cedar valley business monthly

cvbusinessmonthly.com Cedar Valley Business monthly JANUARY 2015 m1cvbusinessmonthly.com Cedar Valley Business monthly JANUARY 2015 m1

savvy

People you can bank on.® www.communitybt.com

Member FDICnewfresh

easy

fun

yoursmobile

desktop

tablet

modern

proud to launchour new website

CVBUSINESSMONTHLY.COM CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS MONTHLY JANUARY 2015 M3CVBUSINESSMONTHLY.COM CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS MONTHLY JANUARY 2015 3

Let’s pretend you have gone to the nearest meadow in the warmth of a June afternoon and just plucked a blade of grass.

Congratulations. You have accom-plished basical-ly the same thing as making a New Year’s prediction.

There are vir-tual meadows filled with prog-nostications on the year, espe-cially where the business world is concerned. And yours is just as fresh, lively and green as the next.

So many issues change the course

of commerce over the year it’s probably impossible to know how different things will be by the end of the year.

Nevertheless, we do have guide-

posts by which we can gauge our guesses. For Cedar Valley com-panies, how one bets on the next year depends largely on how things went in 2014.

In the case of the job outlook, employment gurus can look at the political and economic climates and how those factors affected the category in the last one, two or five years.

Many forecasters predicted na-tional unemployment to remain around 6-7 percent and the local rate about 5 percent in 2014. Those predictions proved accurate.

Cedar Valley employers say nu-merous factors work in their favor. There’s a ready supply of skilled labor, from returning veterans to newly minted graduates from programs at Hawkeye Communi-ty College, University of Northern Iowa and other post-secondary academic institutions.

Major employers across the state are forecasting sales increas-es and steady employment, at least

for the first half of 2015, according to the end-of-year survey from the Iowa Business Council. The needs of individual employers vary, but there seems to be cause for opti-mism, the survey found. Of course, the ongoing layoff at John Deere in the Cedar Valley complicates the employment situation, and no-body knows when any call-backs will come.

Tax law continues to be tweaked, and this year is no exception. High earners — including small busi-nesses that pay as individuals — will feel the pain of higher rates this year.

The federal overhaul of the med-ical insurance system is scheduled to grow longer teeth as well. Busi-nesses have been planning work-force needs around the federal re-quirement to provide health plans for all full-time-equivalent employ-ees by Jan. 1.

Some employers will outsource the initial screening process and go through agencies that provide

temporary workers with an eye on bringing those employees in full-time if they work out. Expect the numerous job fairs in the area to be well-attended through the year.

Farmers also are bracing for more low commodity prices, al-though there is some hope a re-bound in corn prices that took place late in 2014 will continue.

Skilled Iowa, Iowa Workforce Development’s initiative to provide a new generation of workers for skilled manufacturing positions in the coming years, will have an-other year of growth behind it. There’s every reason to expect that momentum will accelerate in 2015.

The Cedar Valley has been bless-ed with an ample supply of skilled workers, and more opportunities lie ahead.

This month, the Cedar Valley Business Monthly offers its own blades of grass, as a number of business leaders present their forecasts for 2015. For the most part, their view seems positive.

FROM THE EDITOR

COURT TIMEMore law � rms moving away from billable hours model. page 14

CONTENTS

TELECOMMUTING

Technological advances enable employee to keep job out of state. page 6

PROTECT YOUR NAMESix ways to prevent identity theft. page 15

Cedar Valley Business Monthly is a free monthly publication direct-mailed to more than 5,300 area businesses.

Contact us at (319) 291-1448 or P.O. Box 540, Waterloo, IA 50704.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Jim [email protected](319) 291-1598

Nancy Raffensperger [email protected]

Meta [email protected]

ADVERTISING

Sheila [email protected](319) 291-1448

STAFF DIRECTORY

Vol. 9 No. 2www.cvbusinessmonthly.com

DESIGN STAFFAmanda HansenDavid HemenwayDoug HinesAlan Simmer

SPONSORS

Jim Offneris the editor of Cedar Valley

Business Monthly.

Contact him at jim.offner@wcfcourier.

No telling what 2015 brings

COURTESY PHOTO

Eric Wehr of Cedar Valley Hospice in his home-based office in Hawaii.

.savvy

People you can bank on.® www.communitybt.com

Member FDICnewfresh

easy

fun

yoursmobile

desktop

tablet

modern

proud to launchour new website

CVBUSINESSMONTHLY.COMM4 JANUARY 2015 CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS MONTHLY CVBUSINESSMONTHLY.COM4 JANUARY 2015 CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS MONTHLY

JIM [email protected]

The elections are done. New regulations are on the way. Nobody seems to know what to expect from a new Congress. And it’s tax season.

In other words, businesses in the Cedar Valley are ringing in an-other new year.

What to expect is anybody’s guess, local business leaders say.“I fear we will continue to be dealing

with the gridlock of the past, but this provides a great barrier reef to any new regulations and taxes that might have been contemplated with the recently ousted tax-and-spend group,” said Bob Hellman, founder and chairman of Waterloo-based advertis-ing and marketing firm Hellman, referring to the new Congress. “The re-cent elections, from our company’s view, is slowly eliminating a hesitancy by business to invest in and launch new products, and we’re already seeing the results. Hellman is taking a more aggressive stance on growth by acquisition as

Happy New Yearwe see the new business climate much more favorable.”

A number of area company leaders, perhaps out of habit, say they expect their businesses to grow in the coming year.

“As always, we expect to grow next year,” said Marc Reifenrath, CEO of Spinutech Inc., a Cedar Falls Web development firm that marks its 15th anniversary in 2015. “I would say in general terms we have a fairly high outlook for 2015. We are in a good position to help existing and new clients as they transition traditional ad spending to more and more digital mediums. We are seeing anywhere from 10-60 percent transitioning to digital from traditional.”

Always issuesThere are always concerns from year to year, but Reifenrath

he tries to keep that in perspective.“I try not to worry about things that are out of our control, as a

general rule,” he said. “Some interesting topics that could cause con-cern would be health care costs and net neutrality issues.”

Generally speaking, Reifenrath said he is optimistic for his and oth-er local companies.

“There are several very positive things happening in the Cedar Val-ley and beyond,” he said. “This fall, in discussions with UNI Career Services, there are actually several businesses that are having trouble finding enough qualified employees. This is due to a very low unem-

ployment rate and many growing businesses.”That’s a good problem to have, he said.

Steve Tscherter, who in December stepped down as CEO of Lincoln Savings Bank in Reinbeck and now serves as chairman

of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber,


Are You Readyto LEAD?

Advance your career with the LEADCertificate Program, an innovativeleadership development opportunitydesigned to develop future leaders.The 10 sessions will motivate and encourage you toidentify your personal strengths and areas for growth.

• Remarkable Leadership• Strengths-Based Leadership and Team Building• Problem Solving• Conflict Management and Resolution• Motivating and Engaging Employees• Leadership No-No’s That Lead to Legal Issues• Performance Management and Evaluation• Difficult Conversations: Addressing Difficult

Employees• ‘Listen to Me’ – The Top 10 Things Employees

Want You to Know About Them• Inspired for Greatness

319-296-4223www.hawkeyecollege.edu/go/lead

BUSINESSES BULLISH ON 2015

SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO

said the midterm election likely won’t translate to much of a break for the business community.

“Though the Republican majority in both houses of the federal legislature are likely to seek some legislative changes — Obamacare, financial regulations, tax policies — I doubt much can be accom-plished lacking a supermajority in either house, i.e., probably more partisan politics creating little substantive change or improvement in the financial health of our government,” Tscherter said. “Moderate Democrats will likely distance themselves from the president philo-sophically and politically to avoid guilt by association with his (Pres-ident Barack Obama’s) plummeting approval rating as they posture for the election two years henceforth.”

A bump in interest rates could affect the business climate in 2015, Tscherter said.

“The majority of economists I read still expect short-term rates to be raised by mid-year 2015, but there is a lot at play in this consid-eration by the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve),” Tshcerter said. “The Fed now concedes they have a watchful eye on international economies with regard to their anticipated raising of rates. This in addition to

watching our GDP, inflation/deflation and unem-ployment.”

Tscherter noted large global economies such as China, Japan and the European Union

are struggling. As a result, many cur-rencies likely will weaken against the U.S. dollar.

“I tend to think we won’t see any-thing substantial in rate movement in 2015 as a result of all the angst or

See 2015, page 11

cvbusinessmonthly.comM6 JANUARY 2015 Cedar Valley Business Monthly cvbusinessmonthly.com6 JANUARY 2015 Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Helping you realize your visionLet our experienced and knowledgeableteam help you retire on your own terms withour Confident Retirement® approach.

A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

3404 Midway Drive, Waterloo, IA 50701319.234.7000 | F: 319.234.1056

Confident Retirement® is not a guarantee of future financial results.Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC.© 2014 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

LarryKFox.com “Eric had acquired a great deal of knowledge about our organi-zation, new electronic medical records, network setup and all our connections,” said Michaela Vandersee, Cedar Valley Hospice finance director.

Before Wehr came to Cedar Val-ley Hospice, technology support was contracted through an out-side company. However, when it was time to implement electron-ic medical records Cedar Valley Hospice knew it needed someone on site. The hospice needed to up-grade its infrastructure and secu-rity, deploy clinician laptops and maintain them so medical person-nel had access to patient records.

“That process took over a year to complete,” Wehr said. “It re-quired a lot of site work, train-ing and adding features along the way.”

It would have been difficult to find someone with Wehr’s ex-pertise. So Vandersee proposed Wehr work remotely — as the or-ganization had done with the out-side contractor. Wehr could still manage projects and troubleshoot when necessary.

Of course, Vandersee had con-cerns about how to supervise somebody far away and make sure they remained engaged.

“It was going to require a lot of trust and honesty,” she said. “We needed an open line of com-

munication, and that’s what we have now, communicating daily through emails and via phone.”

There also was a concern re-garding the time difference of four to five hours, depending on the time of year. How would Wehr handle day-to-day office is-sues when he would be sleeping? There was also concern about hardware issues that needed hands-on work.

So, Cedar Valley Hospice hired a part-time IT technician to off-set Wehr’s reduced hours. It was clear someone was needed on-site to manage hardware and troubleshoot. With 65 laptops, 40 desktops and 75 Blackberries, hands-on time to maintain the or-ganization’s patient records and business operations was inevita-ble.

“Laptops give us the means to document all of our patient in-formation in real time so that any clinician who walks into a home can see the current status of any patient,” Vandersee said. “They also give us the ability to comply easier with Medicare regulations, as they have become increasingly detail-oriented.”

So, the organization brought in Kristofer Adams to help with hands-on duties. Wehr remained in the Waterloo office for a month and trained Adams. Wehr re-mains on-call 24/7.

Long-distance dedication

Cedar Valley Hospice employee works from Hawaii

STEPHANIE ABEL-HOHENZY

When information technology specialist Eric Wehr heard his wife had an exciting oppor-tunity to work in Hawaii, many thoughts came to his mind.

He was thrilled for his wife but nervous about his career with

Cedar Valley Hospice in Waterloo.

His first thought was, “I’m going to have to quit.”

It wasn’t what he wanted. He loved his job and had spent

three years building the company’s technology infrastructure.

cvbusinessmonthly.com Cedar Valley Business monthly JANUARY 2015 m7cvbusinessmonthly.com Cedar Valley Business monthly JANUARY 2015 7

swinging for the fencesworth

COURTESY PHOTO

Eric Wehr of Cedar Valley Hospice in his home-based office in Hawaii.

“After work hours when I’m not at my house, I can take my laptop with me and handle it from any-where,” Wehr said. “Last week, I was at the top of Mountain Mona Kia. I was able to take care of an issue right there.”

Wehr hooks into Cedar Valley Hospice via a virtual private net-work, which connects his com-puter in Hawaii to Cedar Valley Hospice’s network in Waterloo through a secure tunnel.

“I’m essentially sitting at a com-puter in our Waterloo office,” Wehr said. “I can pretty much do everything but the hands-on stuff, of course.”

He has been able his focus on larger technology projects, like setting up a company-wide In-tranet and performing a HIPAA security audit.

Cedar Valley Hospice is grateful technology enables a valued em-ployee to do his job from nearly 4,000 miles away.

“We were able to keep a high-performing employee, and Eric was able to keep a job he loved,” Vandersee said.

Stephanie Abel-Hohenzy is mar-keting and graphic design specialist with Cedar Valley Hospice in Water-loo. Contact her at (319) 272-2013.

.


• Home theater experience with one-touch control• Access your home control system through your TV• Send HD video to any room in the house•Watch video from multiple sources, disc players, & hard drives• The possibilities are endless...

4017 University Ave | Waterloo, IA

[email protected]

Top 6 Home Automation Systems

With a minimal investment, you can transformyour home with one touch

You Deserve RewardsYou work hard for your money. At First National Bank,we think yourmoney shouldwork hard too. That’swhywe’re introducingPremier Rewards* checking account thatstarts youoffwithbig rewards, and keeps themcoming.

Think the days of rewards checking accounts are over?Think again.

See us to learnmore about Premier Rewards* at FirstNational Bank. Just onemorewaywe’re serving you first.

Cedar Falls • Plainfield • Waverly319-352-1340 www.myfnbbank.com

*Eligibility of rewards based on meeting account qualifications as outlinedat account opening.

SHU

TTER

STO

CK

PH

OTO


Kaplan University’s certificate programs could helpteach your staff the practical skills needed to growyour business and build new career credentials.

Programs now accepting enrollments include:Business> Graduate Certificate in Accounting> Graduate Certificate in Human Resources> Graduate Certificate in Project Management> Human Resources Postbaccalaureate Certificate

Information Technology> Cisco Networks Postbaccalaureate Certificate> Computer Forensics Postbaccalaureate Certificate> Graduate Certificate in Information Security> Information Security Postbaccalaureate Certificate> Linux System Administration Postbaccalaureate Certificate>Microsoft Operating Systems Postbaccalaureate Certificate> Oracle Database Administration Postbaccalaureate Certificate

Certificate programs are also available in criminal justice*, socialand behavioral sciences, legal studies, and health sciences.

Discover how earning a certificate at Kaplan Universitycan put your employees on the road to career success.†

Employee trainingcan empower yourcompany’s future.

For more information, call 319.277.0220or visit CedarFalls.KaplanUniversity.edu.

Cedar Falls Campus7009 Nordic DriveCedar Falls, IA 50613

For comprehensive consumer information, visit http://www.kaplanuniversity.edu/student-consumer-information.aspx.*Additional police academy training and education may be required for lawenforcement positions.†Kaplan University cannot guarantee employment or career advancement.

CF BUS MONTH JAN 2015

CINDY KRISHNER GOODMANMiami Herald

When I ushered in 2014, I came up with an idea for a book I wanted to write, a business I wanted to start and an app I want-ed to launch. Now, I realize I have not focused on turning any of them into reality.

As the new year begins, I’m going to step back, look at all I am grateful for, and ponder the ideas I wanted to pursue in 2014. I

plan to ask myself some tough questions about where I have gotten stuck and what I can do to move at least one idea into action.A friend of mine says she, too, has stalled while trying to move an

idea forward. She wants to add an ancillary service that could help her pet-sitting business become more profitable. But like me, she has become bogged down in the daily struggle of balancing work and family.

Recognizing we all need help bringing our ideas to reality, I have turned to experts to share their best methods for follow through.

ResearchWifredo Fernandez has seen dozens of ideas come to fru-ition as co-founder of The LAB Miami and now as found-

ing director of CREATE Miami, a venture incubator and accelerator at Miami Dade College. Fernandez tells en-trepreneurs to propose their idea to at least 100 poten-tial customers and even ask for feedback on how to improve on it. “You need to validate that there is a big enough problem to make a venture out of solving it,” he says.

PassionThe pivotal shift from idea to reality happens once

you find yourself unable to think about anything else but solving the problem. “The specific idea may change, but if you’re passionate and focused, your drive to solve the problem will push you to execute,” Fernandez says. Miami business strategist Dave Lo-renzo tells his clients to pursue an idea when they want to achieve it as much as they want to breathe air everyday. “That’s when it is going to become a reality. That is how badly you have to want it.”

BelieveMost people fail in pushing forward an idea be-

cause the unexpected challenges become more than they think they can handle. If you want to be success-

ful, “stage the day,” says Anne Louise “Missy” Carri-carte, entrepreneur and author of “Power Wishing: Vi-

sualization Technology for Manifesting.” Take a moment before you step out of bed to think about what you want to accomplish and plan your intention for how it will happen. “Retrain your emotional self to get past doubt without ig-noring it,” Carricarte says. By envisioning the outcome you expect, you’re more likely to successfully navigate the challenges.

Carpe annumAs 2015 begins, turn

your idea into a reality

See ANNUM, page 21


aleJandra CanCinoChicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Sara Rangel was making more than $11 an hour working in a stockroom when the recession hit and she was laid off. Afterward, she began applying for temporary jobs through staff-ing agencies with the goal of land-ing a permanent position.

Five years later, Rangel, 47, is being paid $2 less an hour for the same work she did before the re-cession, and sees herself pigeon-holed as a temporary employee with little chance of finding per-manent employment.

“It’s sad to realize that you can only get jobs through staffing agencies,” she said.

Companies hit hard by the re-cession have been hesitant to make permanent hires, even as the economy and their prospects have improved. Instead, many have continued to outsource hir-ing to staffing agencies, which supply temporary workers at low wages and without benefits. Man-ufacturers, in particular, like the arrangement because it reduces their labor costs and staffing can be quickly adjusted to meet de-mand for parts or products.

But labor advocates like Tim Bell, senior organizer of the Chi-cago Workers’ Collaborative, said staffing agencies also act as gate-keepers for companies, essential-ly hiring people who keep their heads down and don’t complain about working conditions, pay or safety issues.

Lawyers representing Afri-can-Americans in lawsuits against staffing agencies and companies in Chicago say the gatekeeping also tends to give preference to Latinos over African-Americans.

Employment discrimination claims against private employ-ment agencies, a category that includes staffing agencies, are on the rise, according to the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Such complaints doubled to 49 in fiscal 2013 from 2009, the state agency said.

Meanwhile, the quest to obtain permanent higher-paying jobs re-mains elusive for many people.

Businesses typically make per-manent hires once they are con-

fident with the economy, but they have not reached that point, said Richard Wahlquist, chief execu-tive of the American Staffing As-sociation, which represents 1,700 staffing agencies throughout the U.S. In the interim, staffing agen-cies prepare workers for perma-nent employment, he said.

“It’s part of the tale of what hap-pens coming out of a recession,” Wahlquist said.

Permanent workers tend to be trained by their employers. But the federal Department of Labor said many temporary employees are sent to factory jobs without proper training, which has led to injuries and deaths. A lawsuit in a Chicago-area court says Car-los Centeno Sr., 50, a temporary worker, wasn’t adequately trained or protected in November 2011 when he was severely burned while using a cleaning solution of citric acid and hot water to clean a tank at Raani, a Bedford Park mak-er of health and beauty products. The solution, which was heated to more than 170 degrees, erupted from the tank, spraying and scald-ing Centeno who, according to the suit filed in 2012, wasn’t provided

protective gear including goggles and chemical-resistant gloves.

Afterward, Centeno, who suf-fered burns over 80 percent of his body, was kept at the factory for more than 30 minutes as a staff-er filled out paperwork, the suit said. Centeno, a father of four, demanded an ambulance and his skin began peeling off, according to the suit. His managers did not wash him off in an available safety shower and also failed to call 911, the Labor Department said.

One of Centeno’s co-workers drove him to a local occupation-al health clinic, according to the Labor Department. He died three weeks later.

Payroll documents filed with the court show Centeno was paid minimum wages, grossing $340 for a 40-hour week. He is not un-like other workers desperate for temporary work. Many line up as early as 4:30 a.m. at spots on the city’s southwest side and sur-rounding suburbs. Vans collect la-borers and transport them to tem-porary factory jobs.

Maurice Massey, 37, said the waiting for jobs and the disap-pointments never end.

When he does land a job, Massey said, he must call the staffing agency at the end of his shift to check whether he’s sched-uled to work the following day. And even when he’s scheduled to work the next day, it doesn’t necessarily mean he can count on that job.

Massey said he occasionally has been left stranded outside facto-ries because the agency has sent more than enough people for the available jobs. When that has hap-pened, Massey said, he has had to wait until the end of the shift, when the agency’s van returns to pick up those who have worked.

Rangel, the stockroom worker, said at the end of a job placement she returns to the staffing agen-cies and waits in line. Often days go by without an assignment. And sometimes at midweek, she said she finds herself still waiting and fighting the urge to leave.

“I’ve said to myself, ‘I don’t want this. I have to find a way to find something better,’” she said.

At the same time, Rangel said, she reminds herself she has no op-tions. “You can’t knock on doors anymore.”

Temporary solution Filling jobs via staffing agencies the new normal

ZBIGNIEW BZDAK / Chicago Tribune

Laborers Sara Rangel, left, and Edie Jacobs protest outside the MVP staffing agency in Cicero, Ill., in October.


flux internationally,” he said.Tscherter said the stock market is

heating up due to the influx of for-eign money seeking a safe haven.

“Some pundits see this continuing for some time and the achievement of very high stock prices for blue-chip investments with lower inter-national exposure and oil-related American companies,” he said.

ag worriesThe farm economy likely will con-

tinue to struggle, which will cas-cade across Iowa’s business climate, Tscherter said.

“Iowa’s economy will experience stress as farm commodity pric-es continue to erode and foreign exports probably diminish due to currency revaluations; Deere has already identified this challenge,” he said. “We’ll face several years of tough negotiation between cash rent farmers and land owners before we get appropriate balance in the rent to production potential.”

All of that bodes poorly for Iowa’s tax revenue and financial status, Tscherter said.

“This will present a paramount challenge to local businesses to carve out sufficient profit for their contin-ued vitality as we are heavily depen-dent upon agriculture,” he said.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber has set a goal to bring in new businesses over the next few years, and that work will continue in 2015 through collaborative efforts to identify, train and retain local talent to fill jobs local business and indus-try is capable of generating, Tschert-er said.

“GCVA intends to be a catalyst in forging relations among business/industry, government and our edu-cation entities to set the right course for successfully generating the talent necessary for this strategy to be suc-cessful,” he said. “This is, necessari-ly, a long-term strategy to shrink the gap in skill levels and leadership po-tential evident in employment appli-cations seen today vs. what business and industry says they need for the future.”

Some local companies are looking to build on milestones established in 2014. Cedar Falls-based CBE Cos. continued its focus on expanding its workforce and opened a new loca-tion in Waterloo. Deere & Co., in spite of the tumbling agriculture economy, reported its second-best year ever in

earnings. Waterloo-based Veridian Credit Union and Iowa City-based MidWestOne Bank achieved ac-quisitions. Ens, Netherlands-based Zuidberg Frontline Systems BV, which numbers tractor manufactur-ers Deere & Co. and CNH Industrial and outdoor power tool maker Echo among its customers, opened its first U.S.-based distribution center — Zuidberg North America Inc. — in a new 40,000-square-foot building in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park.

Others reported similar gains.“It’s a very exciting time right now

for business in our state,” said Devin Range, chief marketing officer with Cedar Falls-based ad and market-ing firm EdgeCore, which acquired a Florida-based marketing firm in 2014.

“Twenty fourteen was a record-set-ting year of growth for EdgeCore, and we expect to see additional growth in 2015,” Range said.

Range cited a recent Small Business Friendliness Survey that rated Iowa is among the top states for business friendliness, as well as for ease of starting a business.

downtown C.F.Downtown business districts in

the area experienced growth, too, said Carol Lilly, director of Commu-nity Main Street in Cedar Falls.

Expect more in 2015, she said.“I anticipate continued growth in

the district with commercial devel-opment off Main Street,” he said. “There are projects currently under-way which are set to be completed in 2015.

To the east, the State Street corri-dor continues to thrive with substan-tial progress being made at 200 State and the residential units just off State at Fifth and Bluff. The scheduled reconstruction of State Street this year from Fourth through Eighth streets will further enhance this area for both business and residential growth.”

West of Main Street, the Clay Street Business Park — former-ly the Medical Associates Building — is scheduled for completion in the spring. A restoration project at the Old Post Office on Washington Street continues, and the Cedar Falls Development Group is finalizing de-tails with a future tenant, Lilly said.

“Whiskey Road is a welcome addi-tion and further solidifies our district as a dining destination,” she said. “The opening of Cafe Due, a much anticipated project at Fifth and Main, will bring yet another dining experi-ence to the Cedar Valley.”

VISIT, EXPERIENCE & SEE HOW

IS THERIGHTFIT∫YOU!

The best way to see if UNI is right for YOU is tomeet us in person. Schedule an individual visitor sign up to attend a Panther Open House.See and experience firsthand how our small

university delivers big results.

To learn more, visitwww.uni.edu/admissions/visit

2015From page 5


654 Cedar Bend Street, Waterloo233-9632

Hours: Mon-Fri 8-4:30 pm

Sales & Service of Commercial Food Equipment

Maximize food productionand concession sales with

A&P Food Equipment

• On-site food equipment repair• Installation and removal• Preventive maintenance• Equipment refurbishment• Independent quality assessments

A&P Food Equipment has factory-trainedtechnicians and the parts you need for fastcommercial kitchen equipment repair.We specialize in same-day service.

Everything we do is backed by theA & P Food Equipment’s Foodservice Repairguarantee — 30 days labor and90 days parts.

For ev

er.

o

For god .

FOUNDATIONCOMMUNITY

of Northeast IowaEstablished in Waterloo/Cedar Falls in 1956

www.cfneia.org 319.287.9106

A GREAT place to live.A GREAT place to give.

Creating a stronger, more vibrantcommunity by connecting caringpeople to community needs, greatnonprofits and giving opportunities.

Learn how you can invest inyour community.

DIANE STAFFORDThe Kansas City Star

Each mouse click leaves behind a digital footprint, and those trails increasingly are being tracked by employers to help make hiring and other employment decisions.

How often do you visit LinkedIn or Face-book? More often than you used to? That could be a sign you’re thinking of quitting.

That pre-employment online personality assessment you took? Your answers may indicate you’re not a good fit.

Such is the world of “talent analytics,” a way to use data to evaluate job candidates, monitor in-house performance and even discern attitudes.

“Today, every email, instant message, phone call, line of written code and mouse click leaves a digital signal,” attorney Ted-rick Housh told a Kansas City ballroom full of human resource practitioners and other clients at a recent employment law seminar.

That data “can now be inexpensively col-lected and mined for insights into how peo-ple work and communicate,” the Lathrop & Gage attorney said.

Housh said 14 percent of America’s larg-est public companies are known to use tal-ent analytics, and its use promises to mush-room.

He told about JetBlue Airways’ “annual hiring-date satisfaction” standard, which measures an employ-ee’s willingness to recommend the company as a place to work. It creates a “crew mem-ber net pro-moter score” used to help set compen-sation and bo-nuses, he said.

At JetBlue, Housh said, that data c o l l e c t i o n is relative-ly transpar-ent. Workers know what’s being asked and how the answers are used. But

all data collection by companies isn’t ex-plained in advance.

For example, Transcom, a call center op-erator, used an assessment for job candi-dates that asked whether they knew simple keyboard shortcuts to check their comput-er ability. If they said they knew how to do a certain shortcut, they’re asked to perform the task. Voila, Housh said: a quick check on honesty along with task performance.

Some Silicon Valley firms, in particular, have developed sophisticated talent ana-lytics. Hiring managers don’t have to rely on GPAs or what applicants list on their re-sumes to make decisions. Rather, they mine data to find candidates who match the traits of their most successful employees.

This drive for data has created a new po-sition within some corporate human re-source departments — director or manager of talent analytics.

It’s also created more awareness of work-er privacy and worker surveillance. Ac-cording to Marc Rotenberg, executive di-rector of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, “You don’t know what data is being collected and how it is used.”

Witness, Housh said, “predictive data an-alytics” used at Microsoft. With them, he said, “it becomes possible to paint a profile of those staff that are more likely to leave.”

For example, in certain technical roles at the company, Housh said Microsoft found that employees who had been hired direct from a university three or more years be-fore and had been promoted once since then were likely to leave for a different job.

That information gives the compa-

ny the ability to work to keep the person — if it wants to — some-times even before the in-dividual is ac-tually looking to change.

To reach Di-ane Stafford, call 816-234-4359 or send email to [email protected]. Follow her online at k a n s a s c i t y.c o m / w o r k -place and twitter.com/kcstarstafford.

Mouse tracks Data can tell you want to quit — or should

SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE

(319) 235-6561 •www.FSBFS.com

IRAs • 401K Rollovers • Small Business Retirement Plans • Annuities •ManagedAccounts • Life Insurance

Like the power of a well-designed golf club, we put the right mix of products andservices in your hands, so you can go the distance to reach your financial goals.

Contact us today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation.

Mark F. Vaughan John V. Vaughan Marie Easter, LUTCF Jim Brandau Jordan Alborn, CFP® Scott Mueller Rod DuroeRyan Risetter

A minor

can produce

Even with your 401k.

outstandingresults...

can produceadjustment

.

INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE

(319) 235-6561 •www.FSBFS.com

IRAs • 401K Rollovers • Small Business Retirement Plans • Annuities •ManagedAccounts • Life Insurance

Like the power of a well-designed golf club, we put the right mix of products andservices in your hands, so you can go the distance to reach your financial goals.

Contact us today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation.

Mark F. Vaughan John V. Vaughan Marie Easter, LUTCF Jim Brandau Jordan Alborn, CFP® Scott Mueller Rod DuroeRyan Risetter

A minor

can produce

Even with your 401k.

outstandingresults...

can produceadjustment


1705 Waterloo Rd., Cedar Falls

Mike Dieken, Manager [email protected]

319-277-0100

Crane & HoistAn IndustrIAl servIces ProvIder

· Complete Rebuilds and Partsfor All Major Brands

· Custom Design and Fabrication· Installation· Inspection

Sales and Service

OSHA Compliance - Perform OSHArequired inspections, preventativemaintenance, repairs and documentation

What can we do for you?

A Division of

Allied Insurance is pleased to announce thatThe Sinnott Agency, Inc., of Waterloo has achievedOn Your Side Certification from Allied Insurance.

By becoming certified, The Sinnott Agencydemonstrates its commitment to superior

customer service.

Start receivingOn Your Sideservice from TheSinnott AgencyCall Kyle Hildman

233-6103

www.sinnottagency.com622 West 4th Street, Waterloo, IA

319-233-6103

Experience thedifference with anaward-winning

insurance agency.GET WITH THE

SINNOTT AGENCY233-6103

Call Kyle Hildman Today

KiM lyonsPittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — While talk of the death of the billable hour at law firms may be premature, it’s losing its luster as a main-stay of law firms’ pay structure.

Reflecting the change, New York-based Jackson Lewis will no longer evaluate its associ-ates using billable hours as a measure.

“For many years, I have been a strong proponent of alterna-tive billing arrangements as a necessary step to deliver the highest caliber of legal work at the greatest value,” said firm chairman Vincent A. Cino. “As a firm, we believe eliminating the billable hour requirement for associates is imperative in aligning the way we deliver le-gal services with clients’ needs.”

Beginning Jan. 1, Jackson Lewis, which has 800 attorneys in 54 locations, will evaluate its associates on a combination of factors, but not on the num-ber of hours logged. Clients who have e x i s t i n g h o u r -ly ar-range-ments w i t h t h e f i r m w i l l continue

to be billed that way, said Pitts-burgh managing shareholder Doug Smith, but will be notified other billing arrangements are available.

Alternative fee arrangements became more widely used by law firms between 2008 and 2010 during the econom-ic downturn, according to a 2012 study by ALM Legal In-telligence. Sixty-two percent of firms surveyed saw an increase in alternative fee arrangements during that time period, the study found, as clients sought to get away from the billable hour as the only option.

“Rather than rewarding as-sociates for logging longer hours, our initiative will con-tinue to encourage associates to achieve the best results for clients without spending need-less time worrying about how many hours they have billed,” Cino said. “We believe this is much more desirable for our clients and attorneys alike.”

Smith said using billable hours

as a

foundation for evaluating as-sociates “creates a false stan-dard.”

“Billable hours are just not a good measure for creating effi-ciency in overall performance,” he said. The firm did away with the practice of linking the bill-able hour to associates’ bonus-es several years ago, he added.

“We’re not doing away with the billable hour, but we want to focus more on associates’ overall value,” Smith said, “fac-tors like the ability to work as part of a team, the quality of work, efficiency, client develop-ment and work ethic.”

Asked if associates were con-cerned about moving away from a raw number toward more subjective criteria for their evaluations, Smith said he did not think so.

“If you ask any manager or supervisor at any business, they know who their best and most challenging employees are, without looking at metrics,” he said. “You know who’s doing the job and not doing the job. We need to look at the whole person.”

Clients will be notified of the changes in the coming weeks, Smith said, but the firm has already received a lot of client feedback, he said. “It has been tremendously positive feed-back,” he said. “They’re excited about it. Most of them say, ‘It’s about time!’ “

Law firms moving away from billable hours set-up

SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO


Where financial decisions can get complicated, wecreate an environment where you can learn...

What youneed for yourbusiness...

1127 Lincoln St. • Cedar Falls

319.277.0415e-mail: [email protected]

COMMERCIAL

INDUSTRIAL

RESIDENTIAL

SERvICE

Recent data breaches at several national retailers illustrate the importance of keep-ing your identity secure. Not only are iden-tity thieves getting more brazen — hacking into retail computer systems and pilfering data and dollars from millions of debit cards

— they continue to find new ways to abuse the electronic systems created to make our lives easier.

Identity theft is a broad term for unauthorized use of your personal data, typically for financial gain. It starts when someone “steals” your name, address, Social Secu-rity number, checking ac-count or credit card num-bers, passwords and other personal information. Your information is then used to falsely obtain credit cards, loans, cash, merchandise,

medical services — even government bene-fits and tax refunds.

Not only is identity theft a personal viola-tion, it is a costly problem for law-abiding citizens. Even if your personal bank account hasn’t been drained, you pay the price for identity theft every day in the form of high-er-priced goods and services, inflated insur-ance premiums and higher taxes.

It may seem tedious to keep a close eye on your identity and the financials attached to it, but it’s worth the effort. After all, it’s doubly aggravating and time consuming to undo the damage caused by identity theft. Do what you can to avoid the headache and hard work of being a victim of identity theft with these simple tips.

monitor your accounts regularly

Even if you prefer printed versus online bank statements, you shouldn’t wait until the end of the month to check that your accounts are reconciled (and nothing’s amiss). Take advantage of online access to your financial accounts and watch for fraudulent transac-tions. You know something’s not right with a transaction if someone has used your cred-it card to purchase train tickets in a foreign country. In a situation like this, contact your bank immediately.

Keep tabs on your electronic devices

Identity thieves will look for your private

information on any electronic device with a wired or wireless connection to the Internet. Never leave your desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone out and unattended in public places. You may want to rethink plans to sell or give away an electronic device that you’ve used to store sensitive information. At a minimum, clear stored data by restor-ing factory settings and removing SIM cards (phones) or wiping your hard disk (comput-ers).

Clear your history often Get in the habit of clearing the cache or

history in your Internet browser before you log out or step away from your computer. Doing so may not stop the most persistent thieves with forensic skills, but it will slow down the process of retrieving data you’d rather keep private.

Change your Pins and passwords

If you regularly access financial accounts and complete credit card transactions on-line, it’s particularly important to have sev-eral layers of security in place. For example, you can easily require a PIN or password log-in whenever you turn on your phone or start your computer. But if you use the same password to log on to your computer and your bank account, or to open your phone or retrieve your email, you’ve defeated the pur-pose and made the identity thief’s job that much easier. Make your passwords inscruta-ble to outsiders. While nonsensical strings of letters, symbols and numbers can be hard to remember, they will be tougher passwords for criminals to crack.

When in doubt, pay with cash Another way to limit your exposure to

identity theft is by reducing your credit card transactions. For instance, you might try us-ing cash for all transactions under $100. For larger transactions, it’s often better to use plastic. Not only do credit cards remain more convenient, carrying around large sums of cash makes you more vulnerable to old-fash-ioned theft targeting your wallet or purse.

stay informed and alert Because of the annual cost of identity theft,

the federal government is interested in help-ing consumers stop identity theft before it happens. Stay informed about consumer identity theft with alerts, tips and other re-sources provided by the Federal Trade Com-mission at www.consumer.ftc.gov.

Your good nameSix ways to prevent identity theft

Larry K. Fox is a private

wealth adviser with Ameriprise

Financial Inc. in Waterloo.

Contact him at 234-7000.

biz card directorymoment in

Len Swiatly - OwnerCatering

Personal ChefHors d’OeuvresGourmet Food

www.momentinthyme.comPhone: 319.269.6658 • Email: [email protected]

819 Longview • Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Chuck RoweChief Executive Officer

k Rowecutive Officer

515 Lime StreetWaterloo, IA 50703Phone: (319)234-2839Cell: (319)830-4774Fax: (319)[email protected]

GREAT FUTURES START HERE.Volunteer or Donate today at www.cedarvalleyclubs.org

Our mission is:To inspire & enable all young people, especially those whoneed us most, to reach their full potential as productive,

responsible and caring citizens.

to advertise your business card,contact: sheila kerns(319) 291-1448 or

[email protected]

biz card directory

to advertise your business cardcontact: sheila kerns(319) 291-1448 or

[email protected]

Ph. 319-232-6554112 West Park Lane

Waterloo, Iowa 50701Steph Weiand, AIA

OwnerJim Christensen

Owner

Architects & General Contractors

ExpressPros.com

Putting the right talent at the table can preventturnover. Let Express Employment Professionalsdevelop solutions to address yourworkplace challenges.

#1 REASON PEOPLE QUIT?POOR LEADERSHIP.

319 277-6603

ww

w.M

yL

SB

.co

m

Kevin BoyleVice PresidentCommercial Insurance

508 Main StreetReinbeck, IA 50669Office: (319) 788-6471Fax: (319) 788-6460Toll free: (800) 552-4572Email: [email protected]

LINCOLN SAVINGS BANKLSB FINANCIAL

Joedan Schick-VP301 Washington StreetCedar Falls, IA 50613

NMLS#37662(319) 266-0095

[email protected]

www.LSBMortgage.com

www.M

YLSB

.coM

lincoln savings banklsb financial

ww

w.M

yLS

B.c

om

lsb financial

Jordan Schick-VP301Washington StreetCedar Falls, IA 50613

NMLS# 37662(319) 266-0095

[email protected]

www.LSBMortgage.com

Member FDIC

Dave VandeventerREALTOR®, Broker Associate,GRI®, CRS®

mobile • 319.269.2461fax • 319.277.5090

[email protected]

3313 Terrace Drive • Cedar Falls, IA 50613

.

biz card directorymoment in

Len Swiatly - OwnerCatering

Personal ChefHors d’OeuvresGourmet Food

www.momentinthyme.comPhone: 319.269.6658 • Email: [email protected]

819 Longview • Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Chuck RoweChief Executive Officer

k Rowecutive Officer

515 Lime StreetWaterloo, IA 50703Phone: (319)234-2839Cell: (319)830-4774Fax: (319)[email protected]

GREAT FUTURES START HERE.Volunteer or Donate today at www.cedarvalleyclubs.org

Our mission is:To inspire & enable all young people, especially those whoneed us most, to reach their full potential as productive,

responsible and caring citizens.

to advertise your business card,contact: sheila kerns(319) 291-1448 or

[email protected]

biz card directory

to advertise your business cardcontact: sheila kerns(319) 291-1448 or

[email protected]

Ph. 319-232-6554112 West Park Lane

Waterloo, Iowa 50701Steph Weiand, AIA

OwnerJim Christensen

Owner

Architects & General Contractors

ExpressPros.com

Putting the right talent at the table can preventturnover. Let Express Employment Professionalsdevelop solutions to address yourworkplace challenges.

#1 REASON PEOPLE QUIT?POOR LEADERSHIP.

319 277-6603

ww

w.M

yL

SB

.co

m

Kevin BoyleVice PresidentCommercial Insurance

508 Main StreetReinbeck, IA 50669Office: (319) 788-6471Fax: (319) 788-6460Toll free: (800) 552-4572Email: [email protected]

LINCOLN SAVINGS BANKLSB FINANCIAL

Joedan Schick-VP301 Washington StreetCedar Falls, IA 50613

NMLS#37662(319) 266-0095

[email protected]

www.LSBMortgage.com

www.M

YLSB

.coM

lincoln savings banklsb financial

ww

w.M

yLS

B.c

om

lsb financial

Jordan Schick-VP301Washington StreetCedar Falls, IA 50613

NMLS# 37662(319) 266-0095

[email protected]

www.LSBMortgage.com

Member FDIC

Dave VandeventerREALTOR®, Broker Associate,GRI®, CRS®

mobile • 319.269.2461fax • 319.277.5090

[email protected]

3313 Terrace Drive • Cedar Falls, IA 50613


ALLIANCE & CHAMBERNEWSLETTERwww.cedarvalleyalliance.com

Be part of somethingGREATER!

Assistant SonyaContact: SonyaWommackPhone 319-830-8081P.O. Box 1054Cedar Falls, IA 50613www.assistantsonya.comCategory: Personal Assistant

Byrnes & Rupkey, IncContact: Linda ModdermanPhone: 319-234-62013356 Kimball Ave.Waterloo, IA 50702www.byrnesandrupkey.comCategory: Staffing & EmploymentAgencies

Cedar Valley PostalCustomer CouncilContact: Billy StephensonPhone: 319-274-2235300 Sycamore St.Waterloo, IA 50703www.cedarvalleypcc.comCategory: Media Communications

Genesis Studio SpaContact: Lyn TackettPhone: 319-239-6167722Water St., Ste. 403Waterloo, IA 50703www.genesisstudiospa.comCategory: Spas - Beauty & Day

Grundy Center Chamberof CommerceContact: MindyWhitehillPhone: 319-825-3838703 F Ave.Grundy Center, IA 50638www.grundycenter.comCategory: Associations/Organizations

Houck Transit AdvertisingContact: Sarah SolomonPhone: 651-488-89334610 Milton St. NorthSt. Paul, MN 55126www.busadswork.netCategory: Advertising Agencies/Public Relations

Hudson Chamber ofCommerceContact: Lola KapaunPhone: 319-988-4217P.O. Box 493Hudson, IA 50643www.hudsoniachamber.orgCategory: Associations/Organizations

Revolution Realty TeamContact: Alissa GardnerPhone: 319-540-7353900 2nd St. SE, Ste. 105Cedar Rapids, IA 52401www.revolutionrealtyteam.comCategory: Real Estate

Talk to Me TechnologiesContact: Kate DunningPhone: 877-392-2299323W. 2nd St.Cedar Falls, IA 50613www.talktometechologies.comCategory: Health Care

Skyline TradeShow MarketingContact: Cathy ApplegetPhone: 319-366-03013131 12th St. SWCedar Rapids, IA 52401www.tradeshowskyline.comCategory: Marketing/Advertising

CALL FOR NOMINATIONSANNUAL BUSINESS AWARDS

Nominations are being accepted throughJanuary 9th for the following awards:• Business of Year Award (1–50 FTEs & 51+ FTEs)• Harold Brock Innovation Award• Treating CapitalWell Award• Fulfilling the Vision of One Award• Cedar Valley Partner Award

Descriptions of the awards and nominationforms are available at the Alliance & Chamberoffice or online atwww.cedarvalleyalliance.com/programsandevents. For additional information, pleasecontact BetteWubbena [email protected] or call319-232-1156.

JANUARY 9Friday ForumAlliance & Chamber Office, 10W. 4th St.Waterloo7:30–9:00 AMRSVP by January 2 [email protected].

FEBRUARY 10Legislative Session ReceptionRenaissance Savery Hotel, 401 Locust St.Des Moines5:00–7:00 PMRSVP by February 3 [email protected]

MARCH 26Annual CelebrationPark Place Event Centre, 1521 Technology Pkwy.Cedar Falls5:30–9:00 PMTo purchase a corporate table, please email BetteWubbena at [email protected]

APRIL 7Strictly Business ExpoPark Place Event Centre, 1521 Technology Pkwy.Cedar Falls4:00–7:00 PMTo purchase an exhibitor booth, email BetteWubbenaat [email protected]

APRIL 22-24Leader in Me SymposiumMaucker Union, University of Northern Iowa1227W. 27th St., Cedar FallsFor more information, contact Melissa Reade [email protected]

For more event details, visitwww.cedarvalleyalliance.com or call 319-232-1156.

Upcom ing eventsWELCOME NEW alliance & Chamber INVESTORS

Join the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance &Chamber! Learn how you can benefit!

Contact Sue Beach [email protected] or

BetteWubbena [email protected].

Do you know of an individual who should berecognized for their contributions in creating astrong business climate and enhancing the qualityof life in the Cedar Valley by continued service andleadership? Has a business or organization made anoutstanding contribution to the Cedar Valley and itscitizens on a continued basis or with a specificproject? You are encouraged to nominate them forrecognition of their contributions. Nominations areopen for a variety of business awards to be presentedduring the 2015 Annual Celebration on Thursday,March 26th at the Park Place Event Centre.

IowaWORKS, in partnership with theGreater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber,will be hosting a second public job fair inthe first quarter of 2015. There iscontinued demand from employers in theregion to connect with the availableworkforce and, in the cases where theymay lack the skills necessary for certainpositions, to provide that workforce withthe training opportunities they need tofind meaningful employment. This fair is apart of the area’s continuing effort to assistthose in the community displaced fromwork due to the recent conditions in theagricultural manufacturing industry. Formore information, contact Danny Laudickat [email protected] call 319-232-1156.

The Alliance & Chamber wishes our Cedar Valleybusinesses and our partners in economic development

a successful and prosperous New Year!


1808 East Street ∙ Cedar FallsPhone: 277-2385 or 1-888-652-8316

www.coverall-embroidery.com

Customize Your Bus iness Appare l

Corporate Wearables & Workwear.

daVid niCKlausSt. Louis Post-Dispatch

Most companies will tell you they pay execu-tives for performance, but a new study argues otherwise.

Boards usually don’t measure performance properly, and they do a poor job of matching it up with executives’ pay, the report’s authors say.

After studying 1,200 U.S. companies, they found that economic performance could ex-plain only 12 percent of the variation in chief executives’ pay. Forty-four percent was ex-plained by a firm’s size and the industry it was in.

That leaves a lot of either randomness (firms pay well for no good reason) or path depen-dence (firms pay well because they’ve always

paid well.) Either way, the results don’t fit with the pay-for-performance story.

The study was done by Organizational Cap-ital Partners, a consulting firm, for the Inves-tor Responsibility Research Center Institute. It contains a scathing critique of several com-mon compensation practices, including “long-term” incentives that are medium-term at best.

“You can’t do breakthrough innovation in two to three years,” OCP partner Mark Van Clieaf said. “Yet today for 90 percent of our executives the longest performance period they’re measured on is three years or less.”

Fewer than 15 percent of companies, he said, build any innovation measure into their compensation system. One example is 3M, which sets a target for how much revenue should come from new products.

In most other places, what doesn’t get re-warded may not get done. The study sug-gests that pay incentives may make execu-tives less willing to invest in the future: As a percentage of revenue, companies’ spending on research and capital projects has fallen 41 percent since 1998.

Nor do most pay plans provide any rea-son to worry about how shareholders’ mon-ey gets spent. Three-quarters of companies don’t tie incentives to any measure of bal-ance-sheet efficiency, such as return on in-vested capital.

In fact, the authors classified one-fifth of companies as “value destroyers”: They earned less than their cost of capital. But if that measure doesn’t affect the pay plan, why should the CEO care?

What many companies profess to care

about these days is total shareholder return. That’s the sum of dividends plus stock-price appreciation, and it’s often benchmarked against a group of similar companies. If the company outperforms its peer group, the CEO gets a big stock grant.

Stock prices, however, move based on fac-tors beyond the executives’ control, such as geopolitical events, commodity prices and central bank policy. The shareholder-return fixation also can lead to an overreliance on buying back shares to goose the stock price.

“Somewhere along the way we have lost the focus on value creation as the primary and dominant incentive” for executives, says Jon Lukomnik, executive director of the IRRC Institute. “We have gone to an ex-post mea-sure that cannot be managed as the leading metric, and that doesn’t make sense.”

Eric Marquardt, a Clayton-based consul-tant with the firm Pay Governance, points out that companies have good reason to empha-size total shareholder return. Proxy advisers use that metric when telling big investors how to cast their annual “say on pay” votes.

Shareholder return is easy to understand and easy to measure but, Marquardt says, “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to designing compensation.”

“Say on pay” balloting was supposed to be a major advance in corporate governance, but shareholders will have to look beyond short-term performance if they want their votes to make a real, positive difference.

David Nicklaus is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Readers may send him email at [email protected].

On the merits Performance-based pay is a myth, study argues

SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO


www.thepioneergroup.com316 West 5th St., Waterloo, Iowa 50701

319-234-8969

With the addition of our newHeidelberg Speedmaster 6-Color

Press, we are now able toserve your printing needs

even better in 2014!

How do you know your business will suc-ceed? How do you know people will buy your

product? These are but two of the questions that were ad-dressed by the new companies that attended Venture School at the University of Northern Iowa.

Venture School is a six-week program designed to acceler-ate the startup process and increase the likelihood for success of a new venture by emphasizing the needs and wants of the customer and an-alyzing the competition.

Four businesses worked on their concepts in the UNI Ven-ture School offered this fall. They were See What I Mean owned by Stephanie Clohe-sy, Studio Omega Integrative Wellness and Fitness owned by Arveldia Ware, Lucky Strategies owned by UNI se-nior MIS and marketing dou-

ble major Tim Luchtefeld and Advance Iowa managed by Dan Beenken.

Instructors for Venture School were Kurt Heiar and Jennifer Ott from the University of Iowa and Paul Kinghorn and Laurie Watje from

UNI. Mentors for the businesses include several local entrepreneurs like Bob Smith of Lockard Companies, Nick Evans of the Veridian Group, Rod Duroe of Farmers State Bank, Marc Reif-enrath of Spinutech, Elizabeth Caven of Pick a Brain, Greg Jass of Red Lab Technologies and Josh Carroll and Patrick Luensmann of UNI.

This was the seventh Venture School to be of-fered in Iowa. The University of Iowa taught all previous programs. This was the first partner-ship for Venture School between the Universi-ty of Iowa and UNI. UNI and the University of Iowa will partner again this month to offer a new session of Venture School.

Jennifer Ott, Venture School program director at the University of Iowa, said, “We are thrilled to take this program statewide. UNI is our first education partner. The teams that have done this already have glowing reviews for the pro-

gram and how much they learned. We give the tools entrepreneurs can repeatedly use every time they have an idea for a business.”

“This program is about agile development for a minimally viable product. We’re going to fig-ure out how to go into existing markets and do it a little better, a little smarter, and a little faster. This is not an easy program,” said Kurt Heiar, lead instructor from the University of Iowa.

UNI partnered with the University of Iowa be-cause of the benefits the program offers to local entrepreneurs.

“Venture School is a discovery process. Entre-preneurs learn a great deal from their custom-ers,” said Paul Kinghorn, director, UNI Regional Business Center & Entrepreneurial Outreach, and an instructor for Venture School.

Many of the instructors and mentors noted they were involved in Venture School to help provide the tools and knowledge entrepreneurs can use in starting and growing their businesses.

“Venture School addresses what is needed in the market,” said Laurie Watje, R. J. McElroy student business incubator manager at UNI, a program of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, and instructor for Venture School.

For more information on the session of Venture School beginning in January, contact Laurie Watje of the JPEC at (319) 273-5732 or [email protected].

Venture School solidifies business concept

Katherine Cota-Uyar is associate director and instructor of

entrepreneurship with the John

Pappajohn Entrepreneurial

Centerat the University of

Northern Iowa. Contact her at

(319) 273-5732 or katherine.cota@

uni.edu.

do what worksConsider what you have done already to

move an idea forward, rather than what re-mains unfinished. “That can shift the outcome,” Carricarte says. If you have moved an idea for-ward 10 percent, look at how you accomplished it, rather than at the 90 percent you haven’t achieved. “Build on what’s working,” she says.

networkWhether an idea involves starting something

new or building on something that exists, look at who you know that can help you convert it to reality. One restaurateur I know found an in-vestor for her food truck concept through her child’s teacher. When Kim Weiss got an idea to package her photos of sunsets into a book, she enlisted her boyfriend to write the accompany-ing haikus and a publisher friend helped to get it into print. “There are people you surround yourself with who can help you realize your dream,” says the author of “Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe and Gratitude.” “Everyone has a network they can tap.”

stay focused“Shark Tank” fans know successfully converting

an idea into a reality is a marathon, not a sprint. Work-life conflicts will arise, as will naysayers.

“The only way to get over disappointment, frustration or distraction is to get to work on your idea,” says Janet Burroway, author of plays, poetry, children’s books, eight novels and two textbooks. “It’s easy to terrify yourself into inactivity.”

Burroway believes the longer an idea rum-bles around in your brain, the less likely you are to act on it. When she has an idea for a book, she says she puts anything that pops into her head down on paper. From there, she al-lows her creativity to expand.

act nowRather than wait for the next calendar year,

or for when you have more time or money, “take some sort of action today towards mak-ing your idea happen,” says Lorenzo, founder of Miami’s Valtimax Consulting. “Even if you proceed in the wrong direction and make a mistake, you can take quick corrective action.” As a business owner, Lorenzo says he carries a notebook and jots down ideas all the time. Some morph into newer ideas and go through twists and turns before he brings them to life. Remember, he says, “The idea is not dead until you decide it is.”

Cindy Krischer Goodman is CEO of BalanceGal LLC, a provider of news and advice on how to bal-ance work and life. She can be reached at [email protected]. Read her columns and blog at http://worklifebalancingact.com/.

AnnUmFrom page 9

“This program is about agile development for a minimally viable product. We’re going to figure out

how to go into existing markets and do it a little better, a little smarter,

and a little faster. This is not an easy program.”

Kurt Heiar, lead instructor

from the University of Iowa


3765 Lafayette RoadEvansdale

For Lease• Great retail building for lease!• Located on busy main road inEvansdale

• 3,344 sq. ft., formerly Digital DogPound

Lease: $2,000/Mo. GrossJim Sulentic 319-215-5000

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITYFor Sale• PIPAC Centre on the Lake• Home of Park Place Event Center andFerrari’s Restorante

• 44,000 Sq. Ft. Office and Event CenterPrice: $6,000,000Matt Miehe CCIM 319-269-6222 orFred Miehe CCIM, SIOR 319-240-2266

For Sale• 244 Units• Waterloo, Iowa• Built In 2003• Offers Due By:Friday November 28th

Jack Nooren 319-230-5000

• Total of 3 parcels available• Prime acres at corner ofRidgeway and Hudson Rd.

• High traffic counts andconvenient location

Sale: $20,000 per AcreChris Fischels 319-830-5000

1521 Technology Parkway,Cedar Falls

81.24 Acres, HudsonRoad, Cedar Falls

For Sale

Paresh daVeLos Angeles Times (TNS)

LOS ANGELES — Japanese technology entrepreneur Ken Fu-kazawa was in San Francisco in March when his geeky friends told him about something awesome coming up in Los Angeles.

Walt Disney Co. was opening its doors to selected startups for a summer of intensive mentor-ing. Fukazawa couldn’t think of anything better to help his com-pany grow than the brand that he had fallen in love with as a child. His three-person company, Tyf-fon, moved into Disney offices in June, ready to improve a suite of apps that add spooky animations to photos.

Funding, ideas and workers are flowing into the Los Angeles re-gion at record levels as thousands of entrepreneurs across a broad range of industries leverage the Internet to reshape how people shop, chat, watch and play.

But over the last three years, Hol-

lywood’s embrace of startups such as Tyffon has become the most powerful magnet attracting tech-nology entrepreneurs to set up here. In fact, southern California is now the nation’s fastest-growing hub for startups. The entertain-

ment industry, with its mad rush into digital distribution and its res-ervoirs of cash, creative talent and glamour is the key driver.

After the crash course at Disney, Fukazawa can no longer imagine moving Tyffon back to Tokyo. Los Angeles’ balance of highly skilled programmers and content cre-ators is perfect for Tyffon, which has seen 30 million downloads of its apps in two years.

“Gaming, entertainment, film, agencies — it’s all here,” said Fu-kazawa, who received advice from Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and other top brass. “It’s best for us to do business here.”

Companies focused on online video, virtual reality, crowdfund-ing, gaming and online marketing or shopping are among those find-ing Los Angeles attractive because of the access to entertainment, ad-vertising and fashion expertise.

Southern California saw the fastest rate of startup creation of any major U.S. region in the first half of 2014, according to data col-lected from AngelList by Upfront Ventures, the region’s most active venture capital firm with more than $100 million invested in the last three years.

Combined, Los Angeles and Orange counties are on pace this year to receive $2.15 billion — their most since 2001, according to the National Venture Capital Association

Content-sharing app Snapchat, for example, has received hun-

dreds of millions of dollars in in-vestment from Silicon Valley hot-shots on its way to a reported worth of $10 billion. Auto-shop-ping website TrueCar Inc. had a $70-million initial public offering in May, and its stock has doubled since. Overall, the median value of a Los Angeles startup’s acquisition or IPO has reached a post-reces-sion record of $87 million so far in 2014 and topped the $75-million San Francisco Bay Area median, according to tracking firm Pitch-Book.

Speaking at Rand Corp. in No-vember, Snapchat Chief Executive Evan Spiegel pointed to three Los Angeles advantages: Most hires are new to Los Angeles, so em-ployees exploring the city together creates culture. Distance from Sili-con Valley gives Snapchat a differ-ent point of view that he said was “important.” Being in the center of arts and entertainment surrounds Snapchat with “energy,” he said.

The endorsement of technology startups has flowed deep into the entertainment industry. Shows such as NBC’s “The Blacklist” and ABC’s “Modern Family” now use a mobile app called Sync OnSet to store photos of props, costumes and sets that production manag-ers had once stashed into three-ring binders.

Marc Andreessen, a deep-pock-eted investor from the Silicon Val-ley, declared that Hollywood had to shape up and give in to what upstarts wanted, Yorn recalled. Miffed, the entertainment industry sat back until its peers in technol-ogy realized “people in Hollywood have secret ingredients — story-telling and large social bases — that can help propel a startup,” Yorn said.

Transportation service Uber probably would have ridden to success without ferrying celeb-rities to red-carpet events. And someone other than Jessica Alba may have been able to start life-style and cleaning products brand Honest Co. and turn it into a near-$1-billion company. But the stars elevated the brands in the minds of consumers and the media and accelerated their progress, ac-cording to investors.

Gone Hollywood L.A. gives tech startups the star treatment

IRFAN KHAN / Los Angeles Times

“Gaming, entertainment, film, agencies — it’s all here,” says Ken Fukazawa about Los Angeles. His company, Tyffon, makes photo-animation apps.

See Hollywood, page 23


photobyDan

PhillipsPhotography

“I had lots of options, FSB

- Brad GraBer, Cherry Berrywas the obvious choice.”

• Business Loans• Merchant Services• Payroll Services

FarmersSTATE BANK

MEMBER FDIC Building Your Success

1-877-372-1879 • www.FSB1879.com

• Cash Management• Remote Deposit• I-Banking

BUSINESS BANKING

DIANE MARR / Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Going up in shell rock Construction continues on the new Roling Ford dealership in Shell Rock. This will replace the current

dealership down the road. The new dealership is expected to open in March.

It’s also possible that if Honest Co. were to go public, it could raise Al-ba’s net worth more than any movie has. The economics of tech have be-come “real,” Yorn said. Entertainers who once spurned offers to advise or advertise startups are now plead-ing with managers to let them be-come investors or launch their own.

Last month, Tyffon and nine other startups invited to the Disney sum-mer program offered polished pre-sentations to a theater full of ven-ture capitalists and dignitaries. Iger, the Disney CEO, sat in the front row as Fukazawa made his pitch about turning the animation of selfie pho-tographs into a big business.

Learning about innovations that Disney lacked resources to develop in-house was energizing, said Jim-my Pitaro, president of Disney Inter-active.

“There’s so many super-talented entrepreneurs and fantastic prod-ucts, and to be able to get in on the ground floor with these people and businesses was a fantastic opportu-nity,” he said. “And I look forward to partnering with these guys.”

HollywooDFrom page 22

STEVE KNAPP(319) [email protected]

EXCELLENCE | INTEGRITY | HUMILITY

www.lockardhomes.com

JIM BENDA(319) [email protected]

MIKE TAYLOR(319) [email protected]

This 1 ½ Story home is “Like New”w/the many updates. Open floorplan, 2 BRs & 1 BA on upper level,3-stall oversized detached garageand paved driveway. $89,900.

157 MADISON,WATERLOO

Exec. Hi-Rise Condo w/open floorplan, 9’ ceilings, covered balconyaccessed fromM. Suite & 2separate LRs. New appliances, biglaundry room & heated garagew/storage. $254,900.

1326 3A MAXHELEN BLVD.,WATERLOO

Character filled, well maintained1-1/2 story home with 3 BRs & 1BA, vinyl siding, newer roof & oakwoodwork. Home is located onthe corner of 17th St. & Olive St.$134,500

1621 OLIVE ST.,CEDAR FALLS

Raised ranch with addition onback. Four bedrooms, one bath,lower level family room. Attacheddouble garage. Spacious yard.Many updates. Quiet area. PRICEREDUCED to $129,900.

559 HELMET,WATERLOO

Ranch style duplex w/1.88 acres.Two 1-stall GARs in the middle.Each side incl: 2 BRs, 1 BA, a KITw/dining area & sliding doorsto deck. Separate utilities &basements. Private. $164,900

121-123 HICKORY LN.,HUDSON

For Sale @ $159,000. Twobuildings, one rented for $1,400/month,other to be rentedat $900/month. Good Retailspace in good location. NiceInvestment.

185-189 W. 11th STREET,WATERLOO

FOR LEASE @ $10/sq.ft. This brickbuilding has great Office space ina Strip Center just off ofAnsborough Ave. A total of 1,184sq. ft. available. Multiple tenants.Great Location.

910 DECATHLON,WATERLOO

FOR LEASE @ $1,150/month.Nice Office space in a goodlocation with a total of 2,582sq. ft. available. Also features adrive-in door for possible smalldistributing company.

343 FLETCHER AVE.,WATERLOO

FOR SALE or LEASE: All brick, well-maintained 6,000 sq. ft. building offersa layout which is well suited to “grouphome”uses. Multiple bedrooms,large common bath areas, officemanager apartment wing, & rec room/kitchenette wing. 1/2 acre lot.

1310 SOLAR DR.,WATERLOO

Well-maintained & updated ranchduplex in a convenient location, acrossfrom Byrne’s Park. One side has justbeen completely remodeled. $800-$900/mo. rents. Would make excellentowner-occupied home. $169,900.

2205 CASPER / 221 UPLAND,WATERLOO

Like-new roomy ranch on cul-de-sacw/over 3,300 finish. sq. ft. GAR/Shopw/1,032 sq. ft., 4 BRs, 3 BAs, huge M.Suite w/large closet, main floor laundry,oak, tile vaulted ceiling, patio deck,fenced yard & room to grow!

229 SUNRISE LN., ELK RUNHEIGHTS

FOR LEASE: A total of 1,200-3,200 sq.ft. suites for Office or Retail available.Excellent visibility & accessw/tremendous traffic opportunity dueto proximity w/Subway &McDonalds.Could be Office or Retail.

3624 KIMBALL AVE.,WATERLOO

Custom-built 4-5 BR, 3 ½ BA home in aconvenient location w/storage galore,bay window, FPLC, FR on main plus bigformal LR & DR, maple floor, M. Suite,& newly finished LL with ¾ BA, FR,workout room & egress. Many Updates.

625 MIDLOTHIAN,WATERLOO

FOR SALE or LEASE: Excellent space w/up to 6,200 sq. ft. available. Flex space-shop area w/overhead doors. Nicelyfinished office space. New roof onpart of bldg. Recent HVAC. Possiblecontract terms, flex. lease terms, leasew/option, etc.

1521-25 JEFFERSON ST.,WATERLOO

FOR LEASE: High traffic easy-accessretail strip shopping center in excellentlocation. Bay sizes 1,400& up. Customize your build-out. Nextto Great Clips, Little Ceasars, WeightWatchers and Jimmy Johns.

709 PROGRESS AVE.,WATERLOO

FOR SALE or LEASE:Class “A”finished Retail/Office space inhighly visible University Ave. locationwith big traffic count. Expansionpossible. 1,400-5,000 sq. ft. available.

4728 UNIVERSITY AVE.,CEDAR FALLS

New restaurant space along theriver. Summer 2015 delivery.Views into adjacent public plazaspace. $16/psf approx. 4,000 sqft available.

200 STATE ST.,CEDAR FALLS

Turnkey office suite located inthe Industrial Park. Prairie Lakesoffice views, common areas,kitchenette, fiber optic cables.$15/psf gross with approx. 1,800sq ft available.

1025 TECHNOLOGY PARKWAY,CEDAR FALLS

FOR SALE. Great investmentopportunity. 26,828 sq ftretail/office shopping center.12 existing tenants and lotsof upside potential. Recentimprovements. $1,200,000


FOR SALE. Great location andvisibility just off US Hwy 20 andUS Hwy 63. Shovel ready lotswith city incentives. Perfect foroffice, retail and flex space users.Starting at only $1.50/psf.

GREENBELT CENTRE LOTS,WATERLOO

FOR SALE. Long time nursinghome facility now available forredevelopment. Approx. 45,000sq ft. Facility sits on 4.86 acresand has an improved parking lot.$895,000

310 UPLAND DR.,WATERLOO

FOR SALE. Up to 4 bed, 1.5 bath.Screened porch, attached garage,finished lower level. Across fromthe Hearst Center & trail system.4 blocks to UNI. $169,900 ErinHinton (319) 404-2600

309 SEERLEY BD.,CEDAR FALLS


FOR SALE. Registered rental forsale with a ½ acre lot and patiooff of the back. 2 fireplaces withpartially finished basement andbig kitchen. $139,900GlendaWilson (319) 269-9082


FOR SALE. Registered rentalfor sale with a big corner lot.Sharp and clean 3 bedrooms,1 bathroom. Immediate movein or investment. $139,900 ErinHinton (319) 404-2600

LOT #16-WINDING RIDGEESTATES

PRICE REDUCED

PRICE REDUCED

PRICE REDUCED

Excellent 3/4 Acre lot in Cedar Falls,exclusively-positioned, upscale residentialaddition. This cul-de- sac lot, located on

Northridge Circle, provides the possibility ofa full walk-out plan as well as lots of options

for house orientation. Call for details.

For Lease: 1,500 sq.ft. GreatRetail are on a street with lots oftraffic.Was a hair salon. Next toMcDonalds, across from Paneraand fire station.

1805 LA PORTE RD.,WATERLOO

Character filled, well maintained1-1/2 story home with 3 BRs & 1BA, vinyl siding, newer roof & oakwoodwork. Home is located onthe corner of 17th St. & Olive St.PRICE REDUCED to $130,000

1621 OLIvE ST.,cEDAR fALLS

Ranch style duplex w/1.88 acres. Two1-stall GARs in the middle. Each sideincl: 2BRs 1 BA, a KIT w/dining area& sliding doors to deck. Separateutilities & basements. Private.PRICE REDUCED to $156,500

121-123 HIckORy LN.,HuDSON

3561 uNIvERSITy AvE.,WATERLOO

12,000 sq ft warehouse space.Easy truck access from UniversityAve. and HWY 218. 2 dock doors,22 foot ceilings. Front and rearaccess. $2.50/psf NNN.

For Lease: Two 1,200 sq. ft. bays next toeach other. Would make excellent Retail orOffice facility. Taxes & other “pass-throughs”are approx. $5.00. This is a great locationwith good visibility, near a busy intersection.

1025-27 PEOPLE’SSQuARE

$119,000

SOLD2829 fALLS AvE.,

WATERLOOFor Lease: 2800 sq. ft. $6.00/psfNNN retail, office, workshop over12’ ceilings, 2 restrooms, 400 ampservice, space can be split.JIM BENDA 239-2600

For saLe: Great Location CarLot-Repair Shop. 7,242 availablesq. ft. Many possibilities.$219,000.MIKE TAYLOR 239-3659

2761 LOGAN AvE.,WATERLOO

cedar valley business monthly

Documents