Business Monthly - July 2013 by Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

from the editor

Meet the winners of Eight Over 80

here The Courier’s Eight Over 80 Awards are concerned, the fourth time is a charm. It’s as charming a group as the three groups of honorees who preceded them. The Eight Over 80 program is The Courier’s way of standing up and cheering business and community leaders who set peerless examples in their fields well Jim Offner into their retireis the Courier ment years. business The newspaper editor. Contact launched Eight him at Over 80 in 2010, jim.offner@ and it quickly wcfcourier. achieved an alcom. most-surreal mystique across the community. This year’s group includes two war heroes; two civil rights leaders; a priest who reaches toward

heaven, literally as well as spiritually; a man who led an iconic local business and then interrupted his retirement to save a crucial youth organization; a lady who defied convention and started her own businesses and who continues to contribute to her community into her 90s; and a woman who devoted much of her life to helping others preserve their own. All of the winners have compelling stories.. The process is difficult, because there is room for only eight winners. A total of 89 worthy nominees were submitted by 125 people — both records, by the way, which should serves as adequate testament to the growth of the program. The difficult task of selecting the final eight was a burden shouldered by area business leaders. This year, we are privileged to confer awards on Marge Brom, David Greene, the Rev. Mel Hemann, Sid Morris, Monroe Stevens, Irene Stout, Wallace Sulentic

and Willie Mae Wright. The Eight Over 80 program follows in the footsteps of The Courier’s 20 Under 40 awards, which the newspaper launched in 2002 to honor young leaders who demonstrate a profound commitment to guide the Cedar Valley into a prosperous future. It is a fitting tribute to young people who have set lofty goals for themselves and their home region and focused on achieving them to the benefit of the rest of us. The Eight Over 80 awards honor those who got us here. It is a way to say thanks to winners for a lifetime of dignity, integrity, devotion, sacrifice and service to their community and their families. Their decades of dedication have enabled the community to grow. That the Cedar Valley is one of Iowa’s chief cultural and business centers is in no small way a result of the efforts of these individuals. The class of 2013 contains a rich mixture of backgrounds and expertise. All have taken leader-

ship positions — often behind the scenes — in an array of professions and shared their experience with the community at large. All take seriously their roles as citizens. All have devoted much of their long lives to building a better Cedar Valley for all. A committee of community leaders — Bob Brown, Mary Ann Burk, Lou Porter, Joe Vich and former winner Phyllis Carter — analyzed nominations and selected the winners. The Courier appreciates the committee’s time in laboring over the many worthy nominations. The Courier also wishes to thank the Grout Museum District for allowing us the time and space to shoot this year’s pictures in the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. Thanks also to Courier Digital Editor Chris Essig, who shot the videos of the winners used at the June 20 awards luncheon at the Elks Club, as well as Courier Photographers Matthew Putney, Brandon Pollock and Courtney Collins.

contents

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Volume 7 No. 8

Cedar Valley Business Monthly is a free monthly publication direct-mailed to more than 5,300 area businesses. Contact us at (319) 291-1448 or P.O. Box 540, Waterloo, IA 50704.

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Sheila Kerns sheila.kerns@wcfcourier.com (319) 291-1448

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DESIGN STAFF

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MATTHEW PUTNEY / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

About the Cover Courier Staff Photographer Courtney Collins adjusts a light at an Eight Over 80 photo shoot.

TECHNOLOGY Travel apps help your summer vacation go smoothly.

page 5

BEYOND THE BOARDROOM UnityPoint Health executive had career in radio before moving into health care. cvbusinessmonthly.com

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Marge Brom

For Girl Scouts, Red Cross, she’s a leader, teacher JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

t 87, Marge Brom is more than a survivor; she’s a lifesaver. Among the myriad modes in which Brom has donated her time and talent is with the American Red Cross, both as leader and teacher. Brom was the first female chair of the Hawkeye Chapter of the American Red Cross. She gave more than three decades of her life in service to the organization’s board. She served three years on the National Red Cross Board’s nominating committee. The Iowa Division of the American Red Cross has honored Brom as a Volunteer of the Year. That’s the “leader” part. Brom also volunteered as a water safety instructor for decades and was a founding member and twice president of the Four Seasons Neighborhood swimming pool. “She’s literally taught thousands of children and adults how to swim, including teaching teachers that trained the lifeguards for our area pools,” said longtime friend and protege Dee Vandeventer, who nominated Brom for The Courier Eight Over 80 Awards. Brom’s work didn’t stop there. She was a founding member of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony’s Women’s Guild, which she served for more than 20 years as board member and president. She has been a Girl Scout for more than 70 years, led a troop for more than a decade and served as board member of the local Girl Scouts council for more than 20 years, including a stint as president. Brom has proven adept at raising funds, as well. She led an effort that garnered $1.68 million for Camp Tahigwa improvements. She also took a leadership role in raising more than $11 million for the local performing arts center. Her fundraising efforts were recognized by the Eastern Iowa Chapter of Fund Raising Executives —now the Association of Fundraising Professionals — when she was named the 1998 Outstanding Fundraiser

JULY 2013

Marge Brom at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. BRANDON POLLOCK / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Marge Brom ■ AGE: 87 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “My work with the Girl Scouts and the Red Cross and the symphony.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “I put my heart into whatever I’m doing.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “My mother and father.”

of the Year. Brom’s husband of 61 years, Hovey, was named an Eight Over 80 winner two years ago. Now, it’s Marge’s turn. “It represents a lot of work, a lot of time,” she said. “I really am very pleased to receive this award. It is a great honor.” Marge Brom suffered a stroke in December — her second since 2005.

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Hovey Brom marvels at the progress his wife has made in her recovery. “In this stroke, she couldn’t talk; she couldn’t swallow when it was all over,” he said. “You can now understand most of what she says.” Marge said she was overwhelmed by the support of a loving community. “I’m surprised at how many people who have come to visit me and who really care about me and expend the time and effort it takes to do that,” she said. Both Broms now have won the Eight Over 80 Award, but each has achieved the honor as “independent spirits who go their own way and give each other support,” Hovey Brom said. Marge agreed. “Hovey and I have not worked together a lot. Most of the things I did were on my own, with his support,” she said.

That has always been Marge’s way, Hovey said. “When she graduated from high school in 1944, the federal government hired her and put her in a laboratory in designing the radars for the new jet engine planes that were coming up. So she spent two years doing that,” he said. “When that was finished and she started college, she wanted to be an engineer. Iowa State didn’t say no, but they said ‘you belong in other places.’ I think that always was kind of in the back of her mind, kept urging her on.” Marge went on earn a sociology degree at Iowa State, with minors in math and physical education. She taught two years in Carroll and a year and a half at McKinstry Elementary School in Waterloo. Then, she stepped aside, she said, to “concentrate on raising three kids.”

See BROM, page 7

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TECHNOLOGY

Mobile apps make vacationing simple

lanning any trips this summer? Here are some apps for travelers. The Internet has transformed traveling. Now, many of your favorite travel websites have their own apps. In addition, you can discover more apps using the search engine for apps—Quixey—or go straight to ITunes and Google Play. Cherie TripAdvisor is Dargan an app offering is associate offline city guides. professor in the Guide have inforcommunications mation about resdepartment taurants, hotels at Hawkeye and attractions. Community College in Offline guides Waterloo. don’t require a Contact her at Wi-Fi connection (800) 670-4769 to use the app. ext. 1701 or Jetsetter procherie.dargan@ hawkeyecollege. vides lists of hotel edu. and travel destinations. This app was named best iPad travel app in 2011. Use it to find trip ideas, and then use your membership to get great deals. Need to rent a car or change hotel arrangements? You can book cars, flights and hotel rooms on your iPad or iPhone using Travelocity. You can also find maps, photos, and exclusive deals. Kayak, another app to search for deals on cars, flights and hotels, has been rated at four and a half stars by Quixey and five stars on iTunes. It also includes a directory of airlines, a way to check your flight’s status and has a place for your trip agenda. TripIt takes information about reservations from your email and calendar and creates a single itinerary on your tablet or phone. You can access, print and share plans with friends and family. As with many apps, there are free and paid versions. This app gets five stars from Quixey, and plenty of praise from Fortune, Lifehacker, CNET and PC Magazine. It is available for Android, Apple and Blackberry. Need help packing? Packing Pro, Pack & Go and Packing List generate a list of items to pack, whether for a camping trip or a cruise.

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At the airport, Flightboard will get you from point A to point B. The app mimics airport signage, with information about arrivals and departures and which gates to use. Gateguru tells you where to find Wi-Fi, an ATM and the nearest coffee shop or bookstore. Traveling outside the country? Download Smart Traveler, the State Department app that lets users get updated country information, with travel alerts, warnings, maps and embassy locations. It can also create an itinerary. It’s biggest benefit is access to the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. This helps the State Department reach you in the event of a natural disaster or emergencies. Travelpocket helps track expenses in any major currency. Concur helps business travelers keep track of expenses; it works with TripIt. It takes pictures of receipts using your tablet’s camera and organize them into an expense report. The Travelzoo app utilizes a team of people to look for travel, entertainment and local deals, and includes domestic and international versions. For a road trip, Gas Buddy finds the best deals on gasoline by ZIP code. You can also report gas prices to earn points and be eligible to win $250 in gas each week. Road Ninja outlines what services are available at the next exit using 30 categories, and it incorporates Google Maps. If you are traveling with young children, Rest Area Finder locates nearby rest areas and welcome centers. Campers should check out the Good Sam RV Travel Guide and Campground Directory app, locates campgrounds and up to 14,000 RV parks. It has photos of many parks, along with links to their websites. In addition, you can get information on numerous national parks, state parks and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer parks. How else can your iPad or Android tablet make your trip easier? Load it up with a few books, and make sure you have a scanner app to keep track of receipts and trip details in your Tripit app. And don’t forget to pack your charger.

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JULY 2013

David Greene

Iwo Jima vet has provided a lifetime of heroic contributions JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

avid Greene said he’s good at follow the leader. It’s a knack that served him well in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, and it continued to guide him when he returned to civilian life. Greene’s ability to follow directions ultimately put him in the middle of numerous volunteer campaigns in the Cedar Valley. Suddenly, he found himself leading those efforts. “You start out with the volunteer role to be a good follower of a leader, and then eventually somebody says, ‘I think maybe you might just switch roles right here,’” said Greene, 88, a winner of The Courier’s fourth annual Eight Over 80 Awards. The Waterloo native’s experience as an Iwo Jima survivor are well chronicled. More than 60,000 Americans participated in the battle for the tiny volcanic island in the Pacific in February and March of 1945. Nearly half were killed or wounded. Japanese forces suffered more than 20,000 dead in defending what they considered home soil. Capturing the island provided a staging point for U.S. bombers to strike Japan months before the war’s end. “I can’t believe I’m still here. I have no business being 88 years old,” the former U.S. Marine said. “I’ve outlived everybody in my family by far.” There must be a reason, he said. “Maybe you keep thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ Maybe there’s a purpose. That sort of sticks in your head sometimes. Because of some of the things that have happened, I just wonder,” Greene said. He has tried to make the most of the time he has been given. That means giving back. Greene has served as a Boy Scouts volunteer for 50 years and donated time to the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum and the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. He describes himself as a “volunteeraholic.” “Fundraising was my real background,” he said. “It was the idea of being to get out and talk to whole groups of people and encouraging them.” Professionally, Greene spent 36 years working at Jens Olesen & Sons Co. as chief estimator. Greene returned to Iwo Jima last year with a group of fellow survivors of the battle. But even in doing that, Greene said, he others in mind. “The main reason I went on that trip was there were 10 students on that trip,” he said. “It’s the students I want to talk to, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

See GREENE, page 7

June 2013

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David Greene at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. MATTHEW PUTNEY / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

David Greene ■ AGE: 88 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “I don’t know; I’ve been involved in so many things.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “Helpful, friendly, courteous, kind. Pick out one of those.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “I was in the Boy Scouts and probably one of the most influential person in my life, outside of my parents, was my Scoutmaster, Louis Roepke, Troop 2, in the Baptist church. For 32 years, he was a volunteer in the scouting business. When he died at almost age 94, the church was packed with 50-year-old guys.” cvbusinessmonthly.com

BROM

GREENE

From page 4

From page 6

Vandeventer pointed out that Marge Brom, at age 63, fulfilled a lifelong ambition — earning her pilot’s license. “‘Age is irrelevant. You keep going — and growing — as long as you can.’ That pretty much sums up Marge’s philosophy on life,” Vandeventer said. Her community work continued, through the Red Cross, Girl Scouts, sundry community-betterment projects and at Zion Lutheran Church, of which the Broms have been members since 1952. “Faith is the center of Marge’s life,” Vandeventer said. “She taught Sunday school for more than 30 years, sang in the choir for 40 years and helped lead the church as a former member and president of the church council.” Volunteerism is but one extension of that faith, Hovey Brom said. “I would call Marge a helper,” he said. “When she sees somebody in need, she wants to help them.”

He has talked about his war experiences with “thousands of students” since 1995. “I just talked to 300 seventhgraders from Hoover School,” he said. “Their program was about making a difference. That’s why they invited me. They said, ‘You made a difference 70 years ago at Iwo Jima.’” Others say he’s making a difference today, as well. “This type of volunteering and sharing is routine for David,” his son, Paul Greene of Waterloo, said in nominating his dad for the Eight Over 80 Award. “He lives for volunteering, always has, and still does.” The younger Greene noted his father has received “highesthonor awards” from the Boy Scouts for his efforts, which have included “a dozen BSA positions, including as the Winnebago Council president.” Greene has served numerous other functions in an array of organizations, including First Congregational United Church

of Christ, Chamber of Commerce, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Sertoma, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Elmwood Cemetery Board, Waterloo Board of Review, Waterloo Technical Society, Waterloo Elks Lodge, American Legion, Experiment in International Living, Cedar Valley Economic Development and Friendship Village Auxiliary. “What makes David Greene so unique is that he is always willing to share himself for the benefit of others: helping other veterans to get recognized through efforts at the museum; helping young students learn world history at elementary and collegiate levels; helping a grandson work with U.S. politicians; and helping people at his church, service club and retirement community,” said Nick Jedlicka of Cedar Falls, who also nominated Greene for Eight Over 80 honors. Donna and Gary Brown of Cedar Falls also nominated Greene for the award. “David has been active in everything in which he has been involved and truly exhibits volunteerism at its best,” they said.

Eight Over Eighty winners 2013 Marge Brom, David Greene, the Rev. Mel Hemann, Sid Morris, Monroe Stevens, Irene Stout, Wallace Sulentic, Willie Mae Wright. 2012 Pauline Barrett, Phyllis Carter, Don Erusha, Betty Goettsch, Evan “Curly” Hultman, Dick Klingaman, Lyle Luloff and Roosevelt Taylor. 2011 Barbara Adams, Ken Allbaugh, Bob Beach, Hovey Brom, Bob Brown, Helen Guernsey, the Rev. Homer Larsen and Bob Molinaro. 2010 W. Louis Beecher, Harold Brock, John Deery Sr., Tunis Den Hartog, Betty Jean Furgerson, Cathy and Ed Gallagher, Milton Roth and Ike Leighty.

This is my Wartburg story.

What’s yours?

As a young person I was fascinated by music, math, science, reading and learning. It’s great that my job allows me to indulge all these interests. Wartburg students are deeply involved in service to others and to their community. I think this is a reflection of Wartburg’s faculty and staff, and the behavior they model. Wartburg College has made an incredible difference in my life. I have found my calling to serve through Wartburg, and for that I owe deep gratitude. — Terry Letsche ’89 Associate Professor of Computer Science

View more stories and share your own at www.wartburg.edu/ourstory

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Leadership. Service. Faith. Learning. 100 Wartburg Blvd., Waverly, Iowa • www.wartburg.edu

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july 2013

Mel Hemann

Aviation opened up new areas of ministry JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

ky pilot” is an old slang term referring to a preacher or military chaplain. The Rev. Mel Hemann, who was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1959 and earned his pilot’s license the next year, puts a face on the term. Hemann says he has done his best to intertwine the two callings. “I’ve become a firm believer that whatever our vocation is in life, the Creator has given us inalienable rights that are ours by gifts from God, and if we pursue those we find people you can touch that you can’t touch anywhere else.” Hemann, 84, still flies regularly. He is also a flight instructor at Livingston Aviation in Waterloo. He heard his twin callings at an early age. He enlisted in the Air Force around 1950 to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. “When I was ready to start my flight training, they called me into the hospital and said they thought I had a heart murmur, so I had a medical discharge and my military career ended after about 3 1/2 months,” he said. After the Air Force, Hemann “bummed around” for a few years, taking on various jobs. “As I jokingly tell people, I got tired of working and decided to get into the easy life and became a priest,” he said. He earned a degree from Loras College in Dubuque in 1955. He wasn’t the only one in his family to hear a call to the priesthood: His two brothers, John and Everett, also became priests. The Rev. Everett Hemann — who served two stints at St. Patrick Church in Cedar Falls, one as as pastor — died last year of pancreatic cancer. The Rev. John Hemann is retired and living in Clear Lake. “Father Mel” has served parishes in a number of area towns, including Cresco, Cedar Rapids, Charles City, Ames and Decorah. The five years he spent in Decorah proved pivotal. That’s where he met Dick McCullum, a former Corsair fighter pilot who was

JULY 2013

Mel Hemann at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. Matthew Putney / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Mel Hemann ■ AGE: 84 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “First of all, my priesthood.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “I have a basement apartment, so I guess I’m a cellar dweller.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “I come from a relationship in which we had a lot of priests and nuns in the extended family, and I think all of that was instrumental. But I think the guy that taught me to fly was Dick McCullum. He was a Corsair World War II fighter pilot in the South Pacific.”

stationed in the South Pacific in World War II. McCullum was still flying for the U.S. Naval Reserve and offered to give Hemann flying lessons. Hemann was the first Catholic priest to earn an Airline Trans-

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“As I jokingly tell people, I got tired of working and decided to get into the easy life and become a priest.” Father Mel Hemann port Pilot certification. He has logged more than 17,000 hours in the air, 11,000 as instructor, and has landed his personally built RV5 in 49 states. In 2011, he received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration for 50-plus years of professionalism, skill and aviation expertise. Also that year, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Loras College for Christian service and volunteer work. Hemann is a charter member of the National Association of Priest Pilots, and his photo is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Aviation opened up new avenues of his ministry, Hemann said. “I started a little ground school, and the next thing I knew I was teaching flying on the side and helping out all kinds of people, which has brought me students from all over the world. It’s been fascinating,” he said. Hemann estimates he has trained hundreds of pilots. “I’ve got people who are military pilots, airline pilots,” he said. He also has taught missionaries to fly so they can minister to people in the remotest parts of the world. “I’ve got some good friends in East Africa and Tanzania, some priests over there I’ve taught to fly,” he said. “They’ve come over here. England, Germany, South America, Austria, all different faiths and everything. So, I’m pretty proud of that. You get to see people as people, and you’re helping people in the process.”

See HEMANN, page 9 cvbusinessmonthly.com

Workplace trends

Boomer generation starts retiring Diane Stafford The Kansas City Star “Healthy, retiring rapidly and collecting Social Security”: The heading on the MetLife Mature Market Institute report, released last month, says it all. The nation’s oldest baby boomers — now turning 67 — are not hanging on to their jobs at the rate expected. Fifty-two percent are fully retired. Fourteen percent are working part time. Only 21 percent remain employed full time, contrary to forecasts that the generation would

HEMANN From page 8 Hemann has consistently worked to give back to the community, said Bobbi Earles, executive director of alumni and communications at Loras College of Dubuque. The

“work till they drop.” Among the retired boomers surveyed for MetLife by GfK Custom Research North America, 38 percent said they were retired simply because they were ready to quit working, 17 percent said it was due to health reasons and 10 percent said it was caused by job loss. But there was a bit of a surprise among the oldest boomers who still are working. Just since 2011, the age at which they intend to retire has jumped from 69 to 71. Some of the oldest-boomer

highlights from the new survey: ■ 86 percent are collecting Social Security benefits, and 43 percent of them began drawing those benefits sooner than they had planned. ■ 82 percent want to “age in place” and don’t plan to move. ■ 31 percent say long-term care leads their retirement concerns, but fewer than one-fourth have private long-term care insurance. ■ 8 percent owe more on their mortgage than the value of their home. The nationally representative

survey of 67-year-olds found that 4 out of 5 had neither of their parents still living. More than 1 in 10 was providing regular care for a parent or other older relative. It also found that the age group averaged 4.8 grandchildren, and more than half of those surveyed believed their generation is leaving a positive legacy.

former anchor at KWWL-TV in Waterloo nominated Hemann for the Eight Over 80 Award he will receive this year. “Recognizing the importance of higher education, he and his brothers created a scholarship to aid in financial assistance for students,” Earles said. Earles also credited Hemann as a

“pioneer and leader” in family life programs over the last 40 years. “He quietly dedicated his time to starting the programs and serving on the boards,” Earles said. “Serving in over 15 parishs in Iowa, he has lived his life as a priest trying to be Jesus to all.” David Roberts of Cedar Falls described Hemann as a “vision-

ary leader whose out-of-the-box thinking” and efforts have been inspirational. “He is the spiritual director for the National Marriage Retorno Movement, developed the Marriage and Trusting Together program and directed the Archdiocesan Family Life Program,” Roberts said.

“Just since 2011, the age at which they intend to retire has jumped from 69 to 71.”

Make a Difference in the Lives that Follow. School janitor Lester Holmes died in 1992. After school today, he’ll help an 8-year old understand math.

Make a gift to charity in your will.

www.leavealegacyiowa.org cvbusinessmonthly.com

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july 2013

Sid Morris

A lifetime of service to his country, community JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

n September 2012, the Cedar Valley threw a warm, openedarm reception to local war hero Taylor Morris, who had lost parts of all four limbs four months earlier in a bomb blast in Afghanistan while doing ordnance disposal work for a unit of Green Berets. His grandfather, Sid Morris, a war hero himself from a previous generation, talked of Taylor’s dedication with obvious pride. His eyes glistened as he spoke. “I think that when Taylor was in high school in Cedar Falls, his goal was to be Navy special forces person and took training in San Diego,” the elder Morris said. Sid Morris saw plenty of action in the Korean War, often thought of as “The Forgotten War.” Indeed, when asked about his contributions to the community, as one of The Courier’s Eight Over 80 Award winners for 2013, Morris cited his military service as a proud achievement. “One of the things I think about a lot is my military service,” he said. “I was in Korea in 1952 and ‘53. I was assigned to an artillery company and was rotated between chief of section to being forward observer, so I did both. I was on Pork Chop Hill. I was there when the war ended and served two months after the war ended in kind of a clean-up operation. I was in charge of a battery of artillery.” Morris has happily accepted invitations from area groups to speak about his military experience. But Morris’ service to the community goes well beyond bravery in uniform. In fact, having spent 40 years in the education field, both in the Waterloo School District and Area Education Agency 7, his focus often has been on young people, whom he considers the “building blocks” of a solid community. “I think a good work ethic, honesty, truthfulness have always been important to me,” Morris said. “I think that probably, as I look back on my education experiences in 40 years, I was very proud of that.” Morris earned both bachelor’s 10

july 2013

Sid Morris at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. MATTHEW PUTNEY / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

and master’s degrees at what is now known as the University of Northern Iowa. His focus on the young always started at home. He and Alvira, his wife of 57 years, reared two sons, Jeff, who lives in Tucson, Ariz., and Dan, Taylor’s father who still lives in the Cedar Valley. Sid Morris describes his family as “the best thing in my life.” He has served the community in other ways, particularly in the formation and direction of Cedar Falls Utilities. He has been a member of CFU’s board of trustees since 1998. “He was a member of the grassroots committee that contributed significantly to the establishment of Cedar Falls Utilities’ Municipal Communications Utility,” CFU’s CEO, Jim Krieg, said in nominating Morris for the Eight Over 80 Award. Krieg said Morris has worked tirelessly to push the utility forward.

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Sid Morris ■ AGE: 81 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “I met my wife, Alvira, and we had two sons. I guess that has to be the best thing in my life, meeting her, getting married and raising two fine sons.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “Service to the community and to people. I like doing things for people.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “My father inspired me a lot. He was very firm. He was a very hard worker. I think about this every once in a while. I think my work ethic came from my father and the way he was and the way he treated us growing up. He believed that one should work and be productive.”

“On numerous occasions, Mr. Morris has advocated on behalf of public power to local and national legislators, ensuring that the voice

of public power has been heard at the state and national legislative levels,” Krieg said. Morris brings plenty of other gifts to the community, too. “Mr. Morris is a lifelong learner and reads volumes of current publications to remain current in not only our utility industry but our community as a whole, to watch for new opportunities to promote municipal utility ownership and our community,” Krieg said. Morris also has been involved in numerous other communityfocused organizations, as well, including the Cedar Falls Planning & Zoning Commission, Cedar Falls City Council, Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce, Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau and Cedar Falls Community Main Street. He is a past recipient of the Cedar Falls Representative Citizen award.

See MORRIS, page 11 cvbusinessmonthly.com

Banking

Dress codes in banks meant to fight crime Orlando Sentinel After a series of robberies in recent months, some banks in Longwood, Fla., have armed themselves with a new crime-fighting weapon they hope will ward off potential crooks: a dress code. Their message is simple: No hats, no hoods, no shades, no problem. This latest “what not to wear” effort, part of an anti-crime push organized by Longwood police, is designed to bolster bank security while not offending customers. Those who flout the code by refusing to remove their hats and sunglasses — items often used by robbers to obscure their identities — probably won’t be turned away; they’ll simply be scrutinized more closely while they’re in the bank. The banking industry says such measures are effective, but the latest dress-code campaign revives a long-running controversy about the legal and customer-service risks of imposing restrictions on what customers can wear into a bank. The Florida Bankers Association introduced a similar dresscode campaign five years ago and credits it with contributing to a big drop in bank robberies since 2007 — from 362 that year to 214 in 2011, according to the latest FBI figures available. But it’s not clear how much the dress code contributed to the statewide decrease in bank robberies. Only about 20 percent of the state’s 5,600 bank branches participate in the FBA’s program, according to

MORRIS From page 10 Morris is a life member of AMVETS and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of the American Legion. He is past president and current board member of the Cedar Falls Historical Society. With the VFW, he assisted South Korea in honoring U.S. veterans. With the Tall Corn Chapter of the Korean War Veterans, Morris was instrumental in launching similar chapters across Iowa. He also is cvbusinessmonthly.com

trade-group figures. Nationwide, meanwhile, the number of bank robberies fell 16 percent from 2007 to 2011 — a trend some experts attribute to improvements in security technology and police work. Many banks have posted official police stickers at the entrances to their Longwood branches, asking patrons to remove any hats, hoods or sunglasses before entering. Some banks, including Chase and Wells Fargo, say they support the police initiative but have stopped short of adopting the “no hats, hoods, sunglasses” dress code. That may be because such policies have always been dicey propositions for banks as they strive to balance security measures and customer relations, some experts say. Many don’t want to appear to be intruding on their customers’ sense of personal liberty and, in some cases, freedom of religious expression, because some faiths require certain clothing to be worn in public. “Banks risk alienating the public, losing customers and potentially running into allegations of discrimination with these kinds of policies,” said Kenneth Adams, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. “Besides, banks have already hardened their security in many other ways that have led to a big drop in bank robberies in recent years. This dress code thing is just an overreach.” Some institutions also worry a dress code could create yet another obstacle to drawing customers who currently don’t use a bank. board member with the Western Home Foundation Board, Sartori Memorial Hospital, Black Hawk County Veterans Affairs Commission, American Red Cross and Rite Care of Iowa. “This highly energetic man is willing to shepherd a wide range of good causes,” said Cedar Falls resident Dean Senchina, who also nominated Morris for the honor. “Whether it is fundraising, friendraising or attention-raising, Sid is a ready and hard-working volunteer for the many causes he undertakes.”

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Cedar Valley Business monthly

JULY 2013

Monroe Stevens A leader on the job — and in the community

JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

n 1948, Quincy, Fla., native Monroe Stevens had been in Waterloo less than a day, and he already had landed a job. “I applied at John Deere, and I was hired the day after I came,” he said. Things were not as easy in the years that followed. From a professional standpoint, Stevens was with Deere for 6 1/2 years, although due to layoffs he worked only three years. Not one to sit still, Stevens took a job at Rath Packing Co. “I had been laid off for a year,” he said. “I started to work at Rath, and when Deere called me back, I had six, eight months in at Rath, so I decided to stay at Rath.” Stevens took on a leadership role with Local 46 of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. He stayed on until the meatpacker went bankrupt and ultimately closed. “To the officers of the union this was no surprise, we could see it coming. But those that did not participate in the union and the work of the union, it was kind of blind to them. It wasn’t blind to me,” he said. Perhaps Stevens, the grandson of a slave who was sold three times, couldn’t have expected an easy road. Perhaps that’s why he took up a leadership role as a political activist and union leader, almost from the time he arrived. He said he did his best to improve conditions for his fellow employees, as well as those in the local black community. His resume indicates he was busy. Stevens was a Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts and a lifetime volunteer and parade coordinator at KBBG radio, which he has supported since its founding. He has coordinated KBBG’s annual summer parade to kick off its radiothon fundraiser. He put in many years as a volunteer in KBBG’s Black Community Enabler Food & Beautification Program, providing summer jobs to youths and giving vegetables 12

july 2013

Monroe Stevens at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. MATTHEW PUTNEY / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

to low-income residents, people on fixed incomes and several area agencies. Stevens also has offered his assistance to a wide range of organizations. He also helped organize, was once president of the East Side Citizens Committee and was one of 16 founding members of the board of directors at Prairie Park Apartments. He served on the boards of the Lily Furgerson Child Development Center and Operation Threshold. He helped organize the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, designed to increase black participation in the political process. Stevens was a delegate at the Democrat National Convention in 1972 — the first black Iowan so chosen. That’s just a part of his back-

Cedar Valley Business monthly

ground of community service. Robert Brown of Cedar Falls, who won Eight Over 80 honors two years ago, nominated Stevens for the honor. “I have known Monroe for many years and have always found him to be a man of high integrity and a very spiritual man,” Brown said. “Monroe will not always be able to help financially but will always take the time to be there when someone is in need.” In nominating Stevens, Brown quoted former Black Hawk County Supervisor Leon Mosley, who grew up a block away from Stevens on Sumner Street. “Monroe Stevens has helped shape my life by providing ideas and inspiration,” Mosley was quoted as saying. “He really cares about people.”

Monroe Stevens ■ AGE: 87 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “I raised six kids, and they all have good jobs.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “I try to do unto others as I would want them to do unto me.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “I met a man named Cuba Treadwell in 1950. At that time, I was working at John Deere’s during a strike. The president of the union was running for state representative. Cuba Treadwell came around, we were on strike, he picked out of the crowd myself and Jimmy Porter. He wanted to do some community work, knock on doors. That’s the beginning of my community work.”

See STEVENS, page 16

cvbusinessmonthly.com

Irene Stout

Pioneering woman’s career covers a lot of real estate JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

rene Stout says she can’t stop. She can’t stop working. She can’t stop helping. She can’t stop giving. Stout, 93, has been active since her days as a bookkeeper, bank teller and real estate agent, and she has no plans to slow down. A lifetime of moving from one place to another may be the key, said Stout, who was born Dec. 11, 1919, in Marshalltown. “My dad was a tenant farmer, and I went to different schools,” Stout said. “I went to school in Liscomb and Whitten. Went to Morrison. I went to Reinbeck, and then I went to Grundy Center.” Stout came to Grundy Center with a sister and settled down in 1938. She married Donald Stout in 1940. The two were married 49 years until Don’s death in 1989. In 1994, Irene married Don’s brother, Gene, who had retired after a career with General Motors in Detroit. He died in 2005. After Don had returned from military service stints in World War II and the Korean War to go to build houses with a business partner, Irene delved into the business community in Grundy Center, first working as a bank teller, then becoming an insurance agent and later a real estate agent. She worked in the real estate department at Farmers Savings Bank in Grundy Center while simultaneously operating her own bookkeeping and income tax agency. Stout helped to break a barrier when, in 1966, she became the second woman in Grundy County to earn a real estate license. She resigned from Farmers and moved to a sales position with Smith and Miller Real Estate of Waterloo. Some years later, she started her own business, Stout Real Estate. That was the business side of Stout’s life. But as the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa reported in nominating her for The Courier’s Eight Over 80 Awards, Stout had a strong urge to give back to her community. “Although Irene stayed busy by

cvbusinessmonthly.com

Irene Stout at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. BRANDON POLLOCK / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

working, she also had the passion for philanthropic work,” the foundation said on its nomination form. “Locally, Irene has served as president for the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Grundy Center.” Stout currently serves as a board member for the Historical Collections Department at the Grundy County Heritage Museum in Morrison and the Grundy County Memorial Hospital in Grundy Center. She has been an active member of the Grundy Center United Methodist Church since 1946. “She has previously served as the church treasurer and on the finance committee,” the Community Foundation reported. “She was a member of the memorial committee, as well as Worship on Wednesday committee, served as a greeter and usher and worked on the monthly newsletter.” In 2006, Stout established a schol-

Irene Stout ■ AGE: 93 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “I think it would be getting my real estate license in 1966. I was the second lady to have a real estate license in Grundy County.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “Ambitious. Everybody says, ‘Can’t you sit down and watch television?’ No, I can’t.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “There were eight of us at home. Way back then, money was scarce, so I never really lived at home after I was 8 years old. I lived with other families.”

arship endowment fund with the Grundy County Community Foundation to help students achieve their educational goals. Four $550 awards go to students each year. “The Stout family believed in ed-

ucation and hard work and giving back,” Irene Stout said. Stout belongs to the Circle of Hope for her donations to hospice care. She also gives rides to people who who can’t drive themselves. “I drive them around to the doctor or wherever they get a haircut,” she said. She also has provided a day out for about a dozen kids between 4 and 11 years old. “I’d pick them up, and they could have as much as they wanted wherever they wanted,” she said. Stout said the Eight Over 80 honor was meaningful. “I just can’t believe the good Lord has seen fit to make me one of these,” she said. Even without such acknowledgement, though, she would continue to serve others. “It’s very important. I believe in giving back,” she said.

Cedar Valley Business monthly

july 2013

Wallace Sulentic

Business acumen helped save Boys & Girls Club JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

he Boys & Girls Club of Black Hawk County was teetering a few years ago. Somebody had to step up and turn around an organization that was facing a debt load approaching six figures. The situation was dire. Bills had to be paid immediately and the club, which was between directors, was still searching for new leadership Mac McCausland, founding partner of Waterloo-based PDCM Insurance and longtime supporter of the Boys & Girls Club, turned to longtime friend Wallace Sulentic, who had served as president of Waterloo Industries until his retirement in 1993. “I got a call from Mac, and he said they were really in trouble,” Sulentic said. “The manager had been released, and they needed someone in place until a new manager was found.” Spring was just dawning, and Sulentic, a six-day-a-week golfer, had been looking ahead to a busy season on the links. But Sulentic told his friend he would do it. He was told the organization was $90,000 in debt; the situation actually was much worse. “I got looking at the books, and I found it wasn’t $90,000 but $190,000,” Sulentic said. “I read a couple of letters from utility companies, and they were ready to close all the power. I needed money immediately. So, I called Mac and I said, ‘We’ve got a job to do.’ He’s a good fundraiser. And we raised about $600,000 in about a two-month period.” Sulentic’s first move was to approach the Guernsey Foundation. “Helen Guernsey gave the club $25,000, and this allowed us to operate,” Sulentic said. “I found a retired accountant who handled certain aspects for me. I also needed someone to help me run the club. So, I called the director of the Boys & Girls Club in Cedar Rapids, and he came twice a week 14

july 2013

Wallace Sulentic at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. BRANDON POLLOCK / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

and helped with the programs.” Within about two months the local club was back “really humming,” Sulentic said. Golf had to wait, he said. “I played golf, I think, three times during that period,” he said. “When it was all over and we got a new director, I handed the keys to him, and I was somewhat sad. I really enjoyed what I was doing, and I felt that I really accomplished something. It made me feel really good.” What Sulentic accomplished in resuscitating the Boys & Girls Club was enough by itself to earn Sulentic a Courier Eight Over 80 Award, said Chuck Rowe, the club’s current chief executive officer. “Wally is one amazing person,” Rowe said. “Not too many folks would choose to come out of retirement to run a nonprofit that was going through tremendous issues, but that is just what he did.”

Cedar Valley Business monthly

Wallace Sulentic ■ AGE: 80 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Interim director of Boys and Girls Club. ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “I try to be kind to people.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “I’d say my five brothers. I think I learned something from every one of them.”

Sulentic still plays a key fundraising role for the club, Rowe said. “Right now we are doing some amazing things at the club, but in all honesty and fairness, we wouldn’t be where we are now if it weren’t for Wally righting the ship and getting us back in the right direction,” Rowe said. Sulentic’s longtime involvement and numerous business connections in the community, nota-

bly his role as CEO of Waterloo Industries, helped facilitate the fundraising process. “The company was very generous to the community, and I was, as well. So I had a lot of chits out there,” he said. “When you’re raising money, it’s a lot of quid pro quo, you help me, I help you. So, it was easier for me to raise money because of my relationship with Waterloo Industries and because of my own contributions.” Bob Brown, a member of the second Eight Over 80 class, nominated Sulentic for the award. He said Sulentic’s central role in saving the Boys & Girls Club is just one of many key volunteer roles he has played in the Cedar Valley. “I have known Wallace Sulentic for about 55 years. He has always been extremely involved in the Cedar Valley, many times behind the scenes, and still is,” Brown said.

See SULENTIC, page 16 cvbusinessmonthly.com

Willie Mae Wright

Civil rights pioneer serious about leadership JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com

ver since Willie Mae Wright arrived in Waterloo from her native Mississippi in the 1950s, she has embraced the community the only way she knows how: by getting involved. When she saw racial disparity at East High School, where her daughter was a student, she was one of a group that picketed Waterloo Community Schools Superintendent George Diestelmeier’s office seeking redress. She later served for a decade on the Waterloo City Council as only the second black member in city history. She fought for civil rights and the rights of all residents of her east side neighborhood. Wright “truly represented her constituents,” said Bob Brown of Cedar Falls, who nominated her for The Courier’s Eight Over 80 Awards. “While on the city council, she served as a liaison for the city of Waterloo on the Human Rights Commission, the Historical Commission, Visitors Bureau, chair of the Human Resources Committee and a member of the buildings and grounds and finance committees.” Wright served as president of the Waterloo Women’s Civic Club and Jesse Cosby Neighborhood Center board; secretary of the Black Hawk County NAACP and executive board member; member of the East High and Central High advisory boards; member of the Longfellow Elementary PTA; and honorary auxiliary member of the Sunrise Boy Scouts and den mother. Wright also served on the boards of the Up Downtowners, Black Hawk-Bremer League of Women Voters, Operation Threshold, Adults Inc. adult day care and Silos & Smokestacks, of which she also was a trustee. Wright taught Sunday school and served as Christian education director with Payne AME Church. Today, she is director of elections with the Black Hawk-Bremer League of Women Voters, a member of the Walnut Neighborhood cvbusinessmonthly.com

Willie Mae Wright at the Five Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. MATTHEW PUTNEY / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Association, is active in the Democratic Party, a member of the John Deere Museum committee and copresident of Payne AME Church laymen’s committee. Eight Over 80 nominations on Wright’s behalf voiced appreciation for her public service, particularly in the area of civil rights. “Willie Mae has worked tirelessly for east Waterloo and is still considered by many as the ‘unofficial Fourth Ward councilperson,” Matt Boyd and Cheryl Faries said on their nomination form. Nominator Jane Teaford said Wright worked “forcefully” to ensure east and west Waterloo got equal attention from city officials, and Wright also “stood up strongly” for black representation in city government. Wright represented Waterloo’s

fourth and sixth wards for 10 years. Teaford said when Wright left the City Council, three city departments were headed by blacks. Getting involved was a natural experience for Wright. “I’ve been so involved in this community from my kids, when they started school — real involved in elementary school, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the church, Sunday school,” she said. “That’s how I became so interested in the community and was asked to run for City Council. From City Council, from League of Women Voters and the Waterloo Women’s City Club, until I just got so involved, here I am. I just didn’t realize the 80th (birthday) was coming so fast.”

See WRIGHT, page 16

Willie Mae Wright ■ AGE: 81 ■ BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: “No 1 is getting my children raised and through college.” ■ ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU: “Eager, energetic.” ■ SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU and WHY: “She’s an older lady who was here before me, Mrs. Lizzie Fullilove. She was a music teacher. She had a studio downtown. She taught guitar, banjo, piano. Then, she moved into her home. She was originally from Mississippi and took me on as her godchild when I came here. From that, she just carried me around to the Y and the church. That’s who inspired me to get involved and to do things.”

Cedar Valley Business monthly

july 2013

Sulentic From page 14 Among Sulentic’s other accomplishments: He was founding director of Junior Achievement; served on the board of Goodwill Industries; led three fundraising drives at Columbus High School; was capital fund chairman for the Salvation Army; chaired the United Way’s annual drive and initiated a

WRIGHT From page 15 Wright also was a devoted caretaker to her husband, Jesse, a fellow Mississippi native who died in 1993 after a lengthy illness after 42 years of marriage. Wright also lost one of her three children,

STEVENS From page 12 Today, Stevens continues to participate, even at age 87. He is active in AARP Employment, St. Vincent dePaul, the Boys & Girls Club and

leadership giving program there; served as interim manager of Sunnyside Country Club; filled various leadership roles with the University of Iowa Foundation; and served as chairman of the University of Iowa Presidents Club. There are numerous awards bearing his name as well. All of that after leading, Waterloo Industries, a company his father, an inventor, started in 1923 that manufactured valve-spring compressors

and, about 20 years later, started building toolboxes for Sears. Sulentic credits his drive to an active commitment to stay healthy. “I’m very disciplined; I make sure I get my exercise,” he said. “I don’t drink hard liquor; I drink wine, primarily, and a little beer, but I don’t drink hard liquor. I exercise regularly. I walk 2 miles five days a week. In the wintertime, I lift light weights. They say every year you lose a little of your muscle. I used to be a run-

ner. I ran 3 to 5 miles and I ran fast. I’d run 61/2-minute miles.” Sulentic said he appreciated the award, but he’d rather give than receive. “I’ve gotten a lot of plaques and a lot of things over the years, and that’s nice, but I’m proud of my accomplishments,” he said. “I’m not proud, necessarily, of receiving something. I’d just as soon stay in the background. I’m appreciative, but it doesn’t guide my life.”

a daughter, Yolanda, who died in 1997 at age 55. The couple had two other children — a son, Alvin Bernard Wright, who is a teacher at Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence; and a daughter, Edie Yvonne Davis, who works with the Iowa Department of Human Services. With all her community involve-

ment, Wright found time for a career, too. She worked at the John Deere Component Works for 23 years, retiring in 1986. Prior to working at John Deere, she was employed at the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation for six years. When asked what she thought of winning the Eight Over 80 Award, Wright said she had been taken

aback somewhat — not because she wasn’t honored but because she generally didn’t tell others her age. “Somebody else initiated it, so it was surprising when they called me and said I had received the Eight Over 80 Award,” she said. “My kids gave me a birthday party, and it must have gotten out.”

the Martin Luther King Jr. Center of Hawkeye Community College. A member of Payne Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church since his arrival in Waterloo, Stevens has served as steward, choir president, education committee treasurer, chef and basketball

coach. “I enjoy serving the community. I know at the end of the road it will pay off,” Stevens said. “To be part of this community, I have worked in this community, both in my church and my union. I feel good about it.”

The Cedar Valley is worth all the effort, Stevens said. “I wouldn’t want to raise a family in no other place,” he said. “I know we have quite a bit of crime here, but not the crime you have in the city where the kids can’t play on the sidewalk or ride bicycles.”

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Cedar Valley Business monthly

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‘Midnight Lunch’ stresses need for innovation Steve Dust CEO, Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber Thomas Edison was an industrial genius. He knew that speed to market — or speed to failure — was critically important. Edison understood that when more bright, motivated people worked together and concentrated effort on an idea, the faster a good product could get to market or a bad idea could reach the bin. Today, business and institutional leaders are striving to keep their operations relevant in the face of gigantic demographic and psychographic shifts and a deep, global recession that brought a reset to the marketplace. As a result, we have changed the way we plan, execute, and market to meet demands in this new environment. Organizations like the Alliance must adapt to changes in our world through innovation to compete for investment and talent, and remain relevant. Innovation has taken over the business conversation. Discussion of “planning” to succeed is replaced by “innovating” to survive. We must find and recognize the next trend, the best way to fill a newly created need or discovered demand in the market, quickly. My search for designs of applied innovation led me to the genius industrial innovator, Edison, and how he used collaboration to move ideas toward market-successful innovation. These methods are explained in Midnight Lunch. Author Caldicott, it should be noted, is the great-grandniece of Edison, who writes, speaks, and consults on the innovative thinking and practices of her ancestor. She has twice delivered keynote presentations in the Cedar Valley. The four phases of collaboration presented in Midnight Lunch are capacity, context, coherence and complexity.

Caldicott emphasizes the need for collaboration in the innovative workplace. She also outlines overarching, major forces that should compel us to create collaborative workplaces capable of generating continuous innovation. These forces, which in my estimation add current connections and stronger relevance to the four phases, are:

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Shift 1: Complexity arises through massive generation of data and synthesis. Shift 2: The rise of the metalogue as a tool for creating purpose and connection. Shift 3: The need for reskilling workers in the innovation age. Midnight Lunch is essentially Collaboration for Dummies, the “how-to” manual I was looking for. It’s one that you should use. It’s the kind of book that should be in each manager’s hands, especially if that manager is more than 30 years old. It moves the reader through the definition of innovation, to collaboration as the method to achieve rapid innovation, to the three meta-shifts described above. In textbook fashion, each of the instructional chapters are completed with a toolkit section containing hands-on exercises to explore the concepts introduced. To sum up, Caldicott explores out to 2030 — the projected conclusion of the Innovation Age — to see how these forces around collaboration can lead organizations to success. Midnight Lunch is well worth the time. Remember, buy it locally!

Midnight Lunch: The 4 Phases of Team Collaboration Success from Thomas Edison’s Lab Author: Sarah Miller Caldicott Pages: 284

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■ You seem to have a “radio voice.” Have you ever worked on air? Yes, in a past life, I was an on-air announcer. I mostly worked as a rock ’n’ roll DJ. I also worked side jobs as a Disco DJ and a number of clubs in the ’80s. I also had a chance to work as a color commentator for sports and worked closely with the voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Gary Dolphin and other hall of fame broadcasters in Iowa. ■ How did you take your radio talent and apply it to the music industry? During my 12-year stint in radio, I became the music director for a group of radio stations. Because of my connection with the various record company promotional people, I had the opportunity to meet a number of key record industry giants and key artists of the time.

vice president human resources, Allen Hospital

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July 2013

Cedar Valley Business monthly

■ Have you ever worked with a rock star? Yes. With my work at the ra-

dio station, whenever there were concerts in town, I was the person that got to introduce the bands on stage and mingle and party with them backstage. I have had to the opportunity to rub elbows with quite a few major rock stars in the late ’70s and early ’80s, REO Speedwagon. Harry Chapin, Journey, Loverboy, Phil Collins, Jackson Browne, 38 Special, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Toto, just to name a few. ■ Have you been a part of making a hit song? Fortunately yes. At home, I have 11 gold and platinum records and a Grammy nomination for various songs and groups that I have worked with. Most of my work was to edit and rearrange the songs that many of your readers heard on the radio. Many of the hit songs had longer album/CD versions. But the version you heard on the air was shorter and missing a few parts. I was the guy who decided on

what stayed or what was cut and then actually did the editing. ■ Making music seems like a fun, what’s it really like? It is fun and creative, but it can be long and complicated. I am working with some friends of my daughter on a school project where they are recording original songs and putting a compilation CD together. Many of the students thought that you just come in and play and then you add a little reverb, etc. Mix it and, poof, you’re done. So far on one five-minute song, we have taken more than 20 hours just to record the instrumental portion. They still have to record the vocal parts, and then we get in to the special effects and mixing the sound all together. When it is all said and done, we will double that number for a finished product. It is very creative and fun, but also frustrating and long all at the same time.

Congratulations M ARGE BROM and all of this year’s honorees on your selection to

8 Over 80 Thank you for a lifetime of impact on our community.

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volunteerism

Eight Over 80 spotlights volunteers

his year’s Eight Over 80 winners include several business owners and leaders. Many understand the importance of being successful in business and the importance of giving back to people, to organizations and the community. The student entrepreneurs with whom I work also understand the importance of being successful in business to be able to give-back to people, organizaKatherine tions and the community. Cota-Uyar Volunteers support organizais associate director of the tions in many ways. They are also John Pappajohn advocates for an organization’s Entrepreneurial mission, goals and objectives. Center at the Organizations should set aside University of time to plan and prepare how to Northern Iowa. best utilize volunteers. Contact her at The first step is to analyze the 273-5732. need for volunteers. The next step is to create descriptions for jobs volunteers can perform. Each volunteer has different skills, knowledge and physical abilities, so job descriptions will ensure each volunteer is paired with a task for which he/she is qualified. The third step is to identify and recruit volunteers. Use multiple methods for volunteer recruit-

Congratulations 2013

8 over 80 recipient from your friends at the Boys and nd Girls Club of the Cedar Valley

ment such as webpages, social media and personal networks. The fourth step is to provide orientation and training to volunteers to ensures they are knowledgeable about their tasks. The fifth step is to use the volunteer’s time effectively. The sixth step is to evaluate volunteer performance. This helps them know you appreciate their efforts and make sure the work is performed correctly. The seventh step is to provide recognition to volunteers. There are several ways to do this, such

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233-6103 Allied Insurance is pleased to announce that The Sinnott Agency, Inc., of Waterloo has achieved On Your Side Certification from Allied Insurance. By becoming certified, The Sinnott Agency demonstrates its commitment to superior customer service.

Congratulations

MEL HEMANN

319 234 2839

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as thank-you letters, plaques, dinners, social media posts and more. The last step is to provide volunteers with motivation and inspiration. This will reinforce the volunteer’s commitment to and connection with the organization. A great resource for more information is the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley at 272-2087 or www.vccv.org. We thank the Eight Over 80 Awards and this year’s winners for all they do for the Cedar Valley. You set great examples for all of us.

www.sinnottagency.com 622 West 4th Street, Waterloo, IA 319-233-6103

2814 Betsworth Drive, Waterloo IA 50703 319 234 1783 www.Livingstonaviation.com Cedar Valley Business monthly

july 2013

Philanthropy

Corporate giving lifts morale A

n important component of a corporate giving plan is providing avenues for employees to be personally involved in a company’s commitment to giving back to the local community. While supporting local causes is a good way for a business to develop Ali Parrish a positive image is Black and reinforce its Hawk County relationships with development director at the customers, it also Community can boost morale among employees. Foundation According to the of Northeast Iowa. Contact National Benchher at (319) mark Study Mea287-9106 suring the Business ext. 12 or Value of Corporate aparrish@ Philanthropy, emcfneia.org. ployees who have a favorable impression of their company’s giving program are four times more likely to be truly loyal employees than those

who do not, and all things being equal, employees who have a favorable impression of their company’s giving are five times more likely to remain with their employer. The report notes this latter finding isn’t to suggest corporate giving is the primary reason employees remain loyal, but it concludes that giving back is definitely a factor in how employees evaluate their employers. Employees whose companies give back to their community reported feelings of pride in their workplace, a sense of belonging as part of a family and admiration for the good deeds their company accomplished. Corporate giving programs also present opportunities for team building that would not normally occur during a typical day in the office. Employees are able to partner together and work in team environments outside of their direct work groups. People from different departments or offices, who typically wouldn’t see each other during a workday, can serve a meal,

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participate in building a corporate advised fund or scholarship fund through your community foundation or recommend contributions to a range of local nonprofits. Giving through payroll deduction can simplify things. volunteerism. ■ Encourage Many people want to volunteer but can’t find time in their busy lives to do it. Participating in employer-sponsored programs allows employees the opportunity to volunteer, and the company endorses their altruism. Some businesses provide paid time off for volunteerism. In addition to improving the quality of life in the community, having a corporate giving program that allows employees the opportunity to give back to their communities helps to instill a sense of pride in themselves and their organization. They appreciate working for a company concerned with giving back, which leads to increased morale and retention.

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volunteer in a classroom or help build a home, side by side. This promotes a greater sense of camaraderie among employees as they work toward a shared mission. The following are some ways businesses can encourage employee participation in corporate giving: ■ Involve employees in community outreach decisions. Many companies create committees to make decisions about contributions or company volunteer activities. ■ Give priority to employee requests. Direct contributions to organizations employees recommend or with whom employees are affiliated. ■ Start a matching gifts program. This allows your company to add to employee donations designated for nonprofit organizations. It can encourage charitable giving while showing appreciation for employees. ■ Implement a workplace giving campaign. A workplace giving campaign can allow employees to

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july 2013

Cedar Valley Business monthly

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labor law

Agreements can limit ‘trade secret’ issues

nfair competition agreements — which include nonsolicitation, noncompete and confidentiality agreements — are common in the business world. The intent of these agreements is to limit unfair competition or prevent the theft of trade secrets. Ed Zalewski Employees canis an editor at not be unduly reJ. J. Keller & stricted in their Associates Inc., rights to work for a compliance competing busiresource nesses. The key company. phrase is unfair . For more competition. While information, employees do have visit www. the right to work jjkeller.com for a competitor, and www. prospera.com. they can be restricted from: ■ Breaching confidentiality, like downloading customer lists or stealing trade secrets.

■ Soliciting customers with whom the employee worked, since a company that paid an employee to build customer relationships has a right to protect those relationships. ■ Breaching the duty of loyalty, such as using company resources to compete against the employer. The “duty of loyalty” is commonly recognized by courts. However, this duty is not without boundaries. For example, an employee could start her own business in competition with her employer. However, if she is soliciting customers from her employer or using her employer’s resources to advance her business, it’s a breach of the duty of loyalty. Keep in mind that even without such a breach, employment is at will in all states except Montana, so the employer could still terminate the individual. However, the employer would not have grounds for legal action. Trade secrets include any information that has economic value or provides a company with a competitive edge. Essentially, trade secrets are bits of information a com-

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pany would not want a competitor to know, including customer lists or procedures used to create a product that are not generally known. To demonstrate that information is a trade secret, the employer must take reasonable steps to guard that information. Even the simple step of keeping the information in a locked filing cabinet can demonstrate the company’s intent to protect that information. Limiting access to electronic information using passwords can also show intent to protect the data. The manner in which an employee obtained the information is a consideration when enforcing an unfair competition agreement. If an employee obtained data by hacking into a computer system, the employer should have a lesser burden in showing an unfair breach. Unfair competition agreements may hinge on whether the company has a protectable interest. Trade secrets are one type of interest a company desires to protect. Even a close relationship with a customer, developed over time, can be a protectable interest.

To be enforceable, unfair competition agreements must be reasonable in duration and geographic scope. An agreement that restricts a former employee from working for any competitor in the state for one year would likely be excessive. However, an agreement that prohibits the employee from contacting customers with whom he or she developed business relationships for one year might be reasonable. Enforcing an unfair competition agreement requires an employer to show it had a protectable interest that was reasonably guarded. The employer must also show that the employee used company information to gain an unfair competitive advantage or that the employee’s use of the protected information caused economic damage to the employer. The key to remember is this: To enforce an unfair competition agreement in court, an employer must prove that the agreement was reasonable and necessary to protect against unfair competition.

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Dave Beaty, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF

Thunder Ridge Mall, Lower West 2302 W 1st St. #120, Cedar Falls IA

319-277-1059 • 800-799-6357 dave@heartlandfinancial.net

july 2013

Cedar Valley Business monthly

1127 Lincoln St. • Cedar Falls

319.277.0415

e-mail: kwe@k-welectric.com

800-262-0159 www.fdg.net 3013 Greyhound Drive, Waterloo, IA 50701 LD045693-1/13 cvbusinessmonthly.com

Workers losing ground on wages Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

namic of the pre-global age, but it took place almost exclusively within national confines, as when a new auto works in the 1980s bypassed unionized Detroit in favor of nonunion states in the American South, which in turn kept Detroit wages under pressure. Pressure on U.S. wages these days comes from multiple economic forces, not just from cheaper foreign labor. “We have gone through the worst recession that we have seen since the 1930s,” said William Strauss, a senior economist who studies the Midwest at the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. Unemployment has remained high throughout the achingly slow recovery. The U.S. recession ended, at least statistically, only to find Europe mired in a renewed slowdown, keeping pressure on wages on both sides of the Atlantic. On both continents, putting people back to work means falling wages are preferable to the alternative, which all too often is no paycheck at all.

WE CONGRATULATE

WALLACE SULENTIC 2013 8 OVER 80 HONOREE

Wallace Sulentic

WO-062212145

}

Competition from China and other low-wage rivals, coupled with fallout from the 2007-’09 financial crisis, has put American wages under such unprecedented strain that they have shifted into reverse — not merely stagnating, but falling. “Water finds its equilibrium, its own level,” said Jeff Joerres, chief executive of Milwaukeebased global staffing giant ManpowerGroup Inc., who refers to this accelerating leveling of wages as “global labor arbitrage.” “It’s happening so fast on a global scale that it’s scary,” Joerres said. In the U.S., the phenomenon is not limited to isolated and vulnerable sectors, such as commodity manufacturing. Rather, wages have fallen across the entire national economy — down 1.1 percent in the 12-month period from September 2011 to September 2012, the most recent comparisons available. “Average weekly wages de-

clined in every industry except for information,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its latest economic census. That quarterly report has shown year-over-year declines only six times since the data collection began in 1978 — and four of those have occurred since 2009. Nor is the United States the only advanced economy in the world affected. The average of wages in western Europe, Japan and the U.S. fell in a “double dip,” declining in both 2008 and 2011, according to the Swiss-based International Labor Organization. In China, wages have roughly tripled in the past decade, leading a trend of rising wages among developing economies such as Brazil, Peru and eastern Europe, the ILO said. The viselike pay squeeze promises to become more common as global economies become more connected, according to Joerres. Wage competition was a familiar if slower-moving dy-

CONGRATULATIONS

EIGHT OVER

Congratulations

Father Mel Hemann a lifetime of contributions to our community! One Schumacher Way Denver, Iowa 50622 (800) 779-LIFT (5438) www.SchumacherElevator.com cvbusinessmonthly.com

RECIPIENTS!

Thank you for all that you do for our

COmmUNITy.

}

and the rest of the honorees on

EIGHTY

www.GMDIsTRIcT.ORG | 319.234.6357 Cedar Valley Business monthly

july 2013

2013 Business MILESTONES 154 YEARS

142 YEARS www.blackhawkabstract.com

(319) 234-3566 100 E. 4th St. • Waterloo

105 YEARS

(319) 291-4000 614 Sycamore St. • Waterloo

125 YEARS

111 YEARS

(319) 233-8441 110 Plaza Circle • Waterloo waterloo.nm.com

(319) 233-1900 242 Tower Park Dr., Waterloo

104 YEARS 103 YEARS

103 YEARS

FEREDAY Heating & air Conditioning

Jewelers Since 1908

(319) 233-6951 306 E. 4th St. • Waterloo

102 YEARS

www.feredayheating .com 268-9110 • Cedar Falls 233-8411 • 1010 Broadway, Waterloo

101 YEARS

Bloom Manufacturing Inc., Lift-Safe Winch®

(319) 827-1139 1443 220th St. • Independence www.Bloommfg.com

91 YEARS

(319) 234-7515

www.NationalCattleCongress.com info@nationalcattlecongress.com

257 Ansborough Ave., Waterloo

86 YEARS

ZZZ WKDWSDUWVSODFH FRP

(319) 266-1741 406 State St. • Cedar Falls

82 YEARS

(319) 277-2141 Two Campuses • Cedar Falls www.westernhomecommunities.org

Distributor of electronic supplies

(319) 234-6681 201 E Mullen Ave • Waterloo

(319) 232-6861 900 Commercial St. • Waterloo

82 YEARS

81 YEARS

77 YEARS

(319) 233-3571 216 W 11th St • Waterloo

(800) 779-5438 One Schumacher Way • Denver

www.marquartconcreteproducts.com

See us for your Block Brick & Landscaping Needs (319) 233-8421 110 Dunham Place • Waterloo 26

June 2013

'RZQWRZQ :DWHUORR 6LQFH

(319) 234-6979 229 E. 5th St. • Waterloo

Cedar Valley Business monthly

cvbusinessmonthly.com

2013 Business MILESTONES 70 YEARS

66 YEARS

65 YEARS

64 YEARS

www.thepioneergroup.com (319) 234-8969 319 W. 5th St. • Waterloo

(319) 984-5662 200 Commercial St., Denver

63 YEARS

61 YEARS

JOHNSON’S BAKERY

Jewell’s Body Shop

(319) 232-8154 820 W. 5th St. • Waterloo

(319) 233-4407 305 N. Rd. • Evansdale (Next to City Hall)

58 YEARS

56 YEARS

(319) 232-0140 451 LaPorte Rd. • Waterloo

60 YEARS ALLEN GLASS CO., INC.

60 YEARS

www.allenglassco.com (319) 232-0461 1620 Jefferson St. • Waterloo

(319) 234-0344 4017 University Ave. • Waterloo www.maxss.com

55 YEARS Ray Mount

Wrecker Service

53 YEARS

Harris

Cleaning Service www.city-national.com (319) 232-6641 221 E 4th St. • Waterloo

53 YEARS

(319) 234-4626 2640 Falls Ave., Waterloo

Dry Wall, Plastering & Painting www.Iowawallsystems.com (319) 296-1663 4601 Crestwood Dr. • Waterloo

(319) 232-4444 829 Sycamore St. • Waterloo

53 YEARS

51 YEARS

(319) 277-2121 3321 Cedar Heights Dr. Cedar Falls

(319) 833-7648 105 BMC Dr., Elk Run Heights

Fred J. Harris Brian • Tim • Ronda (319) 235-6647 Waterloo

48 YEARS

www.remedyintelligentstaffing.com

(319) 236-2330 1034 Alabar Plaza • Waterloo

2013 Business MILESTONES 45 YEARS

44 YEARS

43 YEARS

Our Pride is our Care

www.sandeesltd.com (319) 235-1681 1111 South St. • Waterloo

(319) 232-6887 1166 W. Airline Hwy • Waterloo

(319) 235-0246 1-888-235-0246 1023 Peoples Square

(319) 234-4423 310 Upland Dr. • Waterloo

43 YEARS

41 YEARS

40 YEARS Stephen D. Knapp Lockard Realty

(319) 235-1463 2060 Crossroads Blvd. • Waterloo

39 YEARS

(319) 232-9177 Crossroads Shopping Mall • Waterloo

(319) 232-6537 3613 Texas St. • Waterloo

493-4000

Steve.Knapp@ymail.com 4501 Prairie Parkway • Cedar Falls

38 YEARS

37 YEARS

36 YEARS

(319) 236-0901 3420 University Ave • Waterloo

(319) 233-7649 2125 Falls Ave. • Waterloo

(319) 268-9802 2615 Rainbow Dr. • Cedar Falls

(319) 266-1771 7314 Chancellor Dr. • Cedar Falls

(319) 235-6583 101 BMC Drive • Elk Run Heights

1974

1-800-232-7721 525 East 18th St. • Cedar Falls

35 YEARS DIERKS

Tree Transplant, Inc. (319) 277-7173 9128 W. Cedar Waspi Rd. • Cedar Falls

33 YEARS

and Associates L.L.P.

31 YEARS

Diamonds Body Shop, Inc. (319) 235-0479 3419 Lafayette • Evansdale

2013 Business MILESTONES 30 YEARS

29 YEARS

(319) 235-6085 2515 Falls Ave. • Waterloo

www.billcolwellford.com (319) 988-4153 Hwy 63 • Hudson

27 YEARS

24 YEARS

28 YEARS

28 YEARS RON POTTER, OWNER

(319) 234-4200 withamauto.com

23 YEARS

1416 W. 4th St. • Waterloo (319) 232-7113

22 YEARS

Insurance KVALE Auto Fast Quotes INSURANCE • Auto/Home • Life • Health

(319) 266-2621 905 Center Street • Cedar Falls

(319) 233-9911 3230 Marnie Ave. • Waterloo

21 YEARS

20 YEARS

(319) 833-9428 1425 W. 5th St. • Waterloo

20 YEARS

www.expresspros.com (319) 277-6603 3014 Rownd St. • Cedar Falls

17 YEARS

SJConstinc@mchsi.com (319) 232-9178 1027 Sycamore St. • Waterloo

15 YEARS

Cedar Valley Electric Rick Dumler (319) 266-1134 5743 Westminster Dr., Cedar Falls

(319) 233-3280 Waterloo • Iowa

11 YEARS

Schmitt telecom PartnerS inc.

(319) 234-0051 www.kastliauctions.com

(319) 266-5829 1501 Technology • Cedar Falls

(319) 277-700 3614 Beaver Ridge Cir. • Cedar Falls

Scott Norris (319) 231-4207 Your key to the American dream!

6 YEARS

Our Experience Makes It Simple

schmitthouse.com

(319) 232-3701 722 Water St. • Waterloo

6 YEARS

Alliance & Chamber

NEWSLETTER www.cedarvalleyalliance.com

Welcome NEW Investors

Fresh Start Cleaning

Helping Cedar Valley Businesses and Economy Grow Through these Areas of Action

Contact: John Butler 1502 Quail Ridge Rd. Cedar Falls, IA 50613 319-404-4153 www.fscleaningllc.com Category: Cleaning Service

KOA Campground

Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber 2nd Annual Golf Classic August 20th, 2013 Pheasant Ridge Golf Course Cedar Falls 2 Shotgun Starts 7:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

4 Person Best Shot Continental Breakfast Networking Lunch 19th Hole Social To make your reservation, please call the Alliance & Chamber Office at 232-1156 or contact Bette or Kim at: bwubbena@cedarvalleyalliance.com kschleisman@cedarvalleyalliance.com

Panda Express

Contact: Ellie Kaier 1503 E. San Marnan Dr., Ste. A Waterloo, IA 50701 319-232-8888 Category: Restaurants/Bars/Caterers

Learn how your business can benefit. Contact the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber at 319-232-1156.

Panda Express

Contact: Chai Meifung 6209 University Ave., Ste. 50 Cedar Falls, IA 50613 319-266-6839 319-266-6831 Category: Restaurants/Bars/Caterers

Westfield Inn

Contact: Dharmendra Patel 2011 LaPorte Rd. Waterloo 234-5452 Category: Hotels & Motels

Cart Sponsor

Lunch Sponsors

Workforce & Talent Business Growth Advocacy Cedar Valley Regional Collaboration Cedar Valley Business Intelligence & Economic Performance Data

Contact: Karl Kozak 4550 Hess Rd. Waterloo, IA 50701 319-233-3485 www.koa.com\campground\ waterloo Category: Campground

*The Alliance & Chamber has approximately 900 Investors representing over 50,000 employees

...working to increase

economic vitality and

wealth

in the

Cedar Valley economic region.

Cedar Valley Data Portal Now live at

http://data.cedarvalleyalliance.com/DataPortal.aspx The most up to date data and stats on Cedar Valley education, healthcare, amenities, wages and more. Great information for relocation and recruitment.

Join the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber! Learn how you can benefit! Contact Bette Wubbena at (319) 232-1156 or bwubbena@cedarvalleyalliance.com.

Investor Benefits & Services THE ALLIANCE & CHAMBER helps Cedar Valley businesses and our economy grow through these areas of action: workforce & talent, business growth, advocacy, Cedar Valley regional collaboration, business intelligence & economic performance data. Investor businesses and organizations in the Cedar Valley can utilize these services and resources.

CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS CONNECT • Advance Cedar Valley – taking growing, locally owned businesses to the next level of success. • Business Education Series - is a local link to information on timely business. The breakfasts give attendees instant access to “do it now” business growth tools. • Midwest IPI – marketable Intellectual Property available to grow your firm and world class talent for short term projects. • Incentives and Project Management – helping your firm identify and quantify available incentives and programs, and managing the process with agencies and governments when your firm is ready to grow. • Networking Events – encourage business growth and create a positive business climate. Our networking events include Strictly Business Expo, Power Networking, Good Morning Cedar Valley, and more. • Supporting Retailers – through Buy Local Campaigns, Investor to Investor Discounts.

CEDAR VALLEY TALENT CONNECT • Talent Connect Job Fairs – matching you with new talent for today’s openings. • Talent Connect Tours – helping students and placement teams know more about the Cedar Valley and career opportunities. • Talent Tells All Events – great feedback for your firm to learn what talented people are seeking in an employer and place. • Talent Connect Networking & Communications – creating more opportunities for young talented professionals to meet with employers and learn more about the Cedar Valley. • Cedar Valley Campus – working with our Cedar Valley colleges and universities to increase attractiveness, services, and value to pursuing higher education in the Cedar Valley. • Cedar Valley Diversity & Inclusion – this initiative focuses on the importance, impact and benefits to business of effective diversity and inclusion practices. • Cedar Valley Leadership Institute – increasing knowledge and skills of emerging business and civic leaders through monthly professional development days focusing on economic development, government relations and diversity.

LEADER VALLEY • Implementing Leader In Me in Cedar Valley K-12 schools – employing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in the classroom.

• Working to increase use of basic and advanced virtual reality techniques to teach problem solving in secondary schools. • Convening the vital discussion between business and education.

CEDAR VALLEY REGION OF IOWA To expand the base of business and institutional investment, delivering opportunities for business locations to our Cedar Valley cities. www. cedarvalleyregion.com. • Promoting the Cedar Valley of Iowa as a location for businesses in targeted sectors, complementing our strong base in advanced manufacturing and related services, product based information technologies, health care and higher education technologies, and bio-based products and services. • Working in tandem with our local partners throughout the Cedar Valley economic area to deliver a unified message about the attributes and advantages of expanding a business here.

COMPETITIVENESS & AMENITIES • Broadband – encouraging true gigabit access and capability to the entire Cedar Valley. • Air Service – increasing and strengthening commercial air service schedules and options at the Waterloo Regional Airport. • Industrial Rail Service.

BUSINESS & ECONOMIC INFORMATION • Data about the businesses and economic conditions of the Cedar Valley is available at http://data. cedarvalleyalliance.com/DataPortal.aspx • Extensive surveying to discover opportunities for and barriers to growth in the Cedar Valley.

CEDAR VALLEY GOVERNMENT RELATIONS • Annual business and civic priorities agenda. • Networking and forums with elected government officials regarding business issues.

MARKETING BENEFITS • Business Showcase: ad space, online marketing and direct mail marketing. • Direct mail marketing products and services. • Fax blasts and membership lists. • Media sponsorship for non-profit investor organization’s events.

Be part of something GREATER! Learn how investment in the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber can benefit your business or organization. Contact the Director of Investor Services by calling 319-232-1156

management

‘Reshoring’ of jobs gains momentum

ometime during the past decade, when most everyone was focused on inflating the housing bubble, I was called into a senior manager’s office. My employer was planning to move an assembly line to Mexico and thought I would be a great manager for the project. As Rick the executive disBrimeyer cussed the imporis the president tance of the move, of Brimeyer my thoughts wanLLC, an dered to Thanksindependent giving. management Although a city consulting boy, I grew up with firm in Ames. tractors. I played Contact him at (515) 450with scale models 8855 or rick@ as a child, spent brimeyerllc. weekends on my com. grandfather’s farm and drove tractors long before I could legally drive a car. My grandfather, father and

uncles farmed, built or repaired tractors. I loved to listen at family gatherings as they debated their politics — not of red and blue states but red and green tractors. So, when I graduated from engineering school, it was only natural for me to choose a supplier to the tractor industry. How I enjoyed now contributing to those conversations. Now, as the boss rambled, I could only envision the ensuing conversation: “What are you working on now, Rick?” “Well, I’m managing the move of a major product line to Mexico.” (Silence, followed by more silence) “I believe the turkey is a little dry this year.” I told the boss that I wasn’t interested in spearheading the move. So, I’ve been interested as I follow the trend of manufacturing work moving back to the U.S. Known as reshoring. Some of the primary reasons be-

SID MORRIS

AND ALL THE OTHER 8 OVER 80 NOMINEES

AND HONOREES! VOLUNTEERS MAKE

THE WORLD GO ‘ROUND

AND WE’VE GOT

SOME OF THE

VERY BEST!

hind the trend include: ■ Shorter and predictable supply chains. The price on the invoice doesn’t matter when the product has to be air freighted due to changing customer demands or is stuck in a port due to a dock workers’ strike. ■ Lessons learned regarding the criticalness for manufacturing and engineering to communicate when the product is more complex than a coat hanger. ■ More lessons learned regarding the complexity of communicating, instilling quality systems and ensuring protection of intellectual property when multiple tiers of suppliers are involved, with each subsequent layer becoming less sophisticated. ■ Multiple years of double-digit wage increases in China, supported by government’s hopes of growing the middle class, narrowed the cost gap. As a Lean advocate and former engineering manager, I foresaw the first three reasons. The fourth

CONGRATULATIONS TO 8 OVER 80 RECIPIENTS,

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SidMorris www.cardinalconst.com

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Cedar Valley Business monthly

caught me completely off-guard. I reasoned that the sheer population of China would absorb wealth for generations before it impacted competitiveness. But the majority of the country still lacks the basic infrastructure to take advantage of that population. There’s one more important driver for reshoring. U.S. productivity continues to grow. We’re 20 percent more productive than we were 10 years ago, despite the fact that that time span has been largely defined by tepid demand growth. Productivity always looks best in periods of high demand. Therein lies the caveat with current reshoring efforts. The work that is returning is not especially labor intensive, or at least not lowskills labor. The good news is the jobs created by reshoring efforts, although not equal in number to those that originally left, are decent jobs. They rely on folks using their noggins more than their backs.

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THE

POWER TO LOWER BUSINESS COSTS

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July 2013

volunteerism

Older Iowans are lifetime volunteers

t is well demonstrated that senior volunteers are actively involved in the Cedar Valley as we celebrate Eight over 80. The involvement of these individuals has strengthened our community and allowed others to witness a life full of service. Anne Nass The Corporais tion for National communications and Community coordinator with Service indicates the Volunteer that 39 percent Center of of Iowans age 55 Cedar Valley and older volunin Waterloo. Contact her at teer, averaging 272-2087. 54 hours of volunteer time annually. Older Iowans who have uncertainties about volunteering should consider the following: ■ Find a passion. Do what you’ve always wanted to do and didn’t

have time to do before. ■ Look for a need. A 2009 survey by the Corporation for National and Community Service found that 80 percent of nonprofit organizations surveyed reported some level of fiscal stress. ■ Avoid perfectionism. Perfectionism can ruin a project for you and others around you. ■ Strive for joy. A volunteer job should be fun. Volunteer work can be difficult, but it should still be something you enjoy. ■ Deflect criticism. While you might not take a volunteer job too seriously, others may. Don’t allow it to ruin your ability to find a way to give. ■ Steer clear of conflict. Sometimes you need to give ground on an idea to keep the peace. ■ Don’t overdo. Older adults can become so committed to a cause it becomes a job. Remember volunteer work should be a labor of love. ■ Avoid negativity. Gravitate toward people and proj-

ects that share your interests. “Older volunteers are finding ways to use their lifetime of skills and experience to make an impact on issues they care about,” said Dr. Erwin Tan, director of Senior Corps. He provided the following statistics about older volunteers. ■ Ninety-nine percent want to make a difference. ■ Ninety-eight percent stay active and feel better physically. ■ Ninety-eight percent feel better emotionally. ■ Ninety-eight percent gain a sense of purpose. ■ Ninety percent want to share their talents, skills and experience. ■ Eighty-four percent want to occupy their free time. Volunteering helps support “executive function,” brain activity in key areas of the brain. ■ Seventy-five percent with chronic conditions say volunteering helps them manage these conditions.

“39 percent of Iowans age 55 and older volunteer, averaging 54 hours of volunteer time annually.” ■ Seventy-four percent are able to overcome feeling isolated. ■ Seventy percent are able to overcome feeling depressed. ■ Fifty-three percent say that they learned the importance of volunteering from their parents’ community service, and 84 percent say they have encouraged their children to give back. Seven in 10 plan on volunteering “forever.” To find out where you can be most helpful, contact the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley. The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley works to promote and support effective volunteerism and to serve as the resource and coordination center for volunteers and community partnerships.

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U.S. only advanced economy where vacation not required Los Angeles Times The summer vacation season is here, but about a quarter of all Americans will not be paid while they soak up some rest and relaxation. A recent study said the United States is the only advanced economy that does not require paid vacation days or holidays. The report, released last month by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, revisited a 2007 study that compared the U.S. with nearly two dozen other countries and also found it to be the only nation that does not require paid vacation or holidays. The recession-battered U.S. has not closed the gap since 2007, the center’s researchers said, and few companies have boosted employee benefits even as the economy has recovered. “Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn’t worked,” said John Schmitt, senior economist and co-author of the report. The study’s authors reported that

a number of European countries guarantee their workers at least 20 paid vacation days per year. France legally requires 30 paid vacation days. Canada and Japan guarantee at least 10 paid vacation days per year. The report also tallied the average number of paid vacation and holidays provided to American workers in the private sector. The total — 16 — does not meet the minimum required by law in 19 countries. The lack of paid time off is most acute for low-wage workers and employees working for small businesses, according to the report, which found that 49 percent of low-wage workers have paid vacation, compared with 90 percent of higher-wage workers. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., has introduced a bill that would require employers to provide one week of paid vacation annually. The bill, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, has most recently been referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

IS YOUR

WORKPLACE

ONE OF THE BEST IN THE CEDAR VALLEY? TO nOminATE yOuR EmPLOyER

for the Employers of Choice Awards today, simply complete the form below and attach description (200 words or less) detailing why your nomination meets the criteria listed below.

NomiNatioN DeaDliNe: FriDay, July 12 Top 20 businesses will be featured in a special publication in The Courier on Monday, September 2.

Does your employer qualiFy? Here’s tHe Criteria: Do they care about quality of life issues?

Do they provide employees with regular feedback from a top management team?

Is there support for family and flexibility for family issues and events?

Are employees recognized for a job well done?

Is there opportunity to learn new skills?

Mail your nomination form to: EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE, c/o Marketing, P.O. Box 540, Waterloo, IA 50704 or fax to EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE: 319.234.3297. Nominate your employer online at WCFCourier.com/app/employersofChoice

COMPANY NAME PRESIDENT/CEO PHONE FAX BUSINESS ADDRESS CITY STATE

ZIP

SUBMITTED BY: COMPANY PHONE FAX EMAIL ADDRESS CITY STATE

ZIP

Please print your responses directly on the form. Your essay may be included separately. Please be sure to include your address and phone number in the event further information is required. All information will be held in confidence.

www.WCFCourier.com

For more information, contact Angela Dark at 319.291.1573 or Angela.Dark@wcfcourier.com cvbusinessmonthly.com

Cedar Valley Business monthly

july 2013

retirement

Calculating a ‘real’ retirement number

he “million dollar” question many of those preparing for retirement ask themselves is not necessarily easy to answer — “How much money do I need to save to secure a comfortable retirement?” A recent survey from Ameriprise Financial found that working Americans ages 50-70 with at least $100,000 in inLarry K. Fox vestable assets esis a private timated that what wealth they needed to adviser with comfortably retire Ameriprise was, on average, Financial Inc. $930,000. in Waterloo. What assumpContact him at 234-7000. tions must you make to arrive at your “number”? How many factors impact your number? When determining how much you’ll need to save for retirement, it’s helpful to think in terms of how much income you’ll need to withdraw to cover expenses. But projecting fu-

ture spending is an inexact science at best. Some expenses might go away, but you may also have more time and energy to spend money on the things you need and want to do in retirement. There are also expenses that could greatly increase in retirement, like medical costs. Using your current spending as a starting point, draw up a realistic list of anticipated living costs in retirement. There are two primary categories to review: There are the required costs associated with daily living — food, shelter, utilities, transportation, insurance and taxes — that most will persist throughout retirement. There also are the interests you want to pursue such as golfing, travel, owning a vacation property or starting a business. To make these lifestyle choices a reality, enough money needs to be in place to finance them. Separating lifestyle expenses from required expenses can help you prioritize funds from your nest egg. Note that spending on lifestyle needs can be adjusted as needed through-

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out retirement, as these are considered discretionary expenses. Rather than trying to assess whether a single lump sum amount is sufficient to meet income needs in retirement, a more practical approach may be to match specific assets (or sources of income) to various expenses. The highest priority is the essential expenses category. Your goal should be to enter retirement with a virtual guarantee that required living costs are going to be met without interruption no matter how long you live. There are two clear sources of guaranteed income for retirement: Social Security and a defined benefit plan — when available. Of course if you’re still far from retirement, Social Security shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a long-term guaranteed source of income. If these sources don’t produce enough income to meet required expenses, additional income could be generated in another way, such as an annuity providing guaranteed income. Using this approach, future income is not subject

to the variability of the markets. Your remaining assets can be used to fund lifestyle expenses. You may choose to invest this money more actively with a strategy of drawing down assets over time using a sustainable withdrawal rate. A true number may be elusive, but using this process, you may have a better sense of what your ultimate savings goal is. It may be useful to set multiple goals — or “numbers” — to reach enough to cover essential expenses and then lifestyle expenses. You might also consider the amount you’ll need to cover unexpected expenses in retirement and to leave a legacy. Planning financially for retirement can be complex. Taking the appropriate steps to calculate your retirement income needs is a great first step. But with an economic and political environment that is constantly evolving, it can become even more complicated as you near retirement. Consider working with a financial professional who can help you work toward your short- and long-term goals.

Congratulations Dave! Friendship Village always knew Dave Greene was special. Now the Cedar Valley knows it.

6612 Chancellor Dr., Suite 100 Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 (319) 268-9210 www.pointbuilders.com

(319) 291-8100 600 Park Lane, Waterloo, IA 50702 www.friendshipvillageiowa.com

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cvbusinessmonthly.com

11TH ANNUAL 20 UNDER 40 AWARD WINNERS

Help us select 20 Cedar Valley Business Leaders who are under 40 years old! NOMINATE SOMEONE YOU FEEL MEETS THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY BY MAIL, FAX OR ONLINE: MAIL:

20 Under 40, P.O. Box 540, Waterloo, IA 50704

• Dedication and success in their vocation

FAX:

Attn: 20 Under 40 Nomination, (319) 234-3297

• A role model in their career

ONLINE: www.WCFCourier.com/20under40

• Demonstrates leadership in their business/community • Active community and volunteer participation

NOMINATIONS DUE: THURSDAY, July 18, 2013

If you prefer to mail or fax your entry form, please type or print your responses directly on the form. Your essay may be included on a separate sheet. Please be sure to include your address and phone number in the event further information is required. All information will be held in confidence.

TWENTYUNDERFORTY NOMINATION FORM One nominee per form. Please attach a short description of why your nomination meets the criteria above.

Nominee: ____________________________ Title: _______________________________ Age: _______ Company: ___________________________________________________________________________ Phone: ______________________________ Fax: ____________________________________________ Business Address: ___________________________________________City: ______________________ State: ____________________ Zip: _____________ Email: ____________________________________ Submitted By: ________________________ Company: _______________________________________ Phone: _____________________________ Address: ________________________________________ City: _______________________________ State: _______________________ Zip: _______________ Winners will be selected by a committee and featured in the November issue of Cedar Valley Business Monthly. A special reception will be held honoring the 20 selected business leaders.

www.WCFCourier.com

Smithfield deal aids export prospects Bloomberg News

China’s proposed takeover of pork producer Smithfield Foods may signal improved demand for a U.S. hog industry coming off the longest stretch of losses in four years. “It’s probably a good deal because it opens up more avenues to export pork,” Max Schmidt, 69, a farmer in Elma who raises 50,000 to 60,000 pigs a year for slaughter. “This is a world economy.” Shuanghui International Holdings agreed May 29 to acquire Smithfield for $4.7 billion. China is the world’s largest pork consumer, and the U.S. exported 23 percent of its output last year, the most since at least 1960, government data show. U.S. producers lost $23 per hog on average through the spring of 2013, the most severe losses since 2009, according to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. China may import 326 million pounds of U.S. pork this year, 9.8 percent more than previously forecast, if the deal goes through, said Brett Stuart, the chief executive officer of meat researcher Global AgriTrends. Last year, China was

the third-biggest buyer of U.S. pork, after Japan and Mexico. Pork output from the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, is forecast to climb 1 percent this year, as global consumption of the meat reaches the highest since records going back to 1960, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. China’s pork consumption is climbing as its middle class expands and increases its protein intake at the same time that questions are being asked about the safety of the country’s food supply. About 20,000 U.S. producers and industry professionals will be gathering this week at the annual World Pork Expo in Des Moines. Hog futures for settlement in July on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rallied 1 percent in May, the second straight gain. Before the deal was announced, the USDA forecast on May 10 that the U.S. would export 21 percent of its pork production this year and 22 percent in 2014. If Smithfield boosts shipments to China, that may support a revival in producer profits, according to Sterling Marketing, an agricultur-

al economic-research company in Vale, Ore. Producers in May were profitable for the first time since September as lean-carcass values rose and feed costs eased, said John Nalivka, president of Sterling Marketing. Farmers are making $2 to $5 per head, he said. Hog farmers generally made money in 2010 and 2011 as feed costs fell and hog prices rose, leaving producers in the black from the start of 2010 through more than half of 2012, Nalivka said. Lower feed costs for the rest of this year and into 2014 make the outlook “pretty optimistic from a production standpoint,” he said. Until recently, producers were losing money on average for about a year, after the most-severe drought since the 1930s cut livestock-feed supplies last year, according Chris Hurt, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue. Hurt, who has studied livestock markets for four decades, said it was too early to tell what kind of implications the Smithfield deal will have on the U.S. industry. The National Pork Producers Council and the Iowa Pork Produc-

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ers Association said in separate statements that the transaction may have a positive impact on pork exports, which would be a benefit for producers. Chinese purchases of U.S. pork totaled 780 million pounds last year, 15 times more than the 52 million in 2002, government data compiled by Global AgriTrends show. U.S. shipments to the Asian nation are still projected to be 58 percent lower than in 2012 as China has increased import controls to ensure meat products exclude ractopamine, a feed additive used by some U.S. producers to add lean muscle in livestock. Al Wulfekuhle, 54, a producer in Quasqueton who sells hogs to Tyson Foods, worries China’s intentions are to use Smithfield’s expertise in genetics and processing to produce more pork in China or to produce more pork in the U.S. and export to China. “We’re definitely in a world market,” Wulfekuhle said. “This is just an evolution of what we’ve been doing for years. It’s something we as producers have to learn how to work with.”

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Sale: $325,000/Lease: $2,500 Gross Jim Sulentic 215-5000

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3556 Kimball Ave., Waterloo

july 2013

Cedar Valley Business monthly

Selling Price: $750,000

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Matt Miehe 269-6222 Fred Miehe 240-2266

cvbusinessmonthly.com

Small businesses can avoid loan rejection The Associated Press Thousands of stunned small business owners call Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. each week after they’re turned down for a loan. Jeff Stibel, CEO of the business credit reporting company has a message for them: Don’t blame the bank. Instead, he says, find out how you contributed to that rejection and start working to improve your company’s credit rating so next time, the answer will be “yes.” “There is so much you can do, and should do, before you need a loan,” he says. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility compiles credit reports on small businesses, which banks can buy to help make their lending decisions. In a recent conversation with The Associated Press, Stibel talked about the continuing sluggishness in bank lending to small companies. Lending rose modestly in April, according to the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index after falling the first three months of this year. Stibel agrees that banks can make it difficult for small businesses to get loans. But he argues that own-

ers bear some responsibility when they’re rejected. Many business owners go about getting a loan all wrong, he says. They apply to banks that aren’t likely to approve them. When they apply, they haven’t made sure their finances and credit ratings are solid. And they haven’t taken the time to cultivate a relationship with a banker who will be sympathetic. Stibel knows business owners aren’t helping themselves because they call Dun & Bradstreet Credibility after banks reject loan applications and tell them to find out what’s in their business credit reports. The files are similar to the personal credit reports on consumers that are compiled by reporting agencies such as Experian and Equifax. They include information such as a company’s payment record, how much debt it’s carrying and the number of loans it has applied for. “We talk to over 20,000 businesses a week and a huge percentage of them don’t even know they have a business credit file.

Businesses must check credit reports Small-business owners need to be savvy about their companies’ credit reports, just as they need to keep an eye on their personal credit files. That advice comes from Jeff Stibel, CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., one of the companies that track small business credit. Whether you’re hoping to get a loan, have been turned down for one or are just running your business, you need to stay on top of what’s in your credit file, he says. Many owners may not realize they have a business credit file, or know what’s in it, until there’s a problem, like a rejection for a loan. But other things can go wrong even after a company gets a loan or line of credit. Banks cut the credit lines of many businesses during and after the recession, even those of companies that were doing well and paying their bills on time. Those actions were similar to the reductions many homeowners had in their home equity lines of credit. It may be possible to undo the damage, Stibel says. A look at a credit report can help. A common problem for many small businesses since the recession is that as they lowered expenses, they had fewer bills to pay, and fewer payments showing up in their credit files, Stibel says. Many might have vendors that don’t report payments to credit reporting agencies. But by working with the bank, vendors and the agencies, an owner might get those payments recorded. But don’t wait for a problem to happen. Ask companies like Dun & Bradstreet Credibility, Equifax and Experian for copies of your company’s credit reports, and be sure they’re complete. You should also have a solid relationship with a banker, long before you apply for a loan, Stibel says. When a banker knows you, they’re more likely to reconsider a rejection based on an incomplete report. “If you’ve got a long-standing good relationship with the bank … and you can prove you’re paying the bills, banks will be incredibly flexible.”

See CREDIT, page 40

Congratulations EIGHT OVER 80

SID MORRIS

1958 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa Lifetime member of the UNI Alumni Association Sid Morris is a great friend of UNI and a respected member of the Cedar Valley community. He is a man of strong conviction and thoughtful generosity, and is an excellent role model for current and future UNI students. UNI is proud to count Sid among its 107,000+ alums who live across the country and around the world.

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july 2013

credit From page 39 Sometimes owners don’t see their business credit report until they’re sitting with a loan officer in a bank branch, Stibel says. For bankers, that’s a red flag. Owners can get copies of their files from reporting companies including Dun & Bradstreet Credibility, Experian and Equifax. They also should study their personal credit reports, which bankers consider when making loans. Another roadblock: Many businesses aren’t savvy about the application process, Stibel says. Owners think they can walk into a bank, fill out an application and presto, get a loan. These days, that’s a good way to get turned down. The smartest owners “have banks asking, begging to work with them instead of hustling to try and find the right bank,” he says. Many owners also don’t realize that not all banks are alike. Banks have different philosophies and strategies about lending. For example, some make more loans secured by assets like real estate, while others lean toward companies with good cash flow. “Not knowing their criteria before you walk in the door is a recipe for disaster,” Stibel says. That disaster goes beyond a rejection. Many owners shopping for a loan don’t realize that every inquiry and rejection goes into their business and personal credit reports. And some big retailers want to see credit reports for the manufacturers whose products

they buy. They believe a company with a good credit rating is more likely to be well-run and not cut corners on the goods they sell, Stibel says. Even as the economy has continued its slow recovery, lending to small businesses remains weak. Stibel says stagnant lending is partly due to the fact that banks and small businesses are at cross purposes. The banks say they’re working on making more loans. Bank of America has hired 1,000 bankers to serve small businesses. Wells Fargo is increasing its marketing and outreach to women small business owners to help increase how much it is lending to them. Citi said in March that it had surpassed its 2012 small business lending goal by $1.6 billion. But banks are also concerned about the risks involved in lending to small businesses, so they add requirements to loans. The companies want loans with as few requirements as possible, Stibel says. Banks are more likely to lend to a business owner that they know and can trust rather than a total stranger, he says. That’s the reason why Bank of America has placed more small business bankers around the country, so it can get to know small business customers better. But a business owner has to work on the relationship too. Stibel’s advice: “You should have, if not quarterly meetings with your lending officer, at least two times a year, even if it’s nothing more than going out to lunch and saying how great your business is. You don’t want to have your first meeting when something’s wrong.”

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july 2013

Cedar Valley Business monthly

cvbusinessmonthly.com

wartburg college

An uneven playing field on sales taxes

hen you buy a book at Barnes & Noble — or any other retailer in Black Hawk County — you pay a 5 percent sales tax plus another 2 percent in option taxes for roads and schools. Buy the same book from an online retailer without a physical presence in Saul Iowa, and you don’t Shapiro pay any sales tax. is director Obviously, the of news and playing field isn’t community level for retailers relations at who have a local, Wartburg physical presence, College. have created jobs and pay property and state income taxes. Congress is finally getting into that fray, debating the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would compel online and catalog retailers to impose and collect state and local sales tax — whether or not they have a presence in the state.

The loss in tax dollars is significant. A 2009 University of Tennessee study estimated Iowa would potentially lose $300 million annually in 2012 in sales tax revenue. Nationally, the figure was estimated at around $12 billion. Many Wartburg students — and those at other colleges — receive an Iowa Tuition Grant of up to $1,000 annually based on need up to a maximum of $4,000 during their undergraduate years. During recessionary years, there is always anxiety the Legislature will tamper with that program. The influx of additional sales tax money — albeit paid by consumers — would help alleviate that situation. The legal basis for the discrepancy in the sales tax situation is the landmark 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota — back in what now seems like the Flintstonian Era (a year before the advent of the Internet) — when some states wanted to collect sales taxes from mail-order catalog businesses. No can do, the court declared.

State and local sales taxes would be too great a burden for any company to cope with and, consequently, a violation of the commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution. The only exception was if the company had a physical presence (“nexus”) in the state. In 1993, widespread public access to the Internet came along, essentially dividing commerce three ways: online-only businesses (“pureplay”), traditional businesses with only a physical presence (“bricks and mortar”) and those that have an online and physical presence (“clicks and mortar”). From the outset, pureplay retailers such as Amazon claimed to be part of the birth of new era, and businesses might not survive the burden of imposing and collecting sales taxes. They maintained that any retail advantage was offset by costs such as shipping. And they were possessive about their sales-tax breaks. In fact, Amazon sued Barnes & Noble in 1997 for selling its books online without imposing a sales tax while having a

nexus numbering more than 1,000. But the Internet is all grown up now, taking an increasingly sizeable chunk of business from the bricksand-mortar folks. The teenage pureplays can throw major temper tantrums if they don’t get their way. In its May 23 issue, Fortune magazine recalls what happened when Amazon, which had a 630,600-foot distribution center outside Dallas, was billed for uncollected sales taxes of nearly $269 million by Texas in 2010. It closed the facility, throwing 119 people out of work. Perhaps emboldened by California legislation last fall to collect sales tax from the pureplays, the ball is now in Congress’ court. I’m a bit miffed when sales tax does show up in my online purchase. But for my money and societal purposes, I’d rather see the inequity eliminated. The sales-tax status of the pureplays isn’t fair to the retailers who have invested in the local economy, created jobs and contributed to the local tax base — and, by extension, education.

Wine and Tunes @ Against the Grain Bar and Lounge Located in the Clarion Hotel Last Thursday of the Month 5:30 - 7:30 pm Wines Presented By Global Wines Iowa

$10.00 per person includes 1 Glass Wine with a Cheese and Fruit Plate

$5.00 off certificate for a glass of wine within the next 30 days Half Price Appetizers

Please RSVP by email or Call 319-277-2239 Ext 324

5826 University Ave. Cedar Falls, Iowa www.clarioncedarfalls.com 42

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Cedar Valley Business monthly

cvbusinessmonthly.com

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Henry Ford

The Eight Over 80 figured that out long ago. They know that the best way to learn is by doing. So they keep on doing, giving, serving, helping, teaching and growing, all to the benefit of our entire community. Western Home Communities is proud of all those in the Cedar Valley who have lived long and lived well.

Congratulations to the Eight Over 80, including two of our residents: Marge Brom and Sid Morris. Photos courtesy of The Courier

www.WesternHomeCommunities.org cvbusinessmonthly.com

Cedar Valley Business monthly

July 2013

David P. Wilson CCIM

Jack E. Jennings CCIM

Prairie Business Park, Cedar Falls

• • • • •

99,000 $6.00/sf NNN 12,431 sf of total finished area Slit-level construction Sale includes lease to 2,720 sf oral surgeon • In CURA & Enterprise Districts

Dustin W. Whitehead CCIM