Tony Simmons, former President and CEO of McIlhenny Company, showed up in Des Moines and ‘kicked it up a notch’ at the second annual Iowa Family Business Conference presented by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center. The event featured a keynote address from Simmons about his time growing up in and leading McIlhenny Company. He might be from Avery Island, Louisiana, but his story focused on what we know all too well in Iowa: family businesses are different.
How can businesses better engage and retain employees? How can they boost productivity while providing fulfilling job experiences? These are age-old questions leaders face, and one unique solution some have turned to is giving employees a direct stake in the company through Employee Stock Ownership Plans, or ESOPs.
The Iowa Insurance Division has made a new donation of $45,500 to support high school students in paying for college credit through the financial literacy exam. This exam is administered as part of the University of Northern Iowa's Financial Skills for Smart Living program, which aims to provide students with college credits and essential knowledge in personal finance.
“It’s all about the money!” Sports fans probably recently read or heard sportswriters and commentators employ this “hoary chestnut” (a phrase that is itself a cliché) in the wake of the collapse of the venerable Pacific-12 conference. For once, a cliché is apt. The scramble for desirable Pac-12 teams (sorry, Oregon State and Washington State fans) was all about the money.
Energy efficiency plays a crucial role by reducing the amount of energy consumed. For businesses like Bodensteiner Implement Company, this translates to a decrease in their environmental impact from energy generation and a substantial reduction in their energy costs.
Cedar Falls, IA — The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) awarded a 2022-2023 Superior Merit Award designation to the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) SHRM student chapter for providing superior growth and development opportunities to its student members. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the club has received this prestigious award.
What’s the responsibility of a business? For many years, the primary answer was to provide value – primarily financial – to stakeholders. While that’s still one of the main responsibilities today, the answer to that question has become much more nuanced over the past couple decades. That’s because of the rise of corporate social responsibility, a term that refers to the concept that a business should not only provide value to stakeholders, but also to the larger community in which it exists.
Russel Karim, a 2015 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), won first place and a $40,000 prize at the 18th annual John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition. Karim’s business, Dhakai, enables eCommerce and promotional apparel brands to move from idea to final delivered products ethically, sustainably and cost-effectively through a single technology platform.
Johnny Paycheck’s song, “Take This Job and Shove It,” expresses a fundamental human right in the United States. Many workers fantasize about the day they can use Paycheck’s song title in confronting their boss. Yes, it is a rude and crude sentiment, but it is an American right.
The UNI Family Business Center will offer a conversation about “Wells Blue Bunny: The Story of a Legacy Family Business” on Aug. 24, at 8 a.m. via Zoom.
