Last Thursday, Joanne Stockdale, owner and president of Northern Iowa Die Casting Inc., was chosen first runner-up in the 2003 National Small Business Person of the Year competition, an annual program organized by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Stockdale, who was in Washington, D.C. to accept the award, took a few moments to speak with the Des Moines Business Record about the recognition.

Q: How did you get involved in your business?

A: I started out the first women manager at McGladrey [and Pullen] in Des Moines. Connie Wimer, Lorraine May and I started the first women’s breakfast club in the city. In 1979, I moved to Fort Dodge and was McGladrey’s manager there. In 1983, there was a tool and die company for sale in my home county. My husband encouraged me to buy it. I made a ridiculously low offer and they accepted it. Apparently, it wasn’t ridiculously low enough. I didn’t know anything about the die-cast business. It had six employees all over the age of 60 and one customer and $225,000 a year in sales.

Q: Where is the company today?

A: We have about 120 customers and we sell in 10 states and eight countries. Sales are about $10 million a year. We’ve done it by hiring good people and by having a lot of support. John Deere has really helped me a lot. We’re willing to go the extra mile.

Q: Hurricane Isabel is approaching. How has that affected your trip?

A: I always though of myself as a forceful woman, but this one’s got me beat. I think it’s supposed to hit tonight at 2 a.m. We all bought flashlights and batteries at the airport in Minneapolis on our way here. I was supposed to meet President Bush this morning at 7:30 a.m. But when the storm moved in, his meeting with the king of Jordan at Camp David was moved up and he couldn’t be there. So Vice President Cheney met us instead.

Q: How else have you spent your time?

A: [Secretary of State] Colin Powell hosted the [three] winners at a dinner reception last night at the State Department. It was a wonderful location and had a beautiful view overlooking the Capitol. At the luncheon today, [Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive] Carly Fiorina was to have been the keynote speaker, but she couldn’t get in because of the storm, so she spoke to us via satellite.