pomeranz believes.

The city’s population is expected to grow to more than 61,000 residents by 2010, a 33 percent increase from its 2000 population of 46,403. To meet that demand, builders have filed for 140 residential permits so far this year, the majority of which are slated as multifamily developments.

Runners-up: Ankeny, Johnston