Age 30 | Marketing/sales director, InFocus Partners

For Matt Nuetzman, it’s all about connections.

Nuetzman, the marketing and sales director for InFocus Partners, got his first job out of college with the now-defunct Iowa Stars hockey team. He says he got the job because of his connections at Iowa State University, where he received his diploma and served as a manager for the men’s basketball team.

He started out as a sales representative with the Stars and worked his way up to the position of corporate partnership manager with the team, which had been renamed the Iowa Chops.

When the Chops looked to be leaving Des Moines, Nuetzman reached out to InFocus, a Chops partner. InFocus offered him the job of sales manager, and the next day he found out the Chops were being sold.

Along the way, he has learned that relationships are key to being successful in business.

That lesson has been just as true in his work at InFocus. Though it was challenging to move out of the business of sports, many of the same lessons apply at InFocus.

“The key idea of building and maintaining relationships, that stays the same,” Nuetzman said.

Nuetzman still stays active in the realm of sports. He referees high school football and basketball in the Central Iowa Metropolitan League. He also organizes a golf tournament for the Holes for Hope Foundation. The tournament raised more than $66,000 last year to help individuals with autism.

He’s also a board member for the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce and the co-chair of the Urbandale chamber’s young professionals group, genYP.

Between his job and community involvement, Nuetzman keeps busy.

He credits his family for giving him the work ethic and desire to always be involved in the community.

Five reasons he’s a 40:

• The client base at InFocus Partners has grown by more than 500 percent and revenues have grown by about 400 percent since he joined.

• He helped the Holes for Hope Foundation raise more than $66,000 last year.

• Has two leadership roles in the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce.

• Serves as president of the Business Networking International Morning Networkers Group.

• Called by his mentor, InFocus President Charles Ganske, the “antidote for skepticism about the future of America’s future work force.”

Fun Fact:

In 2005, Nuetzman was the manager when Iowa State beat then-No. 2 Kansas on the road en route to an NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament bid. “Celebrating in the locker room that day was pretty awesome,” he said.