Caldwell-Johnson named to Capital Crossroads leadership team: Teree Caldwell-Johnson has joined Capital Crossroads as the newest chair on its leadership team, the organization announced last week. She will help steer Capital Crossroads and the region’s vision plan into the future. “I’m looking forward to joining the Capital Crossroads leadership team and continuing meaningful work for the region,” Caldwell-Johnson said in the release. Capital Crossroads brings together nearly 700 volunteers, and partners with the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Prairie Meadows, Catch Des Moines and the United Way of Central Iowa to set goals and create a vision for the community’s future.

Pingel named new CIO of Holt Cat: Holt Cat of San Antonio recently named Joyce Pingel as chief information officer, senior vice president and head of digital. Pingel is the current CIO at Kum & Go/Krause Group, where she has worked for the past eight years. She has more than 20 years of experience leading technology teams previously at Principal FInancial Group and Aviva Investors. She is also an appointed member of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, served three terms as a United Way of Central Iowa executive board member, and was a member of Women United and the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Northern Iowa.

ISU professor receives grant to turn manure into fuel: A professor at Iowa State wants you to be as excited about anaerobic digestion as she is. Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management, was recently awarded $10 million and five years to work on this challenge, courtesy of a federal grant to develop new ways of turning biomass and manure into fuel, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported. Schulte Moore, associate director of ISU’s Bioeconomy Institute, has also been tapped to lead the consortium of ISU, Penn State and Roeslein Alternative Energy of St. Louis in looking for ways farmers can use their resources more efficiently, while still being profitable and protecting the environment.

AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Former Iowa women’s basketball player Kathleen Doyle was selected by the university’s athletic department as the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.

Designs by Michele opened in uptown Marion last March, but was forced to quickly shift gears and close its doors temporarily after statewide social distancing policies went into effect. The store, owned by Michele Osterberger, celebrated its grand opening last week.

In interviews with the Washington Post, 15 former female employees of the Washington Football Team described numerous incidents in which executives and scouts made unwelcome overtures or comments of a sexual nature and in some cases were encouraged to wear revealing clothing and flirt with clients to close sales calls.

It’s always been “the Michelle Obama Show,” but now it’s official. The former first lady is starting a podcast through an exclusive deal with Spotify, covering topics across relationships and health.

The Black Lives Matter protests in recent months have put a glaring spotlight on the underrepresentation of Black executives at the top of Fortune 500 companies. As of last Tuesday, there were five. The next day, there were four.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden suggested last week that four African American women are under consideration to be his running mate, but he stopped short of pledging to pick one of them.