The Iowa Area Development Group honored nine companies with the Iowa Venture Award this week at a luncheon in West Des Moines. The award, which began in 1988, has been given to more than 200 of Iowa’s most accomplished business leaders and companies.

Sedgwick Inc. was given the 2012 “Outstanding Business of the Year” Venture Award. Sedgwick is a leader in third-party claims management solutions for major employers. Sedgwick began operations with a call center and 30 employees in Dubuque in 2006. Since then, it has increased its facility and work force and now employs 350 people in Dubuque.

Iowa Community Development (ICD) was given an award for “Distinguished Leadership.” The organization helps rural Iowa communities apply and compete for federal tax credits from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Since ICD’s first year in 2006, it has secured four awards totaling $200 million in tax credits that funded 17 major development and redevelopment projects.

Seven additional businesses recognized with an Iowa Venture Award for their significant contributions in diversifying and strengthening Iowa’s economy: 

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. in Hampton; Dow AgroSciences in Nevada; DuPont Pioneer in Spencer; Kehl Management Inc. in Larchwood and Riverside; Murphy-Brown LLC in Algona; Premier Sheep Supplies in Washington; and “The Ridge” Char-Mac Senior-Living in Holstein.