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 The Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC), an important economic outreach arm of Iowa State's College of Business, has a new director. Lisa Shimkat, director of the SBDC's North Central Iowa region based in Fort Dodge, was elevated to the statewide director post last week. She replaces Jim Heckmann, who retired in February.
Under Shimkat's leadership, the North Central Iowa center won the 2014 SBDC Excellence and Innovation Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. She was also recognized in 2010 by the SBDC's national organization as Iowa's "State Star" for her contributions to the SBDC's economic development efforts and commitment to small businesses. She completed both her undergraduate and MBA degrees at Iowa State University.
The SBDC is part of Iowa State's new Office of Economic Development and Industry Relations, created by President Steven Leath earlier this year to centralize the university's economic development enterprise.
SBDCs: Driving Economic Development
The Iowa SBDC offers free, confidential business advice to entrepreneurs and existing businesses with 500 or fewer employees through its 16 regional Iowa centers. In 2013, SBDC worked with more than 2,500 clients, held 140 training workshops and helped start more than 200 new businesses. Those clients added or retained 1,547 jobs and raised nearly $49 million in capital for their Iowa businesses.
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