AMES, Iowa – The Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has hired Brandi Shay of Tingley to advise and train entrepreneurs and existing businesses for the South Central Iowa SBDC hosted by Southwestern Community College in Creston. Shay will start work for the SBDC as its regional director on June 1, 2015.
“The Iowa SBDC is pleased to announce the hiring of Brandi Shay as director of our South Central Iowa center,” says Iowa SBDC State Director Lisa Shimkat. “We feel Brandi will provide excellent service to the region’s clients, encouraging new business growth and improving partner relations.”
“Brandi has invaluable experience in business and education, as well as a history with the SBDC. We were fortunate to have a candidate of her caliber. She knows the region and will undoubtedly hit the ground running,” adds Tom Lesan, Vice President of Economic Development at Southwestern Community College.
Shay is an Iowa State University graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and an MBA degree with an emphasis in Agricultural Business. She previously worked as an accountant at Crestland Cooperative, plus was a full-time faculty member at Southwestern Community College for ten years. Currently, she is the Controller for Advanced Ag, LLC, an ag retail business serving farmers in Southern Iowa, plus she serves as an adjunct faculty member for Southwestern Community College, Buena Vista University, and Graceland University.
She has actively worked as an independent consultant for the South Central Iowa SBDC in the past and is passionate about helping small business owners succeed. Her focus is on aiding business owners in creating accounting systems that allow them to manage their businesses effectively and efficiently through financial analysis. Shay and her husband own a farming operation and three other small businesses.
The South Central Iowa SBDC, headquartered at Southwestern Community College in Creston, provides complimentary, customized and confidential business counseling advice, plus affordable, practical workshops, to business owners and entrepreneurs in Adair, Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Madison, Montgomery, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties.
The Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program is an outreach program of Iowa State University’s College of Business. Partially funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the organization has 15 regional assistance centers located strategically across the state. Since program inception in 1981, the Iowa SBDC has helped hundreds of thousands of Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through no cost, confidential, customized, professional business counseling and practical, affordable training.
For more information on Iowa Small Business Development Center programs or services, call 515.294.2030 or visit www.iowasbdc.org.