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Janet Phipps Burkhead is equally comfortable arguing a complex intellectual property law case in a federal courtroom and leading the Iowa Army National Guard as one of its most senior officers.

And on a nice summer weekend, you might find the athletic, outgoing 53-year-old grandmother riding her Harley-Davidson motorcycle alongside her husband, Tom Burkhead.

On March 1, Phipps Burkhead became the second woman in the history of the Iowa National Guard to reach the rank of brigadier general. And less than three years ago, following a career in state government, she joined the firm of McKee, Voorhees & Sease PLC to specialize in intellectual property litigation.

Balancing civilian and military careers has become as familiar to her as steering her Harley. As a traditional Guard member – a citizen-soldier who serves on a part-time basis – she was able to climb to cabinet-level positions in state government while quickly rising through the military ranks in various command positions.

“I’ve always found that if they are two careers, they’ve always been very compatible,” said Phipps Burkhead, who goes by Janet Phipps in her Guard role and Janet Phipps Burkhead as an attorney. “You learn from each one of them and can use skills and abilities across each. You work with people in both areas, and you have the responsibility to grow those people and give them opportunities.”

In her current role as assistant adjutant general – Army for the Iowa National Guard, Phipps Burkhead happened to fill the position vacated by the first woman in the state to reach the rank of one-star general, Jodi Tymeson. A state legislator who represents Winterset in the Iowa House of Representatives, Tymeson retired from the Guard in November.

“She has a lot of sound experience and is a very level-headed decision maker,” said Tymeson, who has known Phipps Burkhead for many years. “I couldn’t think of a better person to follow me in the position.”

Service in the Iowa National Guard runs deep through both women’s families, Tymeson noted. “Her dad, my dad, our brothers and both of our husbands were in the Guard,” she said. “Her brothers retired from the Guard; our husbands both retired from the Guard. So all the men in our lives have been in the Guard.”

Phipps Burkhead said she believes the military continues to make progress in opening up more opportunities for women. “We are seeing more and more women in leadership roles,” she said.

“I think from my department-head experience, (I’ve learned) that people are your most valuable asset, and thus the soldiers are (the most valuable asset) in the military,” she said. “They need to be well-trained; you need to care about them.”

Good leaders are also confident in their decision making, “but not so confident that you don’t take advice from others,” she said. “Keep your perspective and a balance. And set high expectations for people. I think people generally rise to the occasion when you believe in them.”

From her perspective, serving as a role model for women is part of her job as a leader with the National Guard, she said.

“I would hope that people who are successful see themselves as mentors and take on that responsibility as a role model for others,” she said. “Even for young women who want to go into law, or who are older and want to change careers, it’s very possible to do those things.”

An Iowa native, Phipps Burkhead was born near Eagle Grove and grew up in Johnston. Like both of her brothers, she followed in her father’s footsteps by entering the military, receiving her commission as a first lieutenant with the U.S. Army Reserve after graduating from Iowa State University. In addition to a law degree from Drake University Law School, she has a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition as well as a master of public administration degree from Iowa State University. After 10 years in the Army Reserve serving as a dietician, she transferred to the Iowa Army National Guard, which gave her the opportunity to become a logistics officer and begin serving in command positions.

Her work in state government included serving as state budget director and then director of the Iowa Department of General Services under Gov. Terry Branstad. That experience fueled her interest in legal issues, which led to her later pursuing a law degree at Drake.

“She is truly an outstanding leader,” Branstad said. “I’ve never seen her lose her cool under any circumstance. … I’m really proud to see her promoted to general in the National Guard. I think it’s a very good reflection of her leadership abilities.”

She also served as the director of management and budget for the state of Michigan for about four years before returning to Iowa in 2001.

“It seems that when you’re in the cabinet-level positions or you’re working with the Legislature and those kinds of things, you’re always working with legal issues of some sort,” she said. “Certainly in Michigan, as director of management and budget for the state, it just seems like I dealt with those issues all the time. It interested me, and I was working with attorneys a lot, and I thought, “Maybe I can do that, too.'”

After returning to Iowa, she was accepted to attend Harvard University on a yearlong National Security Fellowship. The program, equivalent to the Army War College, is a key requirement for being promoted to senior-level positions in the military.

“I just thought hard during that time that if I was still interested in law, that I should take the time to go to law school,” she said. “So it just fit; it just came together.”

And here’s where the Harley rumbles in.

“I got it when I graduated from war college,” she said. “That was kind of a hallmark for me so I thought I would treat myself to that.” She learned to ride when she was growing up, learning from her brothers and neighbor kids, “probably much to my mother’s chagrin.”

Law school was a flurry of activity, with her involvement with Drake Law Women and as a student member of Polk County Women Attorneys. She also clerked at Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen and Max Schott & Associates. She interned with the American Judicature Society, the Dallas County attorney’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office and did criminal defense work at the Drake Legal Clinic.

Phipps Burkhead also competed with a team from the law school in a national moot court competition in New York City. Because the team was scheduled to argue an intellectual property law case, some attorneys from McKee, Voorhees & Sease, among them Wendy Marsh, helped them prepare.

“Later, I happened to meet up with (Marsh) at a local attorneys’ lunch when I was still a student,” Phipps Burkhead said. “She inquired about what I wanted to do, and I was still job seeking at that time. She had remembered helping us prepare and set in motion the opportunity to come and interview here. So I owe a lot to her in getting me in front of the firm. It was fate.”

Among the cases Phipps Burkhead is currently involved with is a trademark infringement case that the firm is handling on a pro bono basis for Iowa Legal Aid.

“There is or was a group in town (using the Legal Aid name) that purported to help people who couldn’t afford legal sevices, and this has occurred in other states,” she said. “The vulnerability is that people seeking assistance may not know this is not Iowa Legal Aid, and be confused by that. … We feel that (Iowa Legal Aid) has such an important role in providing legal services for those who can’t always afford it, that it was important to step up and help those people.”

Phipps Burkhead, who is currently an associate with the firm, said her next professional goal is to eventually be named a partner.

“I would hope that I would be considered for partner,” she said. “I’m not sure when that would happen, but that certainly is a goal of mine. I always set my sights a little ahead each time and keep motivated to achieve.”

Earning a law degree and working as an attorney doesn’t mean she’ll shift from her logistics specialty with the National Guard to legal duties, as that would require essentially starting over in the ranks through a recommissioning process, she said.

Is it possible she could become Iowa’ first female adjutant general?

“Well, I’m certainly qualified to do that,” she said. “Since I am a traditional (Guard) soldier and my full-time job is civilian, that would be a huge consideration for me; that would mean going full time in the military. Certainly, that’s the governor’s decision, should the current adjutant general leave. I’d have to think about that.”