John R. Gilliland says making personal connections has been the greatest tool for success in his life. As vice president for government relations at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, Gilliland lobbies for the legislative agenda created by his association and its business members. He says it’s the perfect job for him because it combines his love of politics with his interest in business issues.

Gilliland, a 36-year-old Knoxville native, attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon. While there, he had an internship with U.S. Senator Charles Grassley in his Cedar Rapids office. It was through that internship that Gilliland met his future employer, Paul Pate. After graduating from Cornell, he became the legislative assistant to Pate, a state senator at the time. He then attended law school at Creighton University. Upon graduation, he took a job as a judicial clerk for the Iowa District Court in Waterloo.

In 1995, Pate was elected Iowa secretary of state. He hired the 28-year-old Gilliland as a deputy secretary of state.

“I was one of the younger people on our staff,” he said, “but it was because of that experience with Secretary Pate that we had a good working relationship. [As a result], when he was elected, he hired me.”

In 1998, Pate decided not to run for another term, and Gilliland was named the Republican nominee.

“Unfortunately, I lost in the general election, so then I had to go find a job,” he said.

He worked for the Bradshaw, Fowler, Procter & Fairgrave law firm for two years before joining the Iowa Association of Business and Industry. ABI is celebrating its centennial this year. Gilliland says it has been striving to improve communications with members and legislators. One step was adding a tool on the ABI Web site, www.iowaabi.org, that allows visitors to find out who their legislators are by entering their ZIP code. The site also contains scorecards rating how well legislators took a “pro-business” stance in accordance with ABI’s legislative agenda. Gilliland is doing his part to improve communications one person at a time, too.

“I love building relationships with our members across the state, legislators and their staffs,” he said.