Amanda Accola is a Senior Key Account Manager with Alliant Energy.  She graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Marketing.

She has served her community in various capacities including the Marshalltown Chamber Board, Newton Economic Development Corporation Board, YMCA-WYCA Board, Rotary Board and Church Council.

She currently resides in Marshalltown with her husband AJ, son Gavin (13) and daughter Perry (11).

Susan Donkers is the Co-Founder and COO of Strata Platforms, a site selection software company based in Greenville, South Carolina that is focused on radically streamlining the process of site selection for all stakeholders.  Susan has 25 years of experience in property technology, site selection consulting, and real estate development.  Prior to spinning out of Global Location Strategies (GLS) to start up Strata Platforms in early 2024, Susan worked in strategic development for ten years at GLS to help scale the firm’s delivery of manufacturing and industrial site selection expertise.  

Susan was born and raised in Indiana and is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University.   She began her career in real estate and facilities in Arlington, Virginia with AECOM.  She volunteered as a board member with the U.S. Green Building Council which led to a green building focus at Equity Office Properties and HDR Architecture & Engineering.   She has participated in project teams to design, site and build several facility types to include military installations, office buildings, digital and physical plant infrastructure, hospitals, labs, schools, industrial parks, and manufacturing plants.  She enjoys pumpkin carving contests, blueberry festivals, lake days on a pontoon, live music, and all manner of family fun.  

Amber is a Marshalltown, Iowa native and has served as the Executive Director of the Arts + Culture Alliance since 2016. She is a Marshalltown Community College and University of Northern Iowa graduate where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business.

​Amber and her husband were born and raised in Marshalltown and intentionally came back after moving away for a short period of time to raise a family. They are proud to call Marshalltown home and are amazed at the continued progress, growth and perseverance of the community.​

Under her leadership, the Arts + Culture Alliance has added more than 30 public art installations throughout the community totaling over half a million dollars. She has generated over $4 million dollars in grant funding for creativity in her community and most recently spearheaded the development of the city’s first Arts and Culture Master Plan.

Over the years she has been a part of the Youth and Shelter Services, Trails Inc., 13th Street District Board, Board of Adjustments and Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center Board of Directors. She has sat on grant panels for the Iowa Arts Council and Arts Midwest, and provided leadership with Marshalltown’s Iowa Great Places, Marshalltown Arts & Civic Museum and Vision Marshalltown committees.

Most notably, she was the recipient of the 2023 Governor’s Emerging Arts Leader award for the State of Iowa and received the Outstanding Leader Award by Youth and Shelter Services. Currently, Amber serves as the Chair of the Iowa Arts Council Board of Directors, leads a state-wide arts leaders networking group and was elected as a Board Member for the Iowa Valley Community College District.

Owner of Emerge Marketing Solutions, Shelly Greving, is passionate about revitalizing rural Iowa communities. As a marketing professional and entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience she has worked closely with communities such as DeWitt, Ames, Manning, Coon Rapids, Audubon, Manson, and Calhoun County. Her team is also the driving force behind the Evolution of the Heartland initiative and Off the Beaten path video series.

In 2016, Shelly founded Emerge Marketing with a vision to empower Iowa communities, small businesses, and non-profits. She leverages her expertise in strategic planning, brand development, and creative marketing to help them reach their full potential. Shelly believes a cohesive brand, comprehensive strategy, and effective plan are key ingredients for success, regardless of the organization or business.

Her passion, energy, and strategic creativity are contagious. Shelly connects vision with action, inspiring and motivating organizations to step outside their comfort zone, discover their potential, and pursue new opportunities.

Julie is the Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Marshall County.  Following the tornado in 2018 she left her senior accounting position at Emerson to join the Foundation and take an active role in tornado recovery.  In her role she assists donors with charitable giving, administers several grant programs that benefit Marshall County, develops future philanthropy leaders by hosting student philanthropy programs in all three Marshall County high schools and works closely with nonprofit organizations.

The Foundation established the Rebuild Marshalltown Fund following the tornado.  To date the fund has granted over $800,000 for long term recovery.  In May of 2020, the Foundation established the Marshall County Disaster Recovery Fund to provide relief grants to organizations during the pandemic.  On August 10, 2020 it became a “dual” fund to provide relief and recovery grants following the derecho.  The Disaster Recovery fund provided over $100,000 in relief and recovery grants.  The Disaster Recovery fund currently is in an “inactive” status but is seeded with funds for the next disaster.

Julie and her husband Kevin have resided in Marshalltown for over thirty years.  In her free time she enjoys volunteering, biking and cheering on the Hawkeyes!

Dennis Jordan is Director of Customer, Community and Economic Development for Alliant Energy. Dennis leads the strategy and team for economic and community development activities as well as key account managers within the Iowa service territory which includes 83 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Most recently, Dennis was Senior Business Development Manager for M. A. Mortenson Company (Mortenson) headquartered in Minneapolis with an office in Coralville.   

Previously, Dennis spent fourteen years at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, formerly Priority One as Vice President Economic Development/Economic Development Strategist.   

Dennis was responsible for leading the organizations efforts in the economic development including marketing to target industry companies throughout the United States, Canada and Europe as well as managing corporate headquarter relationships of existing companies.  

Dennis is a graduate of Kirkwood Community College, has a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa.  Dennis currently serves as Adjunct Lecturer for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC) at the University of Iowa where he teaches Entrepreneurial Marketing and serves as a faculty mentor for JPEC Business Consulting.  

Dennis has many current volunteer leadership roles including Deputy at the Iowa Business Council, Member of Large Investor & Economic Development Councils at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance; Campaign Cabinet for the United Way of East Central Iowa; Vice President and Chair of the Development Committee for the Kirkwood Foundation; member of UNI Alumni Association Board of Managers; Board Member of the Entrepreneurial Development Center & Board of Trustee member for Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa.  He is also Assistant District Governor for Rotary District 5970 and Board Member for Rotary Action Group for Clubfoot.  Finally, Dennis is a member of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry and Professional Developers of Iowa.   

Dennis is married to Angela Jordan and they have four grown children 

Emily Kaiser is a Sr. Key Account Manager for Alliant Energy.  

Emily manages relationships with Alliant Energy’s large commercial and industrial customers and communities in the Cedar Rapids area by supporting their operational needs and helping them achieve their energy goals.  In addition to supporting C&I customers, Emily also supports economic development projects in the Cedar Rapids region serving as a project point of contact for internal and external project stakeholders.  Prior to joining Alliant Energy in 2017, she served as an Economic Development Director in Benton County. 

Emily attended the University of Iowa and earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Economics.  She also holds a Master’s of Science degree in Leadership and Coaching from Bellevue University. 

Serving the community is extremely important to Emily, both personally and professionally.  She serves as a board director for a number of organizations including, Jones County Economic Development, Marion Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), Chair of Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO), Vice President of the Benton Community School Board. 

Emily resides in rural Benton County with her husband Justin and their daughter, Claire. 

Mike is the president of RACOM which designs, sells, installs, operates, and maintains all of the critical communications technology in the second half of an emergency 911 call – from the time an emergency dispatcher answers the call until a first responders arrives on scene.  Mike held roles of increasing responsibility at RACOM prior to his current position. He started out as a vehicle installer and moved his way up the ranks into operational, financial, and business development positions. Mike is the second-generation member of the Miller family to lead the organization, succeeding his father and company founder, Gregg Miller, as president in 2006. 

Prior to joining RACOM, Mike spent five years with the General Electric Capital Corporation, headquartered in Stamford, CT, where his last position held was Audit Manager. He graduated with distinction from Iowa State University in 1990, majoring in finance. Mike is active in the community, having served as the Chair of MEDIC (Marshall Economic Development Impact Committee), President of the Community Y Board of Directors, member of the Iowa Valley Leadership Steering Committee, Marshalltown Development Foundation board member, Marshalltown's Second Ward City Councilperson (2000-2004), member of the Marshalltown School District Board of Education (2015-2021) and Chair of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce (2022-2023).

I am the Director of Customer and Business Solutions at ITC Midwest, the largest independent electric transmission operator in the US, and work in our Cedar Rapids office. I have over 17 years of utility economic development and business development experience. I am the past Chair of MEDCO(Marion Economic Development Corporation), longtime Board member and serve as the Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission for the city of Hiawatha. 

Akwi Nji is an interdisciplinary artist creating in words, voice, and visual art. Her most recent projects include Correspondence, a short film of choreopoetry funded in part by the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; Enuf, an album of studio-recorded spoken word and music released in 2023 which accompanied a corresponding body of visual work in a solo exhibition of the same title; The Remoir Project, a nationwide audio and visual storytelling arts initiative to be completed in 2026; and Consider the Meaningful, an interdisciplinary collaboration with Ballet Des Moines. Her boundary-blurring interdisciplinary artwork explores the intersectionality of gender, race, motherhood, ancestral spirituality, and concepts of spiritual and geographic home. 

Amber Rodgers joined the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) in August 2022 as a business development manager. In February 2024, she assumed the new role of Global Business Team Lead when the International Trade and Business Development teams were combined.

Prior to joining IEDA, Amber worked as the Director of the Wayne County Development Corporation and Wayne Community Foundation in south-central Iowa, and managed the IEDA business development account at a local marketing agency. 

She is a relationship builder and passionate about advocating on behalf of Iowa’s economic development community and companies. Amber holds a Bachelor of Science in business marketing from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, along with a Master of Public Administration from Drake University in Des Moines. 

In her spare time, Amber enjoys shuttling her two kids around to their various activities and beekeeping with her husband.

Jenna is a shareholder in the firm’s Government Law Practice Area. Jenna primarily works with cities and counties throughout the state of Iowa. Her practice centers around assisting cities and counties with economic development, real estate transactions, land use issues such as zoning and annexation, as well as general municipal matters. Additionally, Jenna works as part of the attorney team serving as city attorney/general counsel to several cities. Jenna currently serves as the Firm’s Economic Development/Urban Renewal Practice Group leader. Within the Economic Development/Urban Renewal portion of her practice, Jenna advises Iowa municipalities on the utilization of various economic development tools and programs. Within the Real Estate & Environmental Practice Group portion of her practice, Jenna helps clients navigate real estate transactions from start to finish. Overlapping with her general municipal practice, Jenna advises her municipal clients on the specific requirements and processes for governmental entities in these transactions.

Mr. Schneider has over 35 years of management consulting experience in the fields of corporate global location strategy, site selection, incentives negotiation, and economic development strategy.  Phil spent 7 years with Fantus Consulting, followed by 18 years with Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Operations practice where he led their Location Strategy and Global Expansion Optimization (GEO) practices. He is currently the President of Schneider Strategy Consulting LLC, where he continues to provide strategic site selection and location advisory services.  Mr. Schneider is a Board Member and past President and Chairman of the Site Selectors Guild, the global professional association of the world’s leading site selection consultants. 

Mr. Schneider has authored numerous articles and white papers on the topics of corporate location strategy, site selection, foreign direct investment, and economic development, and regularly speaks at conferences and forums and facilitates round tables focused on these topics.  Business publications frequently interview him as a subject matter expert in these fields.  Mr. Schneider earned both his BA and Masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin after serving six years in the US Navy.

Gabriella Torres is an abstract painter and creative placemaker living and painting in her hometown of Clinton, Iowa. She was one of the five 2023-2024 Iowa Artist Fellows. Gabi specializes in creating large-scale colorful abstract pieces that explore themes of connectivity to ourselves and the natural world. She is also passionate about creating community-based art that promotes social experiences in underutilized and under-loved community spaces. Her goal is to make Clinton an arts destination by creating sustainable models for creative placemaking. 

Gabriella has presented at the Iowa Arts Summit and was recently a featured panelist for an Arts Midwest Roundtable discussion on rural creative placemaking. In March of 2023, she was recognized as an Emerging Arts Leader in Iowa at the Governor’s Arts Award. While Gabriella’s work has been shown internationally and throughout America, she is deliberate in choosing her hometown for her public art where she has had several public art exhibits and partnerships and collaborations with both the city and the county. These installations and her advocacy have led to an explosion of artistic expression in the urban core of Clinton changing the aesthetics of this river town. Even the wayfinding system being developed was inspired by The Grove to incorporate artistic flourishes. 

Michael W. Tupper is currently the Chief of Police for the Marshalltown Police Department. 

Chief Tupper has nearly 32 years of experience as a police officer in Iowa and has served as a police chief for 20 years.  

As a police officer, Chief Tupper has a varied and well-rounded professional history.  

Chief Tupper has significant experience working general criminal investigations, death investigations and the investigation of violent crime.  

Chief Tupper has specialized in the area of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and family violence crimes.  Chief Tupper has served as a law enforcement instructor in a variety of law enforcement disciplines.  He has specialized in the areas of impaired driving enforcement, tactical operations, less lethal munitions and active shooter response.  Chief Tupper has extensive experience with community outreach programs and has a demonstrated history of building positive police-community relationships.  

Chief Tupper has been very involved in the communities he has served as a community volunteer.  He has served on several non-profit boards and has extensive experience working with non-profit organizations.  

Chief Tupper is married and is the proud father of four daughters and one son.  He is equally proud to call Marshalltown home.

Education

• BA Criminal Justice, Buena Vista University
• FBI National Academy, Session #242, 2010
• Northwestern University School of Police Staff & Command SPSC #249, 2007
• Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, 1993

Jon Berg is Program Manager for the Iowa Arts Council, a Division of the Economic Development Authority. His focus is on creative community development and infrastructure, and he has spent the past three years supporting communities across Iowa through place-based programs including the Iowa Cultural and Entertainment District Certification, Creative Places Accelerator, Iowa Great Places and Destination Iowa. 

For over a decade, Jon’s professional history has revolved around using collaboration to build community in diverse settings — government, corporate, non-profit, and grassroots community-based organizations. He has supported all levels of economic development and placemaking including positions with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Indiana University — Indianapolis. 

Prior to returning to Iowa, Jon served as the director of the IndyEast Promise Zone, a national place-based initiative focusing on improving quality of life and place, working with state and federal agencies to advance community prioritized projects in Indianapolis.  During his time with IndyEast, he helped establish the National Coalition of Promise Zones representing 22 rural, tribal and urban communities and regions across the country.   

He is a graduate of Iowa State University. Jon and his family enjoy building community with neighbors through ‘porching’ and attending live music events.