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New Director of Community Relations named to Iowa Child
Remarks by David Oman, Vice Chairman/Chief Administrative Officer, Iowa Child Institute
Oman to head up Iowa Child development team

New Director of Community Relations named to Iowa Child

May 21, 2001 – (Coralville, Iowa) Iowa City resident Sheila Boyd joins the Iowa Child Institute as director of community relations. Boyd is a lifelong native of the Iowa City area. She has served as vice president of marketing for Highlander, Inc., and has been active in the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m very excited about this project, because not only is it a great thing for Coralville/Iowa City area, but also for the state and the entire Midwest. It’s exciting to be involved in something this big and bold that’s going to have such an impact,” said Boyd.

Boyd’s passion is community work. She served as former volunteer chair of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce in 1997, and she most recently has held the post of interim president for the Chamber.

Boyd left her post as vice president of marketing for Highlander, Inc. following a recent company expansion. Highlander, Inc. is a hospitality company that owns and operates TGIFriday’s, Country Inn Hotels, and the Radisson Hotel in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. As the company added franchises, marketing matters were taken over by the corporate entities. Today, Boyd retains a seat on the Highlander, Inc. board, but is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations.

Boyd and all of her family still reside in Iowa City. As a native of the area, Boyd says she’s excited to dig in and get to work on Iowa Child. “I see Iowa Child as an opportunity to make a big impact on not only the community, but the state. This is something I want to do as an Iowan.”

Vice Chairman of the Iowa Child Board, David Oman, says, “We are well into the process of listening to the Iowa City community as we work to make this project very compelling, relevant, special and fun for people of all ages. Sheila Boyd understands the character and interests of Iowa City as well as anyone I’ve met and we are very fortunate to have her on our team.”

Boyd takes over the position formerly held by Jane Van Voorhis. Van Voorhis will now be responsible for grant development for the Iowa Child Institute, working with federal agencies to acquire grant funds. She will also research private and corporate foundations and explore financial grant opportunities within them.

The Iowa Child Institute is a non-profit development group established to further the goals of the Iowa Child Project. The Board of the Iowa Child Institute includes 18 prominent Iowa business, civic and educational leaders. The immediate priority for the Iowa Child Institute Board will be to provide vision, leadership and direction for the continued development of the Iowa Child project.

Remarks by David Oman, Vice Chairman/Chief Administrative Officer, Iowa Child Institute

May 2, 2001 – (Coralville, Iowa) Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to immerse myself in the Iowa Child project. We have worked closely with Coralville City leadership, the Iowa Child staff and a variety of community and state leaders to gain their insights into this project.

We’ve received lots of comments, lots of suggestions and, as you know, some concerns about the project.

First, and foremost, there is little disagreement that the state of Iowa needs to take bold steps to ensure and enhance our future. The Iowa Child project, with its vision, profound impact and scale, personifies many of the bold action steps needed to build towards that better future. As I have shared in some of our local meetings, the Iowa Child project touches six of the eight goals included in the Iowa 2010 report. No other project announced or contemplated comes anywhere close to that level of impact.

Having held over two dozen meetings with a number of community leaders and citizens from the Iowa City/Coralville area, let me give you some perspective on our work and progress.

We will continue a community dialogue with the expressed purpose of engaging local citizens in the creation, refinement and further development of this vision.
Additionally, we will schedule a Town Meeting in the coming weeks to gain insight and ideas concerning this project.
Many people have expressed concerns or asked questions about the cost of the project. We must ensure that we are being prudent and responsible in our budgeting. This project needs to be the right size to deliver on our desired vision, no more and no less. As such, I am challenging our team, our architects and consultants to provide recommendations to trim the cost of this project while still delivering the needed product to realize the vision. I am giving these experts until June 1st to provide their recommendations to the Board and me.
Upon receiving these recommendations, we will obtain a new economic impact study, conducted by an independent consulting firm, which will consider the impact and ramifications of this project on the local, regional and statewide basis. I expect this study will be completed in early July.
This timing should give the city of Coralville adequate opportunity to deal effectively with its decisions concerning land options.
Given this schedule, we will submit our formal application to the Vision Iowa Board in early September. We still anticipate requesting the maximum award level.
As you may know, we have submitted an application with the United States Department of Education for financial support earmarked for the further development of the educational curriculum surrounding this project. We anticipate a positive response from the Federal Government by mid-May. Additionally, we will be traveling to Washington. D.C. this week for more discussions concerning the possibility of additional Federal support.
As the project has grown, so has our need for staff support for this effort. As such, you can expect that we will be announcing the addition of new staff to our current team in the near future.
We want to encourage creative thinking from all corners of the community, region and state. We want to hear from you. We have established a web site, which provides some basic information concerning the concept behind this project. I encourage all interested Iowans to send their ideas, thoughts and dreams to us concerning this project via our web site. Let’s focus on what could be done with this vision, versus what can’t be done. I can assure you that any and all ideas will be considered.
I also want to draw your attention to an exciting new, world-class endeavor, recently opened in United Kingdom, that has many similarities to our project. It’s called The Eden Project. It is an environmental project that showcases the natural world and focuses attention on environmental issues. We are very impressed with this project and the excitement it has generated. We are working to learn more about this project and encourage you to visit their website at www.edenproject.com and see how a sound, environmentally based project can be realized.

While all of this is taking place, I intend to continue to meet with people of all ages and walks of life to gain their insights and perspectives on this project. We have much work to do. This project must consider the needs of the local community, the Eastern Iowa region and our state. It should reflect the best thinking of all Iowans. Through it all, this entire project needs to be continually true to its basic core vision. . . to create a major educationally enriching attraction.

We have the rare opportunity to make a profound difference for the future of Iowa. All we need is the courage and dedication to remain true to the vibrant core of our vision.

Oman to head up Iowa Child development team

April 10, 2001 – (Coralville, Iowa) Prominent Iowa business and civic leader, David Oman, 48, has been named Vice Chairman of the Iowa Child Institute, the private organization developing the proposed Iowa Child project. Oman will also begin work immediately as Chief Administrative Officer of the Coralville based project. He will split his time between Des Moines and Coralville in this capacity. Most recently, Oman served as Regional Director of Governmental Affairs for AT&T; Broadband in Iowa. During 1999 and 2000 Oman also Chaired the Governor’s Strategic Planning Council, which recently produced the Iowa 2010 report.

Iowa Child Institute board Chairman, former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray, praised the selection of Oman to direct development of this project. “David Oman brings two critical strengths to this project– he understands Iowan’s values and he has the ability to get big things done. David gives this project a great boost. He has spent the last two years on the Iowa 2010 project, working to make Iowa a great place. It is not going to be so unless we take some bold action for the future. If we do it, we will be an even greater place.”

“I will begin my work by listening and fully reviewing the current status of this project and all of its elements,” said Oman. “During the past two years, I have been deeply involved in listening to Iowans concerned about our futures. This proposed project captures many of the values shared by Iowans, particularly quality education and promoting Iowa’s environmental ethic. This project directly addresses five of the eight goals set forth in the Iowa 2010 report. This project could have a profound impact for our state if we work thoughtfully and do it well.”

According to Oman the project is currently undergoing a significant review. “A project of this size, and with its potential positive impact, deserves a careful dialogue to make sure that it can realize its full potential,” said Oman. “My role will be to work with the Iowa Child Institute Board of Directors, Coralville and Iowa City leadership, local civic groups and interested Iowans in a constructive approach to further focus and clarify the specifics concerning this endeavor.”

It is envisioned that the Iowa Child will create a learning environment for visitors, students and teachers. Current plans call for creation of a Learning Center that will incorporate a rainforest environment, aquarium, interactive learning exhibits and other activities that support participatory learning experiences. Additionally, the project could include an educational research component, teacher-training and re-training programs and Internet and ICN linkages to schools around Iowa.

“This project is of the utmost importance to Iowa,” said Oman. “Clearly this project can be extremely important in furthering our educational system and processes. Development of this project needs to allow all interested parties to become involved in refining the vision. The primary emphasis of my efforts will be to ensure that happens.”

Oman was the recipient of the 2000 Leadership for Iowa award from the Iowa Association of Business and Industry. He also is a past Chairman of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and a founding board member of the Iowa Environmental Coalition, an umbrella organization of 30 environmental and conservation groups in Iowa. Oman was a candidate for the 1998 Republican nomination for Governor. His wife Jennifer, a marriage and family counselor and newspaper columnist, and he are the parents of two young sons.

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