WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT

The Gazette’s HER Women of Achievement is an annual program that recognizes individuals who are leading, inspiring, and creating positive change in Eastern Iowa.

Nominations will be accepted now through March 15th.
The 2024 honorees will be announced in late spring with community celebration on June 13th.

Scroll down to see this year’s honorees!
See you at the celebration!

The Gazette and Presenting Sponsor FSB are excited to return HER Women of Achievement as an in-person community event. Join us Tuesday, June 13th from 11:30 – 1 at The Midnight Gem in Swisher to celebrate thirteen outstanding women who are making an impact in Eastern Iowa.

For table purchase, please contact [email protected]

Learn more about our sponsors: FSB, Crystal Group

Learn more about our Venue Sponsor: DoubleTree by Hilton

EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

Inspiring connections and creating opportunities for women in Eastern Iowa

The Gazette’s HER Women of Achievement is an annual program that recognizes individuals who are leading, inspiring and creating positive change in Eastern Iowa. Join us on Tuesday, June 10 from 11 AM- 1 PM to honor leaders across Eastern Iowa.

For event questions, please contact [email protected]

Table Sponsorships that include additional recognition before and at the event are available now. For more information contact Amy McKelvy at [email protected] or 319-398-8351.

A WORD FROM OUR PRESENTING SPONSOR

2025 Women of Achievement Honorees

Click each honoree’s name to read their bio.

2025 HER Women of Achievement Honorees

Dr. Diana Jones, Eastern Iowa Health Center

Heather Spangler, The University of Iowa, Event Management

Jen Kaiser, Grant Wood AEA

Dr. Jennifer Bradley, Kirkwood Community College

Joan Blackmon, Mid-American Housing Program (retired)

Dr. Leslee Sandberg, Grant Wood AEA (retired)

Mandy Dodd, Collins Aerospace

Megan Merritt, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C.

Monica Paulina Vallejo, LUCI – Latinos Unidos for Community Inclusion

Naomi Rose, Eastern Iowa Arts Academy

Dr. Padget Skogman, Mercy Medical Center

Sue Sager, City of Cedar Rapids

Outstanding Community Leadership Award

Jane Drapeaux, Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP)

2025 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The HER Women of Achievement 2025 keynote will spotlight women leading across industries,
showcasing diverse leadership styles and unique pathways to success.

Kate Edwards

Wild Woods Farm

Farmer Kate is a young farmer who is a generation removed from farming. After leaving the state as a child, she returned to Iowa City to farm. Kate believes in the regeneration of agriculture and communities through good food production and consumption.

As quoted in The Gazette: Kate Edwards owns Wild Woods Farm, which has been serving the Iowa City and Solon areas since 2010. Wild Woods is a community supported agriculture farm — or CSA — which is a partnership between consumers and farmers, where consumers can purchase produce directly from local farmers. Edwards was a business owner and farmer for 11 years before she had children.

“The farm was a magical place for me. Even before I had kids, I remember thinking, ‘I want to raise them on the farm,'” she said. “My pregnancies have been very taxing on my body and most of the work I do on the farm is very physical,” Edwards said. “There is no maternity leave, which is a problem across all industries [and] for people who own their own businesses, but particularly in agriculture. At this point, it’s just a caretaking thing because my body is the tool that I have for my farm,” Edwards said. “Just like I change the engine oil on my tractors, I take really good care of my body to make sure I can continue this work.” Read the full story.

Kate Schlotterbeck

Crystal Group

A Cedar Rapids native with deep hometown pride, Kate joined Crystal Group in 2010 and has been making bold moves ever since. She started as a sales support manager, became program manager just two years later, and by 2021, earned a seat on the executive leadership team. Today, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Kate leads the program management, system architecture, and marketing teams—driving innovation and strategy across the company.

As an executive, Kate has led her team to over 50% revenue growth—an achievement fueled by her ability to connect the dots between customer needs and powerful, real-world solutions. She’s worked shoulder to shoulder with military and industrial partners around the globe, but her roots keep her grounded. With a deep understanding of rugged hardware challenges, she partners closely with Engineering, Operations, and Sales to turn complex requirements into mission-ready systems.

A proud University of Iowa alum, Kate holds a degree in Communication Studies—and credits both her education and her Iowa upbringing for the straight-shooting, customer-first approach she brings to her leadership every day.

Sydney Rieckhoff

Almost Famous Popcorn Company

Sydney Rieckhoff is a Cedar Rapids-based entrepreneur. In 2012, during her freshman year at Kennedy High School, Sydney and her brother launched stands inside the Newbo City Market selling ice cream and popcorn.

Over the past 13 years, those stands have grown into Almost Famous Popcorn Company—a manufacturer of over 35 gourmet popcorn flavors, with a flagship retail store a few blocks from here and nationwide distribution.
In 2022, Sydney and her family acquired Cedar Creek Popcorn in Sac City, Iowa, doubling the company’s size and becoming caretakers of the World’s Largest Popcorn Ball.

While scaling Almost Famous, Sydney earned a degree in International Relations from Stanford University, graduating in 2020. After working as Software Engineer in Chicago, she returned to Iowa in 2022 to lead Almost Famous full-time as CEO.

Clarissa Chun

University of Iowa – Women’s Wrestling Head Coach

Sponsored by:

Clarissa Chun is the head coach of the University of Iowa women’s wrestling team, the first in the program’s history. In 2021, Iowa became the first NCAA Division 1 Power Five conference institution to offer women’s wrestling.

Chun joins the Iowa women’s wrestling program from USA Wrestling, where she was an assistant coach on the women’s national team from 2017-21. Chun helped lead the United States to 17 World medals, including seven gold, four silver and six bronzes, as well as an Olympic gold, Olympic silver and two Olympic bronzes.

Chun is a two-time Olympian, competing at 48 kg in the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Games. Chun wrestled at five Senior World Championships, including a gold-medal performance at the 2008 Worlds in Tokyo.

During her career, Chun won five U.S. Open titles; a 2011 Pan American Games silver medal; four gold medals at the Pan American Championships; and was a runner-up at four U.S. World Team Trials and three U.S. Opens. Chun competed for Missouri Valley College, where she was a star on one of the pioneer women’s college wrestling team programs.

Chun has coaching experience at both the international and college levels. She was a member of the men’s wrestling staff at West Virginia University, serving as the program’s operations assistant while also training at the Regional Training Center.

Chun was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in June 2022. She is one of only four females bestowed Distinguished Member honors. In 2018, Chun was inducted into the Missouri Valley College Hall of Fame, Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame, and Roosevelt High School Hall of Fame.

Thank you to our Table Sponsors

Table Sponsorships that include additional recognition before and at the event are also available.
For more information contact Amy McKelvy at [email protected] or 319-398-8351.