Mary Lawyer was appointed by Gov. Tom Vilsack as acting director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development in July, shortly after Michael Blouin resigned to pursue the Democratic nomination for governor. Lawyer had served as the IDED’s deputy director and chief of staff since 1999. As acting director, she works with businesses, communities and legislative leaders to shape statewide public policy aimed at improving Iowans’ economic well-being and quality of life. She oversees a staff of 130 and an annual budget of more than $75 million.

Lawyer began her career in state government with North Iowa Area Community College, working with the Job Training Partnership and Promise Jobs programs at both the state and local levels. She began working for the IDED 15 years ago as a field administrator for northern Iowa, and in 1996 became the department’s workforce development coordinator.

Lawyer majored in business at Iowa State University, where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree with an emphasis in finance. She is a 2001 graduate of the Association of Business and Industry Leadership Iowa program. She is a member of State Small Business Development Center Advisory Committee and the University of Iowa Engineering Advisory Board.

What’s your background growing up?

I’m an Iowa girl. I was raised on a farm in Northwest Iowa. I grew up in Webb on a soybean-corn farm. We raised cattle and hogs, and I was very active in the farm, you know, the whole family worked on the farm. … (Co-workers) always tease me around here that I was the Clay County pork princess and beef princess, but I was never the queen.

Did growing up on a farm teach you the famed Iowa work ethic?

I think it did. The farm provides a lot of opportunities for work and ways to keep kids busy. I was just telling someone the other day, I have a (15-year-old) son and it’s a lot harder to keep them busy in a suburban setting than it is on the farm.

Why did you decide to major in business?

I always liked businesses and what made businesses run. Even growing up on the farm, I would accompany my dad to the cattle fields of South Dakota. I would keep track of how much we were spending, how much weight was on the load, come back and figure out how that fit into the bookkeeping system. And I always wondered how businesses ran. I always am very interested when I meet a business owner in finding out how they got into business, what makes the business run, so I knew that was my area of interest.

How did that turn into a career in state government?

At that point in time, because I majored in finance, I thought I might get into the banking area. But when I got out of school in 1986 it was a down job market, and at that time I had married a farmer. I found a job available at the community college in the job training system. At that time it was to help disadvantaged and dislocated workers find jobs with businesses and work closely with businesses to do that.

Do you feel you’re more of a numbers person or a people person?

I’m kind of an analytical person. It depends on the situation. I like a little bit of everything, and that’s one of the things I love about the job opportunities I’ve had here. We cover such a broad range of things that it gives me a lot of opportunities to do different things, though I don’t do nearly as much detail work as I did when I managed programs. I like it all, and the diversity here is what’s fun. When you deal with everything from a tourist attraction to a regulatory issue to an international trade issue to a business location, to a housing project to a water-sewer project, it provides a great amount of diversity and a broad range of activity that keeps you using every skill you hopefully have. … We have great people here; we have interesting programs. Our programming is only as good as the communities that utilize it and provide the leadership to utilize it. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve visited a lot of communities, and it’s just fun to see communities get excited about what it is they want to achieve, and to help them figure out how to do that.

What kind of a change of pace has becoming acting director been?

We’ve always had a rapid pace around here. I would say the biggest change is the deputy position is pretty much operations, while the director position is more out front with the message of what a great place Iowa is to live and to do business in.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy traveling. I do some golfing, not very well. I like boating; I do some reading; I like to cook. I really like Europe. I like the deep history that’s there; I like the culture and beautiful scenery. I particularly like Ireland and Spain. I like to travel and see how people live. I like to see how they do business. When I was on a business trip in Germany, for instance, instead of having a seated meal, everyone stood at tables so they could mingle, and then they’re seated for the speaker. I just like to analyze the way they do things differently and live and learn from those experiences.