2025-2026 WDM Leadership Academy Class

Janel Allison
Athene
Katie Bertness
Merkle Retirement Planning
Emma Brock
Eide Bailly
Piper Brodsack
Indigo Living
Toshia Burrell
Redefine & Reveal Massage Therapy & Bodywork
Julie Burtnette
Des Moines Children's Museum, Executive Director
Bill Butters
Wellabe
Davis Carlson
Perficut Site Management
Blake Dabney
West Bank
Brian Detrick
Signal Security, Operations Director
Ryan Drake
Local 5 News - We Are Iowa (ABC Affiliate), Director of Sales
Michelle Flattery
The Great Outdoors Foundation
Christina Gayman
Syverson Strege, Director, Communications & Marketing
Christina Gayman joined Syverson Strege in 2022 as Director of Communications & Marketing  after spending the previous 12 years in corporate comm...
Bryan Geelan
West Des Moines Community Schools, Communications Director
Traci Glass
West Des Moines Public Library (City of WDM)
Evan Guest
Guest Strategies
Brett Guy
Northwest Bank
Jennifer Hahn
Youth Justice Initiative (YJI)
Anna Heroux
Hubbell Realty Company
Brandon Hufford
City of West Des Moines
Dr. Erlin Kakkanad
Principal Financial Group
Drew Kneeskern
IMT Insurance
Vanessa Marcano-Kelly
Caracas Language Solutions, LLC, Owner/Lead linguist
Vanessa C. Marcano-Kelly is a native of Caracas, Venezuela. She is a certified court interpreter in the state of Iowa, owner and lead linguist at...
Claire Michel
Holmes Murphy
Kyle Nielsen
Merchants Bonding Company
Nathan Repprecht
R&R Realty Group
William Rings
Rings Law
Kristina Sharp
Iowa Realty
Clint Sloss
Hubbell Realty Company
Alex Stork
Hurd Real Estate
Gina Swanson
Gina Swanson Real Estate - Century 21
Tyler Timko
EDEN+ Fundraising Consulting, Vice President
Eric Tubbs
Nyemaster Goode, PC
Alyss Vernon
Olson-Larsen Galleries
Jessica Verwers
Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, Director of Membership
Cal Wagner
University of Iowa Tippie College of Business
Jenna Wheeler
Dentons Davis Brown Law Firm, Attorney
Litigation attorney with Dentons Davis Brown. Additional experience with commercial property tax appeals. 
Austin Whetstone
Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company
Jami Yoder
Sammons Financial Group
Mary McCarthy
Resilience & Grace, Owner and Instructor
Kristen Mott
Kristen Mott - Individual Member

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