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Corridor Native Fall 2018

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Homegrown Businesses in the <strong>Corridor</strong> <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />

INNOVATIVE<br />

Kinze Manufacturing steers<br />

ahead of the curve<br />

TINY BUT MIGHTY<br />

Shellsburg popcorn company<br />

bursts on national scene<br />

BORN OF NECESSITY<br />

BeraTek creates own products,<br />

molds other entrepreneurs<br />

GIFT BLISS<br />

Online wedding registry<br />

offers local experiences<br />

WINNING FORMULA<br />

Engineer finds success in swine<br />

confinement industry


FROM THE EDITOR<br />

<strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />

Chief Executive Officer & Publisher<br />

John F. Lohman<br />

Vice President<br />

Aspen N. Lohman<br />

Chief Operating Officer &<br />

Associate Publisher<br />

Andrea Rhoades<br />

Magazine & Special Projects Editor<br />

Angela Holmes<br />

Writers<br />

Steve Gravelle<br />

Angela Holmes<br />

Jennie Morton<br />

Emery Styron<br />

Photographers<br />

Brian Draeger<br />

Angela Holmes<br />

Emery Styron<br />

Graphic Design Manager<br />

Becky Lyons<br />

Graphic Designer<br />

Julia Druckmiller<br />

Magazine Media Consultant<br />

Judith Cobb<br />

CBJ Editor<br />

Adam Moore<br />

CBJ Media Consultants<br />

Lauren Fletcher<br />

Kelly Meyer<br />

It only takes a spark<br />

Whether it’s a manufacturer distributing products around the globe or<br />

a small startup still finding its footing, all companies begin with an<br />

entrepreneur’s idea. And often that idea is initially developed in a basement,<br />

garage or small shop.<br />

Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg – one<br />

of the largest privately held agricultural equipment<br />

manufacturers in North America – is no<br />

different in its humble beginnings. At age 21,<br />

Jon Kinzenbaw had an idea to make farming<br />

easier and started a welding company in 1965<br />

in Ladora.<br />

His ideas kept coming and within a decade,<br />

he moved his operations to a highly visible<br />

location just off Interstate 80, where Kinze remains<br />

headquartered on a 30-acre site. While<br />

he remains Kinze’s CEO and chairman of the board, his daughter, Susanne<br />

Veatch, runs the day-to-day operations as the company’s president,<br />

carrying on his values and innovation.<br />

Gerald Beranek also had ideas on how to make life – especially parenting<br />

– easier. When his wife, Randi, was expecting their first child in<br />

2014, he came up with a gadget to safely place a baby monitor near<br />

the infant’s crib.<br />

He created VueSee with equipment in his garage and took the product<br />

to market. Sparked by its success, Beranek left his stable engineering<br />

job and went without a paycheck for three years while building up BeraTek<br />

Industries, which focuses on product and contract development.<br />

Since starting BeraTek in 2014, Beranek has been named CBJ’s Entrepreneur<br />

of the Year in 2016 and a Forty Under 40 recipient in 2017.<br />

This type of entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the <strong>Corridor</strong>.<br />

Check out these and other inspiring stories on the pages that follow.<br />

Who knows – maybe you will have the next great idea.<br />

Event & Social Media Marketing Manager<br />

Ashley Levitt<br />

Events Assistant<br />

Tracey Godon<br />

Event Media Consultant<br />

Rhonda Roskos<br />

Marketing & Distribution Manager<br />

Jean Suckow<br />

Contents are registered to <strong>Corridor</strong> Media Group.<br />

Reproductions or other use, in whole or in part, of<br />

the contents of the publication without permission<br />

is strictly prohibited.<br />

2345 Landon Rd., Ste. 100<br />

North Liberty, IA 52317<br />

(319) 665-NEWS (6397)<br />

www.corridorbusiness.com<br />

Angela Holmes, Editor<br />

HOMEGROWN<br />

in the <strong>Corridor</strong><br />

<strong>Corridor</strong> <strong>Native</strong> features<br />

businesses in the 7-county<br />

<strong>Corridor</strong> region<br />

Benton, Linn, Jones,<br />

Iowa, Johnson, Cedar<br />

and Washington<br />

ON THE COVER<br />

Susanne Veatch,<br />

Kinze Manufacturing<br />

president and chief<br />

marketing officer, is the<br />

second generation of<br />

the Kinzenbaw family to<br />

lead the company her<br />

father, Jon Kinzenbaw,<br />

started in 1965.<br />

2 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


CONTENTS<br />

INNOVATIVE<br />

FAMILY<br />

Kinze Manufacturing steers<br />

ahead of the curve<br />

14<br />

20 GIFT<br />

BLISS<br />

5<br />

TINY<br />

BUT<br />

MIGHTY<br />

10<br />

BORN OF<br />

NECESSITY<br />

24<br />

WINNING<br />

FORMULA<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 3


TALENT<br />

ENRICHMENT<br />

MARKETING<br />

DIGITAL<br />

IMAGING<br />

TECHNOLOGY<br />

SERVICES<br />

What’s<br />

cool about<br />

Leverage?<br />

Tim Guenther<br />

Founder/CEO<br />

Clickstop & Leverage<br />

This year, for the sixth time, Clickstop<br />

has made the list of top “Coolest Places<br />

to Work” in the <strong>Corridor</strong>, and for the<br />

second time, taken the prize of “Coolest<br />

of the Cool” overall. And because<br />

Leverage is comprised of the same<br />

entrepreneurial employees that power<br />

the brands of Clickstop, this award<br />

belongs to Leverage too. But the award<br />

isn’t what makes Leverage so cool.<br />

What’s cool is the fact that Leverage<br />

wasn’t formed in hopes of finding<br />

success, rather, it was formed because<br />

of success. We are here to share<br />

Clickstop’s recipe for results with the<br />

<strong>Corridor</strong> and beyond.<br />

Specifically, Leverage helps create<br />

meaningful strategies to drive employee<br />

and customer engagement through<br />

marketing, talent enrichment, digital<br />

imaging, and technology services. We<br />

provide the tools, resources, expertise,<br />

and elbow grease to bring those<br />

strategies to life.<br />

As your partner, we want nothing more<br />

than to see you succeed. And we are<br />

willing to say and do the hard things in<br />

order to get the right results. Your wins<br />

are our wins.<br />

We empower growth by implementing<br />

and executing best practices learned<br />

through our own real-life experiences.<br />

This includes being named a Fastest<br />

Growing Company for 9 of the last 10<br />

years and a Coolest Place to Work for<br />

the last 6 years.<br />

We want to know “what does<br />

success look like for you?” Together<br />

we’ll craft your roadmap to sustained<br />

prosperity. We drive the bus, you sit<br />

shotgun, and together we’ll navigate the<br />

road to measurable results.<br />

When you partner with Leverage,<br />

we become an extension of your<br />

business; and your business becomes<br />

an extension of Clickstop. And that’s a<br />

pretty cool opportunity for all.<br />

Feel that spark? We feel<br />

it too. Let’s get started on<br />

something great together.<br />

LeverageGrowth.com 4 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL •800.838.3450<br />

<strong>2018</strong>


Shellsburg<br />

popcorn<br />

company<br />

explodes<br />

on national<br />

scene<br />

STORY AND PHOTOS<br />

BY ANGELA HOLMES<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 5


Gene Mealhow is the “guy who likes<br />

to do things first.” When he ventured<br />

into organic farming in the 1980s, the<br />

seldom-used concept resulted in Mealhow’s<br />

unofficial title as the “Weed<br />

Farmer of Benton County.”<br />

Now, as consumers grow more<br />

health-conscious and curious about the origins<br />

of their food, Mealhow’s methods are paying off.<br />

His Shellsburg-based company, Tiny But Mighty<br />

Popcorn, has become a staple in natural grocery<br />

stores nationwide.<br />

Tiny But Mighty Popcorn’s heirloom popcorn<br />

is available in bags of popped corn, microwavable<br />

pouches and the mainstay – unpopped kernels.<br />

The products are on the shelves of area Hy-Vee<br />

and Fareway stores, Natural Grocers in Cedar Rapids<br />

and New Pioneer Food Co-op stores in Iowa<br />

City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids. The company’s<br />

biggest client is Whole Foods, which stocks the<br />

popcorn in all of its stores across the nation.<br />

“We have now hired a sales team to work with<br />

corporate to do the deals,” said Mealhow, more<br />

commonly known as “Farmer Gene.”<br />

That’s quite a feat for a centuries-old seed that<br />

was once moments away from being popped<br />

into extinction.<br />

HISTORY OF THE HEIRLOOM SEED<br />

The unique pointy popcorn seed that grows irregularly<br />

on tiny ears was discovered in Iowa by<br />

Samuel Kelty in the 1800s. It is unclear whether<br />

he found the seed in the wild or traded it with<br />

<strong>Native</strong> Americans.<br />

Fast-forward three generations when Samuel’s<br />

great-great-great-grandson, Richard Kelty, returned<br />

home to Benton County from the Army. Just as<br />

his mother was about to pop the last of the kernels,<br />

Richard grabbed the small jar and eventually<br />

planted them.<br />

With the crop, he started K&K Popcorn (Kelty<br />

and Kramer), a modest, yet respectable, business<br />

in Urbana.<br />

PAGE 5: Gene and Lynn Mealhow stand by the<br />

headquarters of Tiny But Mighty Popcorn in an<br />

old farrowing barn on their Shellsburg farm.<br />

TOP: The heirloom popcorn grows on tiny,<br />

three-inch cobs and is distinctive by its pointy<br />

kernels and irregular rows.<br />

ABOVE: Gene Mealhow adjusts the settings on<br />

his digital corn sorter.<br />

I have the best popcorn<br />

in the world.<br />

Farmer Gene (Gene Mealhow), Tiny But Mighty Popcorn<br />

6 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


Gene Mealhow<br />

checks the crop<br />

of his unique<br />

heirloom popcorn<br />

at his Shellsburg<br />

farm where he also<br />

grows squash and<br />

tomatoes that are<br />

sold to <strong>Corridor</strong><br />

restaurants.<br />

Meanwhile, Mealhow was honing his rockstar<br />

skills as a drummer in a band in the early<br />

1980s. He also worked on the family farm<br />

near Shellsburg, taking care of the hogs in the<br />

farrowing barn, or as he calls it, the “maternity<br />

ward.” When his dad got out of farming in<br />

1989, he bought 33 acres and began his foray<br />

into organic farming.<br />

PRACTICING WHAT HE PREACHED<br />

In the early 1990s Mealhow was using biological<br />

farming techniques he learned from Midwestern<br />

BioAg, a Wisconsin-based company<br />

with an office in Monticello. He joined the<br />

company as a consultant to “spread the word.”<br />

Richard Kelty became one of his clients at<br />

the urging of Kelty’s son, Brett, who told Mealhow<br />

his dad was “having a hard time with his<br />

popcorn crop.”<br />

After conducting a soil test, Mealhow implemented<br />

a program cutting nitrogen in half and<br />

increasing calcium and other nutrients. Under the<br />

program, Kelty’s crop went from 400 pounds per<br />

acre in the early 1990s to 1,000 pounds by 1994.<br />

When Kelty was ready to retire in the late<br />

1990s, Mealhow and his wife, Lynn, bought<br />

K&K Popcorn, securing the rights to the seed.<br />

The Mealhows planted the seed at their Shellsburg<br />

farm and converted their farrowing barn<br />

into the business’ office and processing facility.<br />

They grow and test the seeds, while they contract<br />

farmers to grow the product.<br />

“You need a certain kind of grower; it’s a<br />

food product, not just grain,” Mealhow said.<br />

“A lot more work goes into it; everything has<br />

to be meticulous.”<br />

They start growers with 30-50 acres and increase<br />

their load as they feel more comfortable<br />

with them. Currently, their two growers, from<br />

Cascade and Quasqueton, grow about 100-200<br />

acres each.<br />

The corn is stored in large grain bins on the<br />

Mealhows’ farm until it is ready to be sent to<br />

Rural Route 1 Popcorn in Livingston, Wisconsin,<br />

where it is processed and packaged.<br />

Early this August, 800,000 pounds of corn<br />

was stored in the bins, and Mealhow expected another<br />

200,000 pounds to come in the fall harvest.<br />

FOOT IN THE DOOR<br />

After changing the company’s name to Tiny But<br />

Mighty, the Mealhows wanted to expand their<br />

customer base. While they enjoyed a steady<br />

business of sending out products from Shellsburg<br />

and selling popcorn in area grocery stores,<br />

their big break came a few years ago when they<br />

entered the Whole Foods market.<br />

Mealhow first tried to get into Whole Foods<br />

by sending samples to eight of the company’s 11<br />

regions. After that impersonal approach didn’t<br />

work, he called stores, ready to tell his story to<br />

anybody who picked up the phone.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 7


When he reached a manager at a Chicago<br />

store, he said, “I have the best popcorn in the<br />

world.” The intrigued manager told Mealhow to<br />

send him three cases. If they sold, he would order<br />

more; if they didn’t, Mealhow would have to buy<br />

them back.<br />

Within 10 days, the manager called Mealhow<br />

back, requesting more popcorn because it had<br />

sold out. Mealhow delivered the cases himself<br />

and offered to do presentations in the store – a<br />

personal touch that paid off.<br />

“Customers couldn’t believe the farmer was in<br />

the store selling the product,” he said.<br />

Eventually, Mealhow scored a meeting with<br />

Whole Foods’ representatives, and now Tiny But<br />

Mighty products are available in all 11 regions<br />

nationwide.<br />

Even with this success, the Mealhows haven’t<br />

let their guard down.<br />

“It’s a constant thing to keep it out there,”<br />

Farmer Gene said. CN<br />

Tiny But Mighty Popcorn<br />

3282 62nd St.<br />

Shellsburg, IA 52332<br />

tinybutmightyfoods.com<br />

Federally Insured<br />

by NCUA<br />

Dupaco Community Credit Union is more than local.<br />

It’s a not-for-profit cooperative owned by members.<br />

It doesn’t have outside investors or stockholders<br />

calling the shots. That means members control<br />

their money and reap the benefits. Your money<br />

stays right here, enriching your friends, neighbors,<br />

and community. This ideal is as true today as it<br />

was in 1948, when 10 Dubuque Packing Company<br />

employees founded the credit union on the<br />

philosophy of cooperation and mutual self-help.<br />

Giving you credit for 70, first-rate years. Own it.<br />

Dupaco.com/join<br />

800-373-7600<br />

8 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


Venture and Equity Funds in Iowa<br />

(Listed alphabetically)<br />

RANK<br />

Company<br />

Address Contact Person Contact Information Intended projects<br />

1<br />

AAVIN Equity Partners<br />

1245 First Ave. SE<br />

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402<br />

James Thorp<br />

(319) 247-1072; fax (319) 363-9519<br />

jthorp@aavin.com<br />

www.aavin.com<br />

Growth financing, ownership changes, buy-outs and recapitalizations<br />

2<br />

Ag Ventures Alliance<br />

2009 Fourth St. SW, Ste. 1<br />

Mason City, IA 50401<br />

- -<br />

(641) 494-2368 or (866) 260-5775; fax<br />

(641) 423-2642<br />

jconway@agventuresalliance.com<br />

www.agventuresalliance.com<br />

Value-added agricultural ventures with at least partial farmer ownership<br />

3<br />

Ames Seed Capital LLC<br />

304 Main St.<br />

Ames, IA 50010<br />

Ron Hallenbeck<br />

(515) 232-2310<br />

ron@ameschamber.com<br />

http://amesseedcapital.com/<br />

Focus on Story County early-stage startups with business and proof of<br />

concept determined<br />

4<br />

CMA Ventures<br />

2600 Grand Ave. Ste. 300<br />

Des Moines, IA 50312<br />

- -<br />

(515) 309-3018<br />

info@cipco.net<br />

www.cmaventures.net<br />

Invest in seed, early-stage and growth-stage business that require funding<br />

to develop product or to accelerate growth<br />

5<br />

<strong>Corridor</strong> Angel Investors<br />

415 12th Ave. SE<br />

Cedar Rapids, IA 52401<br />

Aaron Horn<br />

(319) 382-5128<br />

aaron@newbo.co<br />

https://newbo.co<br />

Early-stage, Iowa-connected companies<br />

6<br />

FIN Capital<br />

8345 University Blvd., Ste. F<br />

Clive, IA 50325<br />

Megan Milligan<br />

(515) 282-0940<br />

mmilligan@theiowacenter.org<br />

http://the iowacenter.org/get-started/fincapital/<br />

A network of professional women committed to investing in companies with<br />

strong leadership, unique solutions, scalability and a clear exit strategy<br />

7<br />

Iowa Corn Opportunities LLC<br />

5505 NW 88th St., Ste. 100<br />

Johnston, IA 50131<br />

- -<br />

(515) 225-9242 ; fax (515) 225-0781<br />

bjones@iowacornopportunities.com<br />

www.iowacornopportunities.com<br />

Investment is available in seed and growth stage opportunities, particularly<br />

those related to Midwest agriculture broadly and the corn industry<br />

specifically<br />

8<br />

Iowa Seed Fund II LLC<br />

230 Second St. SE, Ste. 212<br />

Cedar Rapids, IA 52401<br />

Curt Nelson<br />

(319) 369-4955; fax (319) 832-1481<br />

cnelson@edcinc.org<br />

www.edcinc.org<br />

Invests in early-stage scalable interstate commerce businesses<br />

headquartered in Iowa<br />

9<br />

Next Level Ventures<br />

666 Walnut St., Ste. 1280<br />

Des Moines, IA 50309<br />

Craig Ibsen<br />

(515) 369-2600<br />

info@nextlevelvc.com<br />

www.nextlevelvc.com<br />

Iowa businesses that can scale rapidly and operate in the advanced<br />

manufacturing, biosciences and information technology sectors<br />

10<br />

Plains Angels<br />

700 Locust St., Ste. 100<br />

Des Moines, IA 50309<br />

Mike Colwell<br />

(515) 259-0380<br />

mike@plainsangels.com<br />

www.plainsangels.com<br />

Invests in early-stage businesses that have a large market opportunity,<br />

market traction and ability to scale<br />

11<br />

Red Cedar<br />

200 State St., Ste. 202A<br />

Cedar <strong>Fall</strong>s, IA 50613<br />

Danny Laudick<br />

(319) 553-6921<br />

https://redcedarcv.com/<br />

Early-stage companies and technology startups from around the Cedar<br />

Valley<br />

12<br />

Rural Vitality Funds II<br />

5400 University Ave.<br />

West Des Moines, IA 50266<br />

Adam Koppes<br />

(800) 254-9670; fax (515) 225-5577<br />

akoppes@insidefb.com<br />

www.renewruraliowa.com<br />

Biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, agricultural tech and software<br />

companies in early or growth stages in rural Iowa<br />

13<br />

Wellmark Venture Capital Funds - UNI<br />

Business & Community Services, Ste. 128<br />

Cedar <strong>Fall</strong>s, IA 50614<br />

Randy<br />

Pilkington<br />

(319) 273-5732; fax (319) 273-5733<br />

jpec@uni.edu<br />

www.jpec.org<br />

Iowa-based, for-profit corporation engaged in IT, educational technology,<br />

advanced manufacturing, technology-related industries, medical or surgical<br />

advancements and more<br />

14<br />

Wellmark Venture Capital Funds-NIACC<br />

500 College Drive<br />

Mason City, IA 50401<br />

Tim Putnam<br />

(641) 422-4111; fax (641) 422-4129<br />

tim.putnam@niacc.edu<br />

www.niacc.edu/pappajohn<br />

All growth types except for retail and professional<br />

15<br />

Wellmark Venture Capital Funds-UI<br />

108 Pappajohn Business Building., Ste.<br />

160<br />

Iowa City, IA 52242<br />

Paul Heath<br />

(319) 335-3742; fax (319) 353-2445<br />

paul-heath@uiowa.edu<br />

www.iowajpec.org<br />

Source: Staff research. Some funds were not included because they did not respond to requests for information.<br />

Note: Entries may be edited for length and clarity.<br />

All types other than retail and professional services<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 9


BORN of NECESSITY<br />

“It’s a lot easier<br />

now just to get it online<br />

and start selling stuff.”<br />

Gerald Beranek<br />

BeraTek, founder and CEO


BeraTek creates own products,<br />

molds other entrepreneurs<br />

BY STEVE GRAVELLE<br />

PHOTOS BRIAN DRAEGER<br />

Gerald Beranek picks up a<br />

simple plastic box from<br />

the table in BeraTek Industries’<br />

conference room.<br />

When affixed to the wall<br />

with a peel-and-stick adhesive, the simple<br />

plastic box holds colored markers<br />

and erasers for the room’s whiteboards.<br />

“It came from our need,” explained<br />

Beranek, BeraTek’s founder and CEO.<br />

“We needed some holders in here, so<br />

we designed one. In 10 minutes, we designed<br />

one and 3-D printed these. We<br />

were selling them on Amazon to prove it<br />

out, and people were buying 10 or 20 at<br />

a time. We thought, ‘Holy cow, we can’t<br />

keep doing this with 3-D printing.’ We<br />

started to make a mold and now it’s all<br />

[injection] molded.”<br />

That’s a typical development cycle for<br />

products created in BeraTek Industries’<br />

nondescript brick building on a light-industrial<br />

backstreet in southeast Cedar Rapids.<br />

The approach has fueled the growth of<br />

the company, which now has 12 employees,<br />

and helped develop a profitable niche<br />

in bringing others’ ideas to market.<br />

“Our contract [product development]<br />

side last year grew 400 percent, and the<br />

product side grew 150 percent,” Beranek<br />

said. “Last year was just about keeping up.<br />

This year, it might have slowed up a little<br />

bit. We’re getting our feet back under us.”<br />

BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING<br />

Beranek, 33, launched BeraTek in 2014,<br />

four years out of the University of Iowa<br />

with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical<br />

engineering. While working at CIVCO<br />

in Coralville and Schneider Electric in<br />

Cedar Rapids, Beranek bought his own<br />

3-D printer and computer numerical<br />

control (CNC) milling machine, and installed<br />

them in the garage at his North<br />

Liberty home.<br />

BeraTek’s first big success came as Beranek<br />

and his wife, Randi, prepared for<br />

their first child, born in 2014.<br />

PAGE 10: Gerald Beranek works<br />

on a project at BeraTek Industries<br />

in southeast Cedar Rapids.<br />

RIGHT: A shelf holding<br />

whiteboard markers and erasers<br />

attached to the wall with peeland-stick<br />

adhesive is one of<br />

BeraTek’s inventions.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 11


“I just hopped on the computer,<br />

and 10 minutes later I had a design.<br />

Gerald Beranek<br />

BeraTek, Founder<br />

and CEO<br />

“We were trying to put the baby monitor somewhere, and the<br />

best place to put it was right on the crib,” he recalled.<br />

But Google searches turned up accounts of infants strangled by<br />

loose monitor cords. Beranek thought a simple plastic holder could<br />

securely hold a camera while keeping its cord safely out of reach.<br />

“I just hopped on the computer, and 10 minutes later I had a<br />

design,” he said.<br />

The result, VuSee, mounts with peel-and-stick adhesive to a wall<br />

or other surface. The camera cord winds around the base of the<br />

mount. Beranek took some of first VueSees to a consumer product<br />

trade show shortly after it was developed.<br />

“It was my first time ever trying to sell a product, and it was funny,”<br />

he said. “The new parents didn’t understand it: ‘Why do I need<br />

that?’ The parents who were on their second child were jumping for<br />

joy: ‘I’m tired of stacking books behind this thing to get that view.’”<br />

VuSee found a ready market via Amazon, where it still enjoys<br />

healthy sales. It’s also sold through stores in the Buybuy Baby<br />

chain, although “usually we don’t push into stores, because retail’s<br />

tough,” Beranek said. “It’s a lot easier now just to get it online and<br />

start selling stuff.”<br />

JUMP TO INJECTION MOLDING<br />

Applying computer-assisted design (CAD) and CNC machining,<br />

Beranek made early VuSee models on the 3-D printer, with e-commerce<br />

revenues funding the jump to injected-molded plastic. Injection<br />

molding, done in-house, is cheaper to produce but requires a<br />

substantial initial investment in mold design and tooling.<br />

Other BeraTek products followed a similar pattern. There’s a<br />

holder to securely mount Amazon’s Echo Dot digital assistant, and<br />

another that holds a Scrub Daddy kitchen-sink sponge. The Café<br />

Wall Caddy organizes instant-brew coffee cups, and another device<br />

holds yogurt cups inside a refrigerator.<br />

“These products aren’t life-changing,” Beranek said. “But they’re<br />

just 10 minutes with the CAD.”<br />

VuSee, a self-adhesive shelf<br />

for baby monitors, is one<br />

of BeraTek’s top-selling<br />

products. The plastic holder<br />

can securely hold a camera<br />

while keeping its cord out of<br />

reach from the baby.<br />

BERATEK ON PAGE 30<br />

12


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CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 13


INNOVATIVE<br />

Kinze<br />

Manufacturing<br />

steers ahead<br />

of the curve<br />

BY ANGELA HOLMES<br />

PHOTOS BRIAN DRAEGER<br />

Susanne Veatch, Kinze Manufacturing<br />

president and chief marketing officer,<br />

carries on the values her father, Jon<br />

Kinzenbaw, set when he started the<br />

company in 1965.<br />

Although much has changed in the agriculture<br />

and manufacturing industries since<br />

1965 when Jon Kinzenbaw opened a small<br />

welding shop, the core values of his business<br />

remain the same.<br />

The welding shop evolved into Kinze<br />

Manufacturing, one of the largest privately<br />

held agricultural equipment manufacturers<br />

in North America. Based in Williamsburg,<br />

Kinze continues to innovate based on the<br />

needs of its primary customer base – farmers.<br />

“We still rub shoulders with farmers and<br />

dealers; that doesn’t change with technology,”<br />

said Kinzenbaw’s daughter, Susanne<br />

Veatch, who has served as Kinze Manufacturing’s<br />

president and chief marketing officer<br />

since 2016. “He founded the company on<br />

five core values [integrity, customer focus,<br />

excellence, innovation and mutual respect]<br />

and that’s how we define our culture.”<br />

KEEPING AHEAD OF THE TIMES<br />

Ever since Kinzenbaw built the first auger-unloading<br />

grain wagon in 1967, innovation<br />

has always been a trademark of Kinze’s<br />

business model. He has been named inventor<br />

on 19 issued patents, including his most<br />

well-known product – the rear-fold planter<br />

introduced in 1975.<br />

“Dad created solutions for farmers,”<br />

Veatch said. “We all bring different things<br />

to the table.”<br />

Kinzenbaw isn’t the only one who comes<br />

up with ideas, however. The company encourages<br />

ideas from employees, dealers and<br />

farmers, and even has a “Submit Your Idea”<br />

section on its website.<br />

14 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


“Kinze’s goal is to<br />

have the most userfriendly<br />

electronics<br />

in the industry<br />

that are easy to<br />

operate.”<br />

Kinze Manufacturing<br />

2172 M Ave.<br />

Williamsburg, IA 52361<br />

www.kinze.com<br />

Susanne Veatch<br />

President and<br />

Chief Marketing Officer<br />

Kinze Manufacturing<br />

The stacked grain cart display<br />

at Kinze Manufacturing in<br />

Williamsburg is quite a sight<br />

for drivers on Interstate 80.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 15


When Jon Kinzenbaw<br />

started Kinze Welding<br />

in Ladora in 1965<br />

at age 21, he likely<br />

didn’t realize how<br />

influential his company<br />

and innovations<br />

would become<br />

in the agriculture<br />

and manufacturing<br />

industries.<br />

The finishing touches<br />

are put on a 1051<br />

single auger grain<br />

cart at the Kinze<br />

Manufacturing plant<br />

in Williamsburg.<br />

16 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 17


While competitors like John Deere manufacture a wide variety<br />

of products such for agriculture, lawn and garden, construction<br />

and forestry, Kinze focuses on planters, tillage equipment<br />

and grain carts.<br />

“Our goal isn’t to be an all-solutions provider,” Veatch said.<br />

“We are always looking for opportunities that make sense.”<br />

In 2014, the company opened Kinze Electronics in North<br />

Liberty to develop easy-to-use displays, as well as hardware,<br />

software and user interfaces for planter electronics. The first two<br />

products, the Blue Vantage planter display and the Blue Drive<br />

electric drive, will be available for the 2019 planting season on<br />

certain configurations of the Kinze 3660 and 4900 planters.<br />

Other row-mapping devices exist, but Kinze’s goal is to<br />

have the most user-friendly electronics in the industry.<br />

The staff in North Liberty is a mixture of professionals with<br />

an agriculture background and from other industries such as<br />

aviation and HVAC, providing an outside-the-box<br />

perspective, Veatch said.<br />

“Technology is the future,” she said. “Planters<br />

are no longer just a mechanical piece of equipment.<br />

They need simple-to-use technology in a<br />

complex environment.”<br />

In the current lull of the ag industry, Kinze has<br />

also had to innovate in the way it runs its business.<br />

The new Mach Till hybrid-horizontal tillage equipment<br />

that shreds residue in the fall and prepares<br />

the seedbed in spring at higher speeds is a result of<br />

that innovation.<br />

“A year-and-a-half ago the tillage line came out<br />

of meeting on how to adjust to the market,” Veatch<br />

said. “Farmers need to want to put a Kinze planter<br />

and Mach Till behind their tractor to make them<br />

most successful.”<br />

“We created a five-year strategy and when we<br />

added tillage, we focused on the segment of the tillage<br />

market that is growing,” she added, noting the<br />

product expansion was requested by Kinze dealers<br />

to better serve their customers.<br />

DRAWING TALENT IN TOUGH MARKET<br />

Even though the cyclical agriculture industry is currently<br />

in a down cycle, it is still a challenge to find<br />

skilled employees.<br />

Most of Kinze’s 550 employees live in nearby<br />

Williamsburg and Marengo, but some travel from<br />

up to 60 miles away. The company attracts employees<br />

from engineering schools at University of Iowa,<br />

Iowa State University, University of Colorado and<br />

South Dakota State.<br />

“We need to have an environment with contagious<br />

energy where people want to work in this<br />

tight job market,” Veatch said. “Once we get them<br />

here to experience Kinze, they are sold.”<br />

As it continues to be difficult to attract employees<br />

into manufacturing, Kinze works with<br />

area educational institutions to expose youth to<br />

the industry.<br />

The Williamsburg School District partners with<br />

the local Kirkwood Community College center to<br />

offer more technology-based courses.<br />

KINZE ON PAGE 31<br />

18 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


PAGE 18: The<br />

workbench from<br />

Jon Kinzenbaw’s<br />

garage in Ladora on<br />

display at the Kinze<br />

Innovation Center on<br />

the main campus in<br />

Williamsburg.<br />

RIGHT: Chris Riley<br />

powder coats a piece<br />

of equipment in the<br />

painting booth. The<br />

majority of Kinze’s<br />

equipment is<br />

painted its signature<br />

shade of blue.<br />

Jon Kinzenbaw has<br />

been named inventor<br />

on 19 issued patents,<br />

including his most<br />

well-known product –<br />

the rear-fold planter<br />

introduced in 1975.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 19


Gift<br />

Bliss<br />

20 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


Tallis Strub (left)<br />

and Kaitlin<br />

Byers created<br />

MarryMyCity, an<br />

online gift registry<br />

that offers local<br />

experiences, as<br />

an alternative to<br />

registries at bigbox<br />

stores.<br />

Online wedding registry<br />

aims to draw couples closer<br />

BY JENNIE MORTON<br />

PHOTOS BRIAN DRAEGER<br />

Tired of buying impersonal wedding gifts like wood<br />

bowls and shower curtains, two <strong>Corridor</strong> women<br />

have created a more meaningful shopping option<br />

for wedding guests. MarryMyCity, an online gift<br />

registry that offers local experiences, is the brainchild<br />

of Kaitlin Byers and Tallis Strub.<br />

The women formed a friendship as ImpactCR board members.<br />

While commiserating about attending 62 weddings over<br />

a two-year stretch, the pair wondered if there was an alternative<br />

to registries at big-box stores.<br />

“Statistically, the majority of couples are marrying in their<br />

late 20s rather than right out of college. They are also more<br />

likely to be living together, which means they already have basic<br />

household items,” Byers explained. “Wedding guests want<br />

to purchase something that will help the couple build their<br />

relationship in a way an avocado slicer or spatulas can’t.”<br />

MarryMyCity, with its emphasis on bonding experiences<br />

rather than consumer goods, complements to a traditional<br />

registry. The platform organizes gifts into four categories: food<br />

and drink, arts and culture, health and wellness and active adventures.<br />

Now guests have the option to purchase pans or theater<br />

tickets with equal ease.<br />

“This is not just a millennial trend,” Strub clarified. “Some<br />

of our most successful registries come from second marriages.<br />

These couples already have established careers and homes.<br />

Even if they would prefer no gifts, they know their guests are<br />

going to insist. The experience packages on MarryMyCity are a<br />

great alternative.”<br />

AGILE MINDSET<br />

Byers, who serves as CEO, and Strub, who functions as COO,<br />

attended Venture School through the University of Iowa’s John<br />

Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. After fine-tuning the viability<br />

of their business model, they adopted an agile mindset.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 21


They secured funding from the Proof of Commercial Relevance<br />

program through Iowa Economic Development to hire<br />

a website developer. In 2016, they anonymously launched the<br />

online registry at Byers’ own wedding. The options sold out<br />

quickly and other couples began reaching out to start their<br />

own registry.<br />

Byers and Strub vet all vendor applications to ensure they<br />

have a pool of diverse gift options. They currently partner with<br />

80 small businesses. Packages for beer and wine, art and cooking<br />

classes and show tickets are some of the most popular.<br />

“We offer vendors an open-ended contract rather than a<br />

subscription. We also won’t remove their package if it hasn’t<br />

sold within a certain period. We provide a simple 80/20 split<br />

and minimal credit card fees. Once their information is on our<br />

site, the vendor simply enjoys the free exposure until they need<br />

to ship a gift,” Strub explained.<br />

CORRIDOR AND BEYOND<br />

MarryMyCity currently serves three communities: Cedar Rapids,<br />

Iowa City and Des Moines. Byers and Strub have found<br />

success in connecting with vendors by attending events like<br />

One Million Cups, soliciting referrals from wedding couples<br />

and working with chambers of commerce.<br />

“Iowans have some of the largest weddings in the country<br />

with an average of over 200 guests, yet many small companies<br />

have been pushed out of the gifting market. MarryMyCity can<br />

introduce them to local guests as well as those who are traveling<br />

from out of the area or another state,” Byers said.<br />

Des Moines is MarryMyCity’s testing grounds for expansion.<br />

The online registry is scalable, so the pair is fine-tuning<br />

the right mechanisms to build vendor relationships in new locations<br />

and create brand awareness outside of the <strong>Corridor</strong>.<br />

Strub’s recent move to Des Moines has been instrumental in<br />

adding 20 vendors to MarryMyCity’s options.<br />

“We are also excited to be expanding to Madison and Kansas<br />

City in the coming months. We are even testing a wedding<br />

in Austin, Texas. But there is plenty of room to grow right here<br />

in Iowa and we have many towns on our radar,” Strub said.<br />

PLANNING THE FUTURE<br />

MarryMyCity is also looking into the possibility of combination<br />

packages that include options from multiple vendors,<br />

such as a restaurant and a brewery from the same neighborhood.<br />

A feature where couples can build their own experience<br />

packages is forthcoming as well.<br />

More than two years in, Bryers and Strub are energized by<br />

the potential to develop a national footprint yet remain focused<br />

on the Iowa roots that helped their idea blossom.<br />

“You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable with a<br />

startup. You have to be OK with not knowing how to do something<br />

but then figuring it out,” Byers explained. “You also have<br />

to remain focused and committed because not every idea or<br />

decision is going to work out. It’s all about setting goals and<br />

always working toward them.” CN<br />

Wedding guests want to<br />

purchase something that<br />

will help the couple build<br />

their relationship in a<br />

way an avocado slicer or<br />

spatulas can’t.”<br />

Kaitlin Byers, CEO, MarryMyCity<br />

22 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


Kaitlin Byers and Tallis<br />

Strub are testing the<br />

Des Moines market for<br />

their online wedding<br />

registry, MarryMyCity.<br />

Marry My City<br />

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CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 23


WINNING FORMULA<br />

Engineer finds success in<br />

swine confinement industry<br />

STORY AND PHOTOS BY EMERY STYRON<br />

24 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


It’s much easier to keep an<br />

existing customer happy than to<br />

go find a new customer.<br />

Chris Harmsen, Owner, Precisions Structures Inc.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 25


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“Ag is so volatile. Within a year,<br />

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year, one-sixth,” said Precision<br />

Structures Inc. owner Chris<br />

Harmsen, who manages to keep<br />

a serene outlook despite the ever-changing<br />

market forces that<br />

whipsaw the swine industry.<br />

It’s not just because of the view of peaceful, green farm<br />

fields outside his office window at the edge of Wellman.<br />

The business model Harmsen has honed in 20 years of<br />

building swine confinements across an eight-state Midwest<br />

territory also lets him sleep at night.<br />

PSI puts up about 100 buildings a year and on any given<br />

week, has several hundred people at work at 30 job sites<br />

in the region. The vast majority of those are not PSI employees,<br />

but subcontractors doing the concrete, electrical,<br />

carpentry and insulation work on the buildings. That arrangement<br />

allows Harmsen to expand or contract his business<br />

as demand fluctuates. It also leaves him free to focus<br />

on building a strong staff to handle sales, estimating, project<br />

management, warehousing, service and installation of<br />

feed and water systems.<br />

HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE<br />

The staff now numbers 70 but the 6-foot-8-inch Clinton-area<br />

native and former North Dakota State University<br />

basketball player was employee No. 4 when he went to<br />

work for PSI founder Claude Greiner in 1998. He used his<br />

engineering and operations skills to help grow the business<br />

and jumped at the opportunity to buy it in 2010.<br />

“Our people are what makes it click.,” Harmsen said.<br />

“We work hard to take care of them. They work hard to<br />

take care of our customers and subcontractors.”<br />

It’s been “a real interesting process,” to manage the<br />

challenges of growing a small company, he said. He likes<br />

an analogy in the book “Good to Great” that compares a<br />

company to a school bus.<br />

“The first thing you have to do is get the right people on<br />

the bus. Once you figure out who should be on the bus,<br />

then you determine what seat they should be in,” he said.<br />

“If we can hire capable, motivated people, we try to find a<br />

place in the business that’s the best fit for them.”<br />

26 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


PAGE 24: Chris Harmsen explains a watering system installed<br />

in a hog confinement near Wellman.<br />

TOP LEFT: A cornfield is visible beyond the blades of a<br />

ventilation fan in a hog confinement under construction by PSI.<br />

“The first thing you<br />

have to do is get the<br />

right people on the<br />

bus. Once you figure<br />

out who should be<br />

on the bus, then you<br />

determine what seat<br />

they should be in.”<br />

Chris Harmsen<br />

Owner, Precisions Structures Inc.<br />

TOP RIGHT AND LOWER LEFT: Most building materials<br />

for PSI projects are delivered directly from suppliers to the<br />

construction sites, but PSI does stock and warehouse PCV<br />

pipe, electric motors and other components for water and feed<br />

systems it installs in the structures.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 27


Precision Structures<br />

Incorporated, of<br />

Wellman, built<br />

this modern pig<br />

production unit at<br />

Delta Gilt Farm in<br />

southeast Missouri.<br />

PHOTO / PSI<br />

Nicole and Chris<br />

Harmsen provide a<br />

family atmosphere<br />

at PSI.<br />

Ag’s volatility provides an opportunity to<br />

shift people around to find that best fit.<br />

“A market that’s hot now may be cool in six<br />

months and something else may be hot. That<br />

offers a lot of opportunity for cross-training,”<br />

he said.<br />

NURTURING RELATIONSHIPS<br />

Looking at the bigger picture, he sees PSI’s<br />

role as “basically helping family farms grow<br />

and be profitable.”<br />

“Families still in farming have had to become<br />

larger and more business-like units. They are<br />

selling products at the same price they’ve been<br />

at for many decades. The only way to have more<br />

money is through volume and efficiency. They<br />

need to rely on support companies like ours to<br />

be the professional option they need to become<br />

more professional themselves.”<br />

Having grown up on a family farm, Harmsen<br />

enjoys the multi-generational relationships that<br />

are the heart of PSI’s business. Nurturing those<br />

relationships has powered PSI’s growth.<br />

“It’s key that we take care of them and make<br />

them happy. It’s much easier to keep an existing<br />

customer happy than to go find a new customer,”<br />

he said.<br />

Keeping customers happy includes service<br />

after the sale. With 2,000-3,000 existing facilities,<br />

“things break,” so service employees are on<br />

call seven days a week.<br />

“If a feed system or a watering system goes out,<br />

it’s urgent that it gets up and running,” he said.<br />

A GROWING ‘FAMILY’<br />

Harmsen and his wife, Nicole, lived for eightand-a-half<br />

years in the house where the Greiners<br />

started the business in 1983. They have<br />

three children, 16, 14 and 12, who all work at<br />

PSI around school activities.<br />

“It’s like the way I grew up on the farm. I<br />

wanted the kids to be involved in some way,”<br />

Chris said.<br />

Five years ago, the family moved to the south<br />

edge of Wellman, freeing the house up for office<br />

space. Existing buildings were connected to<br />

the house and the former two-bay garage was<br />

remodeled into a conference room that seats 14,<br />

but the kitchen where Nicole prepared family<br />

meals remained intact. She now uses it to fix<br />

lunch for the whole staff on Fridays.<br />

Nicole also works in the office, where Chris<br />

notes, “She has a way of making sure everyone’s<br />

happy and taken care of, sort of mothering the<br />

people around here that we care about.”<br />

In 2015, the Harmsens purchased Keith’s<br />

Parts & Service, a grain storage and handling<br />

equipment company, to broaden PSI’s<br />

base. PSI leases the Keith facility south of<br />

Ainsworth. The grain business is on a smaller<br />

scale, covering an area within an hour or two<br />

from Wellman.<br />

“We hope to grow it,” Harmsen said.<br />

Those aren’t words he takes lightly.<br />

“When we say we’re going to do something,<br />

we do it. It sounds like a simple thing, but it’s<br />

something we live by.” CN<br />

Precision Structures Inc.<br />

1204 First Ave. N.<br />

Wellman, IA 52356<br />

www.precisionstructures-inc.com<br />

28 CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong>


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CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 29


“Our contract side last year grew 400 percent,<br />

and the product side grew 150 percent.<br />

Gerald Beranek<br />

BeraTek, founder<br />

and CEO<br />

Sokreth Luongvan<br />

and Nink Baccam<br />

work on the injection<br />

molding machine at<br />

BeraTek Industries.<br />

BERATEK<br />

FROM PAGE 13<br />

MOLDING NEW ENTREPRENEURS<br />

Soon after the company launched, a wouldbe<br />

entrepreneur brought in his idea for what<br />

became the repour Winesaver, a bottle stopper<br />

that blocks oxygen to preserve the aroma<br />

and flavor of an unfinished bottle of wine.<br />

“He had a very crude prototype,” Beranek<br />

recalled. “We actually designed his entire<br />

product specifically for manufacturing at<br />

high volume. He’s truly gone from nothing<br />

and now we’re running 100,000 units a<br />

month. He’s one of our bigger customers.”<br />

To encourage clients to manufacture their<br />

products at BeraTek, the firm offers a million-piece<br />

guarantee.<br />

“They own the molds, they can take them<br />

wherever they want,” Beranek said. “We’ll<br />

actually make sure that mold is in top running<br />

shape for the first million parts. But as<br />

soon as they take it out of here, there’s no<br />

more warranty.”<br />

Beranek said BeraTek’s production costs are<br />

competitive with cheap offshore competition.<br />

“We’ve looked at, ‘Let’s see what these<br />

would cost. Let’s ship the molds to China<br />

and see their per-unit costs,’” he said. “And<br />

they can’t even touch what we can do. It was<br />

40 to 50 percent more than what we can do<br />

– without tariffs.”<br />

DEVOTED TO COMPANY<br />

FROM START<br />

Beranek’s priorities for the next year or so<br />

are to establish BeraTek’s consumer products<br />

under the new Storage Theory brand<br />

while boosting awareness of the company’s<br />

contract development, production and marketing<br />

services.<br />

“BeraTek, that’s our contract side,” he<br />

said. “Storage Theory will be our product<br />

brand, the consumer-facing side.”<br />

Marketing might seem a stretch for a company<br />

built on product design, planning and<br />

development, but it’s really just another case<br />

of applied experience.<br />

“We already do the marketing for our own<br />

products, so it’s a natural for us to do it for<br />

our customers,” Beranek said. “We haven’t<br />

had too many people do it, because if you’re<br />

an inventor or an entrepreneur, it’s hard<br />

to justify spending money on marketing.<br />

Whereas we know we have to spend to make<br />

money and marketing’s tough when you’re<br />

new in the business.”<br />

Beranek said he went without a paycheck<br />

for three years after starting BeraTek.<br />

“I knew I wouldn’t do it if I had a backup,”<br />

he said. “Because my backup as an engineer<br />

was alright.”<br />

But applying his engineering knowledge<br />

helped BeraTek find its unique niche.<br />

“I knew I liked to design things and solve<br />

problems,” Beranek said. CN<br />

30


MANUFACTURING IN IOWA<br />

Employs 13.3%<br />

of the workforce<br />

210,600<br />

manufacturing<br />

employees (2016)<br />

$68,080 average<br />

annual compensation<br />

Accounts for 18.3%<br />

of total state output<br />

$10.34 billion in<br />

manufactured goods<br />

exports<br />

$32.65 billion in<br />

total manufacturing<br />

output (2016)<br />

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau<br />

KINZE<br />

FROM PAGE 18<br />

“We then bring various classes to<br />

Kinze for tours so they can realize there<br />

are careers in manufacturing that enable<br />

people to earn a great living,” Veatch said.<br />

An internship program gives college<br />

students an entire year to hone their<br />

skills, benefiting both the student and<br />

the company.<br />

STILL FAMILY-OWNED<br />

AND OPERATED<br />

When Jon Kinzenbaw started Kinze<br />

Welding in Ladora at age 21, he likely<br />

didn’t realize how influential his company<br />

and innovations would become in the<br />

agriculture and manufacturing industries.<br />

The operation moved to Williamsburg<br />

in 1975 when Kinze introduced<br />

the rear-fold planter, skyrocketing the<br />

company’s growth trajectory. The corporate<br />

headquarters and production<br />

plants remain in the high-profile location<br />

along Interstate 80, as well as an innovation<br />

center which opened in 2013.<br />

Kinze Europe UAB is located in Vilnius,<br />

Lithuania, and Kinze Electronics in<br />

North Liberty.<br />

Kinze remains privately-owned by<br />

the Kinzenbaw family, a strategy that<br />

allows the company to quickly make decisions<br />

without going through layers of<br />

leaders and stockholders.<br />

“At the end of the day, we want to<br />

make the final decisions; nobody else<br />

has to weigh in,” Veatch said.<br />

Neither Veatch or her brother, Jonathan,<br />

were pressured to join the family<br />

business while they were growing up.<br />

While Jonathan wasn’t interested in<br />

joining Kinze and works for Pioneer in<br />

Des Moines, Veatch always had a soft<br />

spot for the big blue machinery.<br />

“I loved the business growing up,”<br />

she said. “In the summer, I loved coming<br />

out here and watching my dad work.<br />

It’s all I’ve ever known. I’m very passionate<br />

about it.”<br />

Kinzenbaw welcomed his daughter<br />

into the business, but he wanted her to<br />

work at another organization first. So, after<br />

she graduated from Iowa State University<br />

with a degree in business, she worked<br />

for Caterpillar as a systems analyst for<br />

four years before joining Kinze in 2005.<br />

“Working for a very large company<br />

gave me a greater appreciation of a<br />

smaller, privately held business,” she<br />

said. “Ideas can come from anywhere;<br />

we’re a flat company. We, as owners,<br />

love what we do.” CN<br />

Kinze Manufacturing’s<br />

corporate office facility built<br />

in 2010 is part of a 30-acre<br />

campus that includes the<br />

Kinze Innovation Center<br />

and manufacturing facilities<br />

just off Interstate 80 near<br />

Williamsburg.<br />

CORRIDOR NATIVE FALL <strong>2018</strong> 31


<strong>Corridor</strong> Business Journal<br />

2345 Landon Road, Ste. 100<br />

North Liberty, IA 52317<br />

325 East Washington Street Iowa City, IA 52240 319-337-9637 www.iowacityarea.com<br />

Affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders & Home Builders Association of Iowa<br />

Iowa Va ley Habitat for Humanity<br />

2017 GIVING GUIDE<br />

egional Philanthropic Opportunities<br />

“The best way to find<br />

yourself is to lose yourself in<br />

the service of others.”<br />

Mahatma Gandhi<br />

PRESENTING SPONSOR<br />

THE GREATER IOWA CITY AREA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION I www.iowacityhomes.com<br />

Student Built House<br />

Groundbreaking<br />

Tell Your Story<br />

A Passion for Growth<br />

Celebrating Our New Office<br />

Vocational Training Council Chair, Aaron McGlynn with Cabinet Works, welcomes everyone to the groundbreaking.<br />

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Thursday, June<br />

28, <strong>2018</strong> at 3:00 pm a the site of a future home of Reach<br />

AUGUST <strong>2018</strong><br />

Check the Calendar of Events<br />

at www.iowacityhomes.com<br />

for more information!<br />

<strong>2018</strong><br />

Remodelers Council<br />

Board Meeting<br />

AUGUST 7TH NOON - 1:00 PM<br />

IC HBA Conference Room<br />

Women’s Council Build Day<br />

AUGUST 30TH<br />

Iowa Va ley Habitat for Humanity<br />

Katie Lammers Women Build<br />

924 N Governor St, Iowa City<br />

IC/CR <strong>Fall</strong> Mixer<br />

AUGUST 30TH 6:00 - 8:00 PM<br />

The Hotel Kirkwood<br />

7725 Kirkwood Blvd SW<br />

Cedar Rapids, IA 52404<br />

Membership Committee<br />

Membership Drive<br />

SEPTEMBER 6TH NOON - 2:00 PM<br />

IC HBA Conference Room<br />

for Your Potential clients. The home is being built at<br />

1881 Dickenson Lane in Iowa City by local students.<br />

IC Area HBA Build Day<br />

SEPTEMBER 7TH<br />

lifestyle<br />

munity<br />

business<br />

chnology<br />

425 E. Oakdale Blvd. - Suite 101 - Coralville - 319.338.4100<br />

www.WattsGroup.com<br />

The groundbreaking is the beginning of a new project<br />

put on by our Vocational Training Council. The<br />

council organizes workforce development projects in<br />

the greater Iowa City area. Students participating in<br />

the program learn an important skill set, earn college<br />

credit, and help give back to the community.<br />

Partner with the <strong>Corridor</strong> Business Journal to design your own custom magazine.<br />

North<br />

Liberty<br />

NORTH LIBERTY<br />

We were excited to have Governor Kim Reynolds at<br />

the groundbreaking as well as many other elected<br />

officials and members of the IC Area HBA, Vocational<br />

Training Council, the student and their parents.<br />

The project includes 13 students of all different ages<br />

building a home for a local non-profit organization<br />

called Reach for Your Potential. RFYP supplies<br />

housing for adults with disabilities. This project<br />

also partners with Kirkwood Community College,<br />

allowing each student working on the house to<br />

receive two hours of construction credits. Members<br />

of the Homebuilders Association are paying for the<br />

college credits, and students will also complete their<br />

10 hours of OSHA certification.<br />

STUDENT BUILD PAGE 4<br />

Dr. Mick Starcevich,<br />

outgoing President of<br />

Kirkwood Community<br />

College, talks about<br />

the valuable skills the<br />

students are learning.<br />

Governor Kim Reynolds<br />

talks about everything<br />

we are doing right<br />

for students and<br />

homeowners in Iowa City.<br />

Katie Lammers Women Build<br />

924 N Governor St, Iowa City<br />

September Membership<br />

Meeting<br />

SEPTEMBER 13TH 6:00 - 8:00 PM<br />

Hawkeye Ready Mix<br />

3375 Klein Rd, Iowa City<br />

Remodelers Social<br />

SEPTEMBER 18TH 6:00 - 8:00 PM<br />

Water Concepts<br />

214 Southgate Ave, Iowa City<br />

Board of Directors Meeting<br />

SEPTEMBER 20TH NOON - 1:00 PM<br />

IC HBA Conference Room<br />

2012 - 2013 PROGRESS REPORT<br />

GREATER IOWA CITY AREA HBA<br />

Remodelers Council<br />

Build Day<br />

OCTOBER 25TH<br />

Iowa Va ley Habitat for Humanity<br />

Katie Lammers Women Build<br />

924 N Governor St, Iowa City<br />

MEMBERSHIP<br />

on advancing<br />

WOMEN’S<br />

DIRECTORY<br />

LEADERSHIP<br />

PO BOX 3396 11 S. GILBERT ST. IOWA CITY, IA 52244-3396 PHONE: 319-351-5333 FAX: 319-358-2443 WWW.IOWACITYHOMES.COM<br />

exhilaration.<br />

inspiration.<br />

momentum.<br />

results.<br />

CORALVILLE<br />

Official 2015 Cedar Rapids Area Activities Guide<br />

MARION<br />

MT. VERNON<br />

LINN COUNTY<br />

HIAWATHA<br />

IOWA CITY<br />

Visit www.corridorbusiness.com/custom-publications<br />

to view the most recently published magazines.<br />

For more information contact Andrea Rhoades at<br />

andrea@corridorbusiness.com or 319.665.6397 x304<br />

A City on the Rise

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