For the first time in six years, the Leadership Iowa series is returning to Newton, with a stop beginning this evening and continuing through Friday morning.
The conference is being held at DMACC Newton Conference Center and is coordinated by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry Vice-President of Programs, Kay Neumann-Thomas. Newton Convention & Visitors Bureau director Linda Bacon said, “Kay has a great program itinerary for this year, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
Leadership Iowa is an issues-awareness program that promotes leadership within the state. Since its inception in 1982, Leadership Iowa has given its participants a full-spectrum vision of the state; a new perspective on its people, its needs and, most importantly, its opportunities.
The program equips leaders to better appreciate and understand the condition of the entire state. Participants also build a “network” with fellow participants that reaches across geographic, professional and economic lines.
Throughout the integrated series of eight monthly sessions in different regions of the state, the Leadership Iowa conferences include free time for participants to “get out” and explore and enjoy the communities they are visiting.
“The Newton CVB developed a game called ‘Amazing Race-Newton Style’ for the group that will take them around the entire community finding sculptures,” Bacon said. “What better way to see Newton than to go on a sculpture scavenger hunt?”
Participants will also have the opportunity to attend a reception at the Fred Maytag II Guest House hosted by Walt Smith and Dick Davidson, have dinner at Iowa Speedway, as well as a round of golf at Cardinal Hills Golf Club. The golf outing, which is optional, also includes an opportunity for networking time with the rest of the Leadership Iowa class, as well as past graduates.