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Stan Askren always aspired to make a positive impact in life. Now as chairman, president and CEO of HNI Corporation, he’s leading the second largest office furniture manufacturer in the world and one of the country’s 1,000 largest publicly held companies.
Fortune magazine has recognized HNI Corporation as the “Most Admired Company in its Industry,” and Forbes magazine has called HNI one of the “400 Best Big Companies in America.”
Askren came to HNI Corporation in 1992 as corporate vice president. He ran Hearth & Home Technologies and some of the other office furniture companies owned by HNI before being named president of HNI Corporation in 2003. He was named chairman and CEO in 2004.
“I never worried about the path. I was focused on making a positive impact,” Askren said.
Employment is one obvious measure of impact resulting from the success and growth of HNI. The corporation employs 14,000 people directly and keeps thousands more workers busy as vendors and suppliers. |
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Stan Askren 1982, B.A., management 1987 M.B.A., Olin School of Business, Washington University Advanced Management Program, Harvard University Chairman, CEO, HNI Corporation, Muscatine, Iowa Family: wife, Mona (’82); daughter Natalie, 18; Ryan, 16; Tyler, 12 |
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“It’s not only about the pay and benefits paid to our members (employees); it’s also the taxes, community involvement and money we contribute as a corporation. We contribute heavily in Iowa. The best thing we can do is be a strong economic engine that attracts outstanding people, which raises the overall quality of life and has a huge financial impact,” Askren said. “The company isn’t going to be successful because of me but I can have an impact on it. It feels like a big stewardship responsibility.”
Askren said part of that responsibility is helping others find their purpose, just as people did for him as he moved through the ranks. “I can name the people who guided me in each of my jobs.”
His first job after graduating from UNI was working for Emerson Electric in St. Louis. He worked long hours and attended night classes at Washington University in St. Louis, obtaining his MBA in 1987.
In 1989, he went to Wilcox Electric, a subsidiary of Thomson, S.A., a multinational electronics manufacturer and media services provider, to oversee human resources. Three years later, HNI Corporation—now a $3 billion company—hired him.
Founded in 1944 by two engineers and an advertising executive to provide jobs for returning servicemen, HNI actually began operations in 1947 in Muscatine. At the same time, the three founders, Max Stanley, Clem Hanson and H. Wood Miller, also established a profit-sharing plan.
“They were way ahead of their time,” Askren said. “Our company is unique and different. These three wanted to create a great place to work. It’s a member-owner culture; members own stock in our company, and participate in profit sharing,” Askren said. “When you have this culture, you get a highly motivated working environment and people can focus on what’s important.”
Professional demands have kept the Askren family on the move. After living in Orlando, St. Louis, Kansas City, Muscatine and Mount Pleasant, the Askrens are happy to be back in Muscatine. “When we left Iowa after graduating from UNI, we said we’d never move back to Iowa. We traveled the world, lived a lot of places, started to raise a family and realized Iowa is a great place to live. The values and the convenience are unparalleled.”
Askren was born in Oregon, then lived in Idaho and the Minneapolis/St. Paul area before moving to Cedar Rapids prior to his junior year at Jefferson High School. After graduating, he attended a Midwestern university for two years before transferring to UNI.
“What attracted me to UNI was the personalized approach—a “Students First” atmosphere with professors who are competent and thoughtful. UNI is big enough to have all the resources and the diversity to get an outstanding education but small enough and focused enough to get a personalized experience,” he said.
As a UNI student, Askren worked in the Academic Advising & Career Services office, which led to an internship with Lutheran Mutual (now CUNA Mutual in Waverly).
“When I started my career and went on and got my master’s degree, I found my choice to attend UNI was outstanding. At Washington University, the MBA program was pretty rigorous, but thanks to UNI, I had everything I needed,” Askren said. |
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In the midst of the Vietnam War, race riots and sit-ins, Lee Rainey and Kathy Rechkemmer met at the heartbeat of the campus, the Commons. This word became the keystone of their friendship for they had many things in common—history majors, student leadership positions and career dreams.
Their friendship ultimately grew into a love that was celebrated through marriage in 1969.
During the past 38 years Kathy and Lee have built impressive individual careers. Lee’s road was from a sharecropper’s child to senior vice president of sales for a Fortune 500 company to president of his own consulting firm. Kathy grew up in a small town in Iowa with dreams of becoming a teacher. She is now an executive director of corporate and human resources.
Together, they have a successful partnership built on faith, friendship, family and community support. The challenges faced by an interracial couple in the emotionally charged ‘60s could have been overwhelming, but their love prevailed over matters even more fundamental than those of color or culture. |
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Lee Rainey 1969, B.A., history President, C-Level Consulting Services, Minneapolis Kathy Rainey 1968, B.A., social services; 1971 M.A. student personnel, higher education Exec. Director, Corporate & Human Resources, Onvoy, Minneapolis Family: daughters Kris Jacobson (husband Chad), Michelle Livingston (husband Mike); seven grandchildren. |
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“The fact is, we really like each other,” Lee said. “We made commitments to each other in terms of how we would raise our children, whose career we would follow and how we would always respect each other,” Lee said. “We still honor those commitments.”
The Raineys recall with gratitude the people at UNI, in the Cedar Falls community and in corporate America who demonstrated faith in them over the years. “When we got married, I was assistant director of Campbell Hall,” Kathy said. “We were living in a hall of 735 girls. Lee was one of the first males to ever live in a women’s dorm. That may seem minor now, but it took great courage on the part of Dean (Mavis) Holmes.”
The first interracial couple to be married by Pastor Homer Larsen at Cedar Falls’ Nazareth Lutheran Church, the Raineys were invited to Cedar Falls High School several times to speak to students about their relationship. Still, the challenges they faced as a couple didn’t dominate their college experience to the exclusion of other activities. Kathy participated in a long list of campus organizations, including marching band and Tri Sigma sorority. Lee was an RA in Rider Hall, and was voted ‘Favorite Man on Campus’ in 1968. He was also the lead singer in IBTC, a popular rock/soul band of the day.
As undergraduates they both shared a desire to teach and make a difference in the world. They credit their liberal arts education with giving them the tools to persevere. Lee said, “Without the liberal arts training and education we experienced at UNI, we would not be who we are today.”
Kathy said, “I would hope that we have lived our lives in such a manner that would pave the way for others to follow regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds.” It is fitting that the church to which they’ve belonged for more than 20 years—the nationally celebrated Park Avenue United Methodist Church—is a place where people from myriad social and economic backgrounds can celebrate their faith together.
“Park Avenue is unique because the congregation includes a full spectrum of people, from professionals to people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Kathy said. “We like to say it has ‘blue-eyed soul.’ It has helped add to the pluralistic makeup of our family and the world in which we live.”
Lee recently began working with UNI’s College of Business Administration staff to assist in diversity initiatives, specifically to recruit and retain a more diverse student and faculty population in the college. It is a contribution that reflects the couple’s respect for the people who were “in their corner” as they advanced their careers.
“Our approach to life is that if you treat people with respect and look for the good in others, then that’s what you’re going to find,” Lee said. “We just want to be positive role models and give back.” |
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Donald DeWaay has always liked to work. As a young boy in Rock Rapids, while his schoolmates enjoyed a snow day in front of the TV, he shoveled neighbors’ driveways.
That led to all sorts of jobs, including street repair, farm work and some profitable sales ventures while attending UNI. On graduation day, instead of being awarded a bachelor’s degree in business, he received a B.A. in history.
“History is a good background to get a broad understanding of a lot of things, and economics plays a big role. Money and wealth are big influences on political and public policy and societal trends. I’ve always been interested in history,” said DeWaay, now CEO of DeWaay Capital Management in Clive. “I’ve also been fascinated with being an entrepreneur.”
After graduation, he immediately went to work selling securities for American Express, later becoming a certified financial planner™(CFP). He started DeWaay Capital Management in 1987.
DeWaay is the brains behind a multimillion-dollar commercial development that will bring together accountants, bankers, financial planners, insurance agents and finance related businesses. “Most people live complicated lives and it’s getting more and more complicated by everything happening in the world. People don’t have the time or the resources to research all the options to make and preserve wealth. What we’ve attempted to do is come into that space and make their lives easier.” |
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Donald DeWaay II 1984, B.A., history CEO/DeWaay Capital Management, Clive Recently launched DeWaay Financial Network (broker/dealer) Host of “The Profit Zone” on WHO Radio Hometown: Rock Rapids Family: wife, Carla, sons Donald III (5); Grant (4); and daughter, Lydia (1) |
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The development, called Commerce Park, will eventually house five buildings on a nine-acre tract of land. More than 100 people will handle investments, estate planning and tax law in the DeWaay headquarters building.
In March, DeWaay and his staff of 60 will move into their new offices; 43,000 square feet, complete with waterfalls, plants, fireplaces, atrium and other spectacular features. The headquarters of DeWaay Capital Management will also house a financial education resource center and conference center, with the latest in technology and videoconferencing capabilities.
The genesis for Commerce Park is common sense. “When you’re in my business long enough you see what people aren’t getting. People have a more pedestrian approach to financial planning, to the financial planners, the off-the-rack products and solutions,” said DeWaay. “Routinely we sit across from people who want a better and more sophisticated approach. We became aware that there are better ways to do things. We think it’s going to get a lot better.”
His most recent venture is DeWaay Financial Network, a broker/dealer firm, which will support a nationwide network of independent financial representatives.
DeWaay says UNI’s liberal arts core helped prepare him for his career, particularly in honing his communication skills. “Communication is a very important part of our business and there were various people in the Speech Department, but (the late) Professor M.B. Smith stood out,” he said. “I took a lot of speech classes and I speak across the country and on my radio show. That skill I’d attribute to those professors in the Speech Department.”
His call-in show, “The Profit Zone,” is not a typical financial broadcast. “Things move so fast it’s hard for people to grasp. It’s not the traditional stocks and bonds information. We try to give a different perspective. It’s more than what’s happening now; we talk about what will happen in six months.”
He is also editor of The Profit Zone financial magazine and speaks to investors, industry groups and Fortune 500 companies across the country.
“One of the best things is speaking to thousands of people throughout the year and hearing how they’ve succeeded and failed. If you listen carefully, you hear what works and what doesn’t,” he said. “I’ve sorted through all that, and by the time I was in my late 30s it gave me a different perspective. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about life.” |
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For 45 years, Norma “Duffy” Lyon reigned supreme at the Iowa State Fair as the Butter Cow Lady.
After announcing her retirement in 2002, last year Duffy finally passed the scepter (or butter knife) to her longtime apprentice.
“I didn’t believe she was truly retiring until the Fair called me to ask what I wanted to sculpt,” said Duffy’s successor, Sarah Pratt of Norwalk. “The first time Duffy told me she was retiring and that I’d be taking over was in 1997. I was still a student at UNI and glad when she decided the next year she’d be returning. I just wasn’t ready back then!”
Pratt has known Duffy most of her life. Both she and Duffy lived in the Tama-Toledo area and Pratt went to school with Duffy’s grandchildren. Pratt first began working for her at 13 when she was in 4-H with Duffy’s great-niece. Both girls began by handing Duffy tools and butter as she worked on that year’s sculpture. Pratt then learned how to polish the butter for a couple of years until Duffy suffered a stroke in 1997, giving Pratt more apprentice duties.
Pratt admits to no formal art training (she was an elementary education major) but credits Duffy for nurturing her artistic abilities. “I always wanted to take art classes in high school, but there were only two spots in the schedule and I filled those every year with instrumental music and Spanish,” said Pratt, who is a special education teacher at Westridge School in West Des Moines. “In college I had the goal of graduating in four years, and with anywhere from 15 to 18 credit hours a semester plus summer courses, I didn’t feel I could fit it in. Most of my artistic training comes directly from my apprenticeship with Duffy.” |
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The only time the 29-year-old took time off from helping Duffy was to teach out-of-state and when she was pregnant with twins. Pratt and her husband, Andy (BA ’98) are the parents of Hannah and Grace, now 3.
But Pratt’s first year as the “Butter Cow Lady,” which included handling expenses and hiring help, was at the 2006 Iowa State Fair. Along with the traditional Butter Cow were a bust of Bill Riley, “Mr. State Fair,” and a life-size sculpture of a now-famous Norwalk resident, Brandon Routh, star of the “Superman Returns” movie. Although Pratt and Routh live in the same town, they don’t know each other.
“I wasn’t able to meet him during the project, but he did have input on the project, and his parents were a great help. He did visit the sculpture though,” she said.
Assisting her were Duffy’s grandchildren, Todd Lyon and Erin Lyon, and Jennifer Strauss, a West Des Moines chef with her own catering business. Strauss is an expert cake decorator so she did the lettering for the Riley sculpture.
What will this year’s butter sculpture be? A Panther, perhaps? Pratt hasn’t decided yet, but she welcomes all suggestions. |
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Sarah Pratt shapes the head of last year’s butter cow at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Pratt also did sculptures of Bill Riley and Superman.