Interview, Fireside Chat, Conference Presentation
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Small Business Owner Jenny Steffensmeier
- Governor Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) began her political career in the private sector as a motor vehicle clerk, entering public office only after being encouraged by her husband to run for county treasurer when no other candidates were available.
- Reynolds implemented technology-driven efficiency reforms at the county level, such as digitizing duplicate processes, which led to a positive constituent response and motivated her subsequent run for the state senate and, ultimately, the governorship.
- As Iowa's first woman governor (ascending in 2017 upon Terry Branstad's confirmation as Ambassador to China), Reynolds has established workforce development and rural community empowerment as the defining priorities of her administration.
- The "Future Ready Iowa" initiative, passed unanimously by the legislature in 2017 with $16 million in funding, aims to have 70% of the state's workforce achieve education or training by 2025, currently standing at 58%.
- Reynolds identifies workforce availability as the primary barrier to economic growth across the U.S., specifically noting that small businesses' top concerns include the employee shortage, healthcare costs, and the general business environment.
- Governor Reynolds has launched the "This is Iowa" campaign to attract businesses and residents by highlighting the state's low cost of living, innovative culture, and infrastructure amenities.
- Iowa has attracted significant investment from major tech firms including Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, driven by the state's leadership in renewable energy (40% of electricity from wind), low business costs, and grid reliability.
- Small business owner Jenny Steffensmeier (Steffensmeier Welding) transitioned from a radiologic technology career to leading her family's welding business in 2015 following her late husband's diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia.
- Steffensmeier's company became Iowa's first fully solar-powered manufacturing facility through a partnership with Ideal Solar Energy, a move expected to yield a 5-to-6-year payback period and save $2.5 million in electrical costs over 25 years while avoiding nearly 9,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
- Steffensmeier reports that while small businesses face intense competition for labor and difficulty matching large corporate benefits packages, her company maintains low turnover by leveraging the flexibility and family-oriented culture of small business ownership.
- Reynolds emphasized that trade policy is critical to Iowa's ag sector, specifically citing the need to ratify the USMCA to provide market stability with Canada and Mexico, which are the state's top two trade partners.
- The administration supports the expansion of ethanol blending to E15 for year-round sales and is monitoring "small refinery exemptions" to ensure they do not dilute the benefits of increased corn-derived fuel usage.
- Governor Reynolds highlighted Iowa's bipartisan legislative successes, including unanimous passage of 2017 mental health reform laws for adults and the 2018 creation of a comprehensive children's mental health system.
- Reynolds advises presidential candidates to visit all 99 counties and engage directly with small business owners, noting that 98% of Iowans earn above minimum wage with an average hourly wage of $17 and a median household income of $62,000.
- Reynolds attributes the increased efficacy of women in leadership roles to their innate ability to balance multiple priorities, find common ground across party lines, and pivot effectively to solve problems, citing the state's bipartisan consensus on key initiatives.
- The conversation concluded with a consensus on the necessity of infrastructure investment to support the ethanol industry, with projections that expanding capacity could utilize an additional 2 billion bushels of corn.