Commission Biographies
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Wayne Sawtelle, Chair 308 S. Sixth Street Marshalltown, IA 50158 Cell phone: 641-751-4604 E-mail: wsawtelle@iowatelecom.net Term: May 1, 2007, to April 30, 2011 Sawtelle, a Democrat, is a lieutenant at the Marshalltown Fire Department and president of Local 16 International Association of Firefighters. He is a former owner and operator of a small trucking business. A native of Marshalltown, he graduated from Marshalltown High School and attended Marshalltown Community College. Over the course of his life, Sawtelle has actively served his community in many different ways. He has been a member of numerous organizations, and served on several boards and committees, including the Marshalltown School Board, Parent Teachers’ Association, Marshalltown Economic Development Summit, Charles F. Kettering Foundation, National Education Association School Improvement Symposium, Frank Pierce Trust Board, Community Auditorium Board, New Iowa Schools Initiative, and Iowa Association of School Boards Legislative Resolutions Committee and Delegate Assembly. He also served as vice president, trustee and political director for the Iowa Professional Firefighters. Sawtelle and his wife, Ann, reside in Marshalltown. They have two daughters, Allison and Kelsey. |
Don C. |
Wiley, a Republican, is the owner and president of Jean C. Wiley & Sons, Inc. of Mount Pleasant, general contractors; president of Iris City Development Corporation; president of BSW, LLC, construction managers; vice president of Taft Wiley, Inc., plumbing and heating; vice president of Wiley Nesbitt, Inc., interior decorators and design; and a partner in various real estate and development corporations. Born in Los Angeles, Calif., Wiley has spent most of his life living in southeastern Iowa. He is a “Distinguished Alumnus” of Iowa Wesleyan College and a graduate of the U.S. Army Artillery Officer Candidate School. He is a decorated officer for his service in Vietnam from 1971-1972. Wiley is currently on the board of directors of the Henry County Bank in Mount Pleasant; a member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant; member and past treasurer of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce; member of Business Recruitment of Henry County Economic Development; past president of the Mount Pleasant Evening Rotary Club; past master of the Mount Pleasant Masonic Lodge #8; and member of the Iowa Wesleyan College Board of Trustees. In 2004, Wiley was named “Citizen of the Year” for Mount Pleasant. Don is married to Kathy Wiley, a speech language pathologist for Area Education Association 16. They have three adult children, daughter Gina and son Ted of Mount Pleasant, and daughter Anne of Colorado Springs, Colo., and four grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. |
Michael Thomas | Michael Thomas Blouin Blouin, a Democrat, joined the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation team as president in January 2007, where he is the primary contact for new business recruitment and is responsible for executing a regional and national marketing strategy to build relationships with business leaders. He was born on a Naval Air Base in Jacksonville, Duval County, Fla., Nov. 7, 1945; and attended elementary and secondary schools of Miami Shores, Fla., and Chicago, Ill. In 1966 he received a B.A. in political science from Loras College in Dubuque and taught elementary school in Dubuque. Blouin served as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, 1969-1973; and member of the Iowa Senate, 1973-1974. He was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses (Jan. 3, 1975 - Jan. 3, 1979) as a U.S. Representative for the 2nd District, State of Iowa; and candidate for reelection to the Ninety-sixth Congress in 1978. He served as an assistant director for community action, Community Services Administration, 1980-1981; director of Resource Development and Government Relations, Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, 1981-1987; director of economic development, Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce, 1987-1991; president, Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce, 1993-1999; president and chief executive officer, Greater Des Moines Partnership, 1999-2003, where he led the consolidation of four former economic/community development groups into the premier economic and community development organization; and director, Iowa Department of Economic Development, January 2003-July 2005. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of the State of Iowa in 2006. Blouin was reappointed director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, August 2006 - Jan. 11, 2007. Blouin married Suzanne Diers of Des Moines, a Clarke College graduate, on July 15, 1967. They are the parents of adult twin daughters and have two grandsons. Blouin has been an ordained permanent deacon in the Roman Catholic Church since his ordination in September 1986. |
Barry A. Cleaveland |
Barry A. Cleaveland Cleaveland, a Republican, manages his family's farm located near Council Bluffs, and is the Research and Development Director for SilverStone Group, Inc., an independent consulting, actuarial and insurance brokerage firm in Omaha, Neb. He was born and raised in Council Bluffs, and is a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School. He also majored in physics at the University of Iowa. Cleaveland previously served as the assistant director of underwriting and product development for American Agrisurance, Inc. of Council Bluffs; assistant vice president and field operations director of Great American Insurance Company of Overland Park, Kan.; staff director of operations for USDA's Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) in Kansas City, Mo.; and as district director in the FCIC office located in Canandaigua, N.Y. Cleaveland is a past member of the Council Bluffs Planning Commission, Governor's Education Roundtable, Southwestern Iowa and Eastern Nebraska Goodwill Board of Trustees, Community Education Foundation board of directors, and Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa (HAWK-I) board of directors. He and his wife, Cindy, reside in Council Bluffs. |
Deborah (Debi) Vowels Durham |
Deborah (Debi) Vowels Durham Durham, a Republican, was named president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in July of 1995, and also serves as president of The Siouxland Initiative, the economic development corporation serving the tri-state metropolitan area, and Siouxland Chamber Foundation. Durham currently serves on the Chamber Alliance board of directors, Siouxland Unidad Latino board of directors, Orpheum Theatre Preservation board of directors, Chair of Girls Inc. board of directors, treasurer of the Siouxland Heritage Foundation of the Sioux City Public Museum and Saturday in the Park board of directors. Durham was named to the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame in 2003. Durham holds a bachelor of science degree from Missouri Southern State University in business administration, marketing and management. She was a lieutenant governor candidate on the Republican gubernatorial ticket in 2002. Durham and her husband, Joel, reside in Sioux City, and have a son, Beau, and a daughter, Jordan. |
Amy L. Reasner |
Amy L. Reasner Reasner, a Democrat, is an attorney and shareholder with Lynch Dallas PC of Cedar Rapids where she practices in the areas of employment and civil rights law, ERISA litigation, business and commercial litigation, insurance defense, OSHA compliance and enforcement, trade secret and non-competition, and family law. Reasner has a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast communications from the University of Iowa, and a Juris Doctor, degree with distinction, from the University of Iowa’s College of Law. She was the recipient of the Iowa Bar Association’s Graduating Senior Award (2001). She is currently or formerly active in the following community organizations: Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa board of directors (chair - 2007-2008); Linn County Trails Association board of directors (president - 2009-2011; vice president - 2007-2009); Junior League of Cedar Rapids board of directors; member of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids; and League of Women Voters. Reasner participated in the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce Leadership for Five Seasons program in 2005-2006, and was recognized in “40 under 40 Community Leaders” published by the Corridor Business Journal (2007). Reasner was born in Phoenix, Ariz., and is a former broadcast journalist for KCRG in Cedar Rapids. Reasner is married to Wilford H. Stone, also an attorney at Lynch Dallas PC. |
Loree R. Miles |
Loree R. Miles Miles, a democrat, is chief executive officer of Miles Development LLC, a hotel development and management company, and a franchisee of three Value Place hotels, two located in central Iowa and one in Loveland, Colo. She is a graduate of Hoover High School in Des Moines and attended the University of Northern Iowa. Miles was the national marketing director of RSM McGladrey Inc., one of the nation’s top business, accounting and tax consulting firms. She was also vice president of marketing for Hawkeye Bank and Trust. She currently serves as vice chair of Anawim Housing of Des Moines; board member of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa; and chair of Value Place Strategic Partners Alliance. Loree Miles lives in West Des Moines with her husband David, managing director of The Miles Group LLC and president of the Iowa Board of Regents. They have two adult sons: Erik Raker, Des Moines; and Michael Raker, Falls Church, Va.; and two granddaughters. |
