The Avenues of Ingersoll & Grand have hired new leaders: Lauren Kollauf is the nonprofit group’s new executive director, and Kjersten Walker is its new urban recreation district executive director. Kollauf replaces Kris Maggard, who resigned in 2021. Walker’s position is newly created. Kollauf will oversee the day-to-day operation of the Avenues, an organization focused on economic development and promotion of the areas along Grand and Ingersoll avenues between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and 43rd Street. Kollauf previously was marketing communications strategist for the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative. The vision of the proposed Urban Recreation District, believed to be the first of its kind in Iowa, is to further develop recreational infrastructure within the district. Walker has been development director for the Iowa Center for Children’s Justice and corporate counsel for corporations in North Carolina and California. More than $150 million has been invested in the corridor since 2012 when the establishment of an urban renewal area provided tax increment financing opportunities.