The top executives at some of the state’s largest businesses will serve on a board overseeing Iowa’s new public-private economic development efforts, Gov. Terry Branstad has announced, although he says any potential conflicts raised by their positions will be approached “carefully.” Branstad on Monday announced 11 appointees to the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board and seven to the Iowa Innovation Corporation board
The top executives at some of the state’s largest businesses will serve on a board overseeing Iowa’s new public-private economic development efforts, Gov. Terry Branstad has announced, although he says any potential conflicts raised by their positions will be approached “carefully.”
Branstad on Monday announced 11 appointees to the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board and seven to the Iowa Innovation Corporation board. The boards are part of the state’s new economic development efforts, a public-private partnership approved by legislators earlier this year.
Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will co-chair the IPEP board. Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, will also sit on the board. The appointments are not subject to approval from the Iowa Senate.
The appointments include top executives at MidAmerican Energy, Principal Financial Group, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Rockwell Collins, among others.
Branstad said the boards will approach potential conflicts of interest or proprietary issues “carefully.” Those issues concerned many state legislators as the new partnership was being debated earlier this year, although Durham has said the groups’ activities will be transparent.
“I don’t know that there’s any easy answer to that,” Branstad said. “We’re going to follow the law and avoid getting any conflicts of interest but when you have proprietary interests, each company is going to obviously look out to protect their own proprietary interests. We want to make sure that’s done.”
Branstad said the appointments are another step toward reaching his administration’s goals of creating 200,000 new jobs and increasing family incomes by 25 percent.
“I am pleased that some of the most admired business leaders in our state have agreed to serve Iowa in this capacity,” he said.
The members of the IPEP board include:
The members of the Iowa Innovation Corporation board include:
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