.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
How were you selected and what will you do as part of the ABI’s Leadership Iowa Class of 2009-2010?

There is an application process on the ABI Web site, and it is a fairly significant application. There are essay questions, and basically they are looking for people that want to have a positive impact on the state down the road. They selected 40 leaders from throughout the state who travel around the state of Iowa and discuss and learn and immerse ourselves in the issues that are facing Iowa.

Why did you want to join?

Before I moved to Colorado, I lived up in Ames. I had been very involved in the Ames and Des Moines corridor and I knew a lot about Central Iowa, but I don’t know a lot about what is going on outside of this Ames-Des Moines corridor. I just wanted to have a better understanding of where our state as a whole is at.

What are the responsibilities of your role with Cyclone Sports Properties?

My responsibility is to go out and find corporate companies that are interested in tying their brand to the Iowa State brand and using athletics to leverage what it is they are trying to achieve. I develop multi-faceted marketing plans for companies that are using football signage and radio and television and hospitality, and we develop those into a package and we sell those to the corporations so they can get their message out to the Cyclone fan base.

What is one of the biggest challenges you face?

I think helping people overcome stereotypes. You don’t have to have $100,000 to be a sponsor of Iowa State athletics. I think there is a misconception that you have to be a huge corporation in order to be able to afford doing a sponsorship package with Iowa State, which isn’t the case. We have a lot of great partners that don’t spend anywhere near that amount of money.

What do you want to accomplish at Cyclone Sports Properties?

I’m excited where we are as an office and a local property. I think we are making really amazing strides in pushing forward new technologies in the sponsorship arena. So we have partnered with a Web site to create an all-new experience at cyclones.com, and we have this new texting initiative. So moving those new technologies into this arena has been really exciting and really fun because it opens the doors for our sponsors to try out some of these new mediums that exist without necessarily having to take the full brunt of the costs themselves.

What do you want to accomplish in the future?

I want to be highly involved in the community. I think it is important, and I’ve always been raised that you need to give back. I seek out organizations and so does my wife; we try to find organizations that fit the realm of things that we are passionate about. I don’t know if there is a status that I’m reaching for, but I want to be content in my ability to give back to the community and make Iowa a better place. Not just for me, but for future generations and for people who want to do things that I don’t even care about.

You were the Cy mascot at Iowa State for three years. How did you ever get that role?

I was a sophomore and saw a flier that was like ‘hey, try out to be Cy.’ So I went and there were like 50 or 60 people that were interested in it, and one or two spots open. I had no idea it was going to be so competitive. You did a personal interview and a written interview, and if you made the top 10 of that, then you had 24 hours to put a skit together and come back and get in the Cy suit and do your skit.

How tough was it to be Cy?

What you have to keep in mind is you don’t get any money. There is no scholarship; there is no book stipend; you couldn’t letter at the time. For three or four people, that was an enormous amount of events to be at. And you didn’t have much of a social life because you were going from sporting event to sporting event.

So is that at the top of your resume these days?

To this day (laughing). I have more people that ask me about Cy than probably anything.