Miel Johnson joined Krause Group as chief of staff to the company’s founder and CEO, Kyle Krause, on Aug. 11. She is still getting to know her new surroundings and the community she will eventually call home, but Johnson said she’s excited about the opportunity to join Krause Group and begin taking advantage of all the things the Des Moines metro has to offer. 

She currently lives in Arlington Heights, Ill., and commutes to Des Moines during the week until she and her children can make the full transition to the metro at the end of the school year next spring.

Johnson is no stranger to the chief of staff position, having previously served in that role at Envira Global LTD, a woman-owned advisory, technology and capital startup in Chicago. Before that, she was director of human resource programs at Aspen Dental Management in Chicago. Johnson also served as chief of staff at Deloitte in Chicago as well as at another company earlier in her career. 

Johnson also isn’t a stranger to Iowa. She remembers visits to small Iowa towns as a child to see relatives. Johnson mentions communities such as Reinbeck, Tama, Toledo and Montour, and the love of Casey’s with the ease and comfort of someone returning home. 

And she’s familiar with Des Moines from friends who have lived here for years.

“If I had a nickel for every time someone told me how much they love Des Moines and everyone should live in Des Moines at least once …” she said.

She is quickly identifying amenities the community has to offer, pointing to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park that is across Grand Avenue from her office. She also likes to try new restaurants, saying, “I’m really excited about the food scene in Des Moines.”

The Business Record caught up with Johnson recently to learn more about her, her new role and her early thoughts about Des Moines. Her responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

What does it mean to be chief of staff at Krause Group?

If you asked 100 people what a chief of staff does, you might get 200 answers. I have been chief of staff most of my career and my kids will say ‘You talk on the phone a lot. You’re in a lot of meetings and you’re on your computer a lot.’ That’s all true, but there are different flavors of chief of staff and one of the great things about the role is it tends to evolve day-to-day and year-to-year, which is really nice. But generally speaking, it’s problem-solving, making sure all the planes stay in the air and everything keeps flying and everything keeps spinning and everybody is supported on what they’re trying to do.

What attracted you to the chief of staff role at Krause Group?

A lot of it was Kyle’s vision for the company. Wanting to enhance how people experience the world and the focus on corporate social responsibility, the mission of sustainable goals. It’s so unusual to find where it’s such a focus and it’s so embedded in everything they do. The opportunity to work directly with the CEO and try to achieve that vision was just an interesting and incredible opportunity, and the opportunity to come to a place like Des Moines and experience that, it was one of those things I knew I would regret not taking.

Have you been able to begin establishing goals for yourself yet?

Right now, I am working through what that could be through the end of the calendar year. As chief of staff, my goal is always to ensure that I am supporting the executive, in this case, Kyle Krause, as effectively and efficiently as possible and doing the things I need to do to make that a reality. There’s also a number of things within the business, as we continue to grow, that I want to do to help support other leaders as well. So right now, a lot of it is really understanding what the business is working on right now and how I can help really be efficient and effective and drive the vision forward.

In your short time in Des Moines, is there one thing about the city that surprises you?

I think I had an unfair advantage because I have so many friends who have said so many good things about Des Moines, so I already knew it was a really special place. But one that was even more than described was the art and culture within Des Moines. It seems like everyone I have talked to has a connection to the sculpture garden, the art center, the theater, the ballet, all of it. It seems to be so embedded in the culture of the city, which is such a beautiful thing and it’s really lovely to be in a place where that is so much part of how everyone experiences the city.

Is there a book you have recently read that you would recommend?

I typically read historical or nonfiction. The book I always recommend to people is “The Last Day of Night” by Graham Moore. It’s about the alternating current-direct current war between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison around the turn of the 20th century and the legal patent case that revolved around it, which sounds deadly dull, but it’s actually one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read and everyone I have recommended it to comes back and says it’s a really good book.

How do you find that book applicable to your job?

I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought about it. But it’s interesting because the attorney who was working on the case actually pioneered how law firms break cases into pieces, and so from a problem-solving perspective, it’s very much what I try to do. It may look like this huge thing, but what can we break into smaller pieces and work on and solve? Oftentimes, you find that solving this and solving that sort of all rolls up together. It was a really interesting perspective on how this really big, complicated thing could be broken up and solved.

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At a glance

Age: 46

Hometown: Arlington Heights, Ill.

Family: Three sons, ages 17, 14 and 10

Education: Bachelor of finance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Activities: Reading, trying new restaurants and keeping up with her sons’ activities, which include hockey

Contact: miel.johnson@krausegroup.com