Today’s meeting showcased three of our Rotary members who shared what they do in their professions.
Pam Kucera reported that she worked for Iowa Bankers Mortgage Company (IBMC) for the past 12 years, which shares the building with two other companies. They are Iowa Bankers Association which is a non-profit company and Iowa Bankers Insurance Services which is a for profit company the same as IBMC. She mentioned that IBMC doesn’t work directly with the public to get their mortgages. The mortgages are originated by Bankers throughout Iowa and Minnesota. Pam’s position is to conduct training with the bankers to keep them informed of the ever changing mortgage profession.
Deb Bishop spoke next sharing that she has her Ph.D. Deb is a Professor of Practice in Management and International Business at Drake. Dr. Bishop received a doctorate in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering with a concentration in operation management. Deb has taught courses in entrepreneurship, process improvement, procurement and operations to business professionals. She is a visiting professor at Makerere University Business School in Kampala, Uganda taking students to Uganda for a short-term course studying sustainable development issues. Deb and her students have worked to build the Kikandwa Health Center. On June 9th she will be traveling there with her students to build the second phase of the center to include a maternity ward.
Steve Grasso is well known as our newsletter editor, but there is so much more that he does in his profession. He is the owner of Gtg Architects, L.L.C. His company operates in a Architectural Design/Build delivery. Steve mentioned that some of the projects he has worked with are Drake, Des Moines University, the National Guard, and many other organizations. He stated that sticks and bricks are boring, but what people do in their building is amazing. He enjoys being able to blend the design phase with the build phase in order to accomplish not only a building that looks good but is functionally for the work that is going on inside of it.
This is a wonderful way to find out more about our fellow Rotarians.