I recently attended the reception for Catalysts, a year-long project by the Technology Association of Iowa celebrating 10 female industry leaders from across the state. Each Catalyst had a few minutes onstage at the Tea Room in downtown to share meaningful personal stories, industry changes and lessons with the night’s audience. 

Marty Mark is chief information officer at the University of Northern Iowa, and told attendees about UNI’s plan to embrace universal design for student accessibility in spaces and lesson material. 

“Last academic year, 22 percent of the students that came to UNI reached out to our accessibility services department seeking some assistance in this area,” Mark said. “We found that nationwide, those numbers are pretty consistent.” 

Michelle Bates is chief innovation officer at Involta and spent some of her time highlighting how data coming from the hospital and criminal justice systems can change policies affecting homeless individuals. 

“I do a lot of activism work in this particular space,” Bates said. “I’m passionate about it — not just what I do with my job, but what fills up my cup and my soul. I like to be able to share those stories, because I think a lot of people don’t really know how much data is crisscrossing the state and serves each and every one of us.”