The Iowa Business Council (IBC) elected its slate of 2025-26 officers at its final board meeting of 2024, according to a news release from the council.
The newly elected officers include:
- Chair: Gage Kent, Chairman and CEO, KENT Corporation (Muscatine)
- Vice Chair: Raj Kalathur, President John Deere Financial and CIO, Deere & Co. (Bettendorf)
- Treasurer: Jill Klindt, EVP and CFO, Workiva (Ames)
- Secretary: Joe Murphy, President, Iowa Business Council (Des Moines)
“I am pleased to be elected chair of the Iowa Business Council,” stated Gage Kent, chairman and CEO of KENT® Corporation, in the release. “Forty years ago, amidst the farm crisis, Richard C. Kautz, then chairman of our company, served as a founding board member of the Iowa Business Council. To this day, the IBC remains committed to our mission to serve as a catalyst for diversified economic growth in Iowa. I am honored and excited to continue to work with the membership, and allied stakeholders, in pursuit of a strong business climate in Iowa.”
Mr. Kent takes over the chair position from Cedar Rapids-based Phil Jasper, president of Raytheon, who remains on the IBC board.
“For the past two years, Phil’s thoughtful leadership has been integral to the success of the Iowa Business Council. His focus on collaboration and commitment to excellence has set a solid foundation for the future achievement of our organization,” Mr. Kent added in the release.
The IBC also announced its legislative priorities for the 2025 legislative session. As stated in the release, the organization is “committed to advocating for policies that enhance Iowa’s competitiveness while growing the state’s workforce.”
The IBC 2025 public policy priorities include:
Competitive tax policy:
The IBC will focus on maximizing its efforts to make Iowa’s holistic tax system more competitive for individuals and businesses. In the long term, the council aims to achieve a top-15 most competitive state ranking in the individual, corporate, and property tax climate, which will help create jobs and innovative business opportunities.
At the federal level, 2025 further presents an opportunity for the IBC to engage in federal tax policy with the pending expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the release states. The IBC will focus on preserving the reductions to the individual and corporate income tax rates, the expensing of research and development investments, and the extension of bonus depreciation.
Workforce initiatives:
As stated in the release, the IBC will continue to advocate for initiatives that grow Iowa’s workforce, including work-based learning programs, child care, and housing for all. The IBC will also continue its support for Iowa’s mental health systems by partnering with a broad coalition of stakeholders, working toward increasing the number of mental health professionals and public funding mechanisms.
IBC also supports federal immigration reform and modernization as an effective tool to bolster economic development and population growth, the release states. It aims to advance policies like increasing visa caps, expediting processing, and providing efficient opportunities to retain foreign-born talent educated throughout Iowa’s higher educational system.
“The IBC looks forward to working with the Iowa General Assembly and Governor Reynolds to advance policies that strengthen Iowa’s businesses and communities, driving growth and opportunity for all,” said Joe Murphy, president of the Iowa Business Council, in the release.
