NAWBO Iowa’s past presidents share perspectives
Iowa’s chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners gathered on Dec. 2 for its 2025 Celebration of Excellence and honored the accomplishments of women business owners across the state.
The group honored three women: Barb Kniff McCulla, hall of fame legacy honoree; Karla Rendall, advocate of the year; and Riana LeJeune, woman business owner of the year.
To kick off the event, 14 of NAWBO’s past, present and future presidents shared their perspectives on the organization’s accomplishments, the importance of mutual support among women business owners and what it will take to elevate gender equity in women business ownership.
The following statements have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
“I’m hoping that those of you who have decades ahead of you, instead of behind you, as I do, will carry forward what you learned about the support, the network, the wisdom that you can gain from each other when you are at the same table, sharing.”
– Mary Riche, NAWBO president 1984-85
“I started my writing business, and a few years later I was able to get a loan for a word processing machine. I had to have my husband come down from his office to the bank because I was not allowed to have a loan by myself. I knew women business owners at that point in time who had their teenage high school sons signing their loan papers for them because it had to have a signature of a man. The Women’s Business Ownership Act didn’t come until 1988. Following my presidency, I flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the creation of a database of women business owners. There was no record of how many of us there were or what sectors we were serving.”
– Pam Schoffner, NAWBO president 1991-92
“The year 2000 was a presidential election year, and with Iowa being first in the nation, we had political candidates flooding the state. Elizabeth Dole, the first viable female candidate to run for president with a major political party, threw her hat in the ring to seek the nomination to become a Republican president. Elizabeth came to a NAWBO Iowa event to speak. … She taught me how valuable it was to have a group like NAWBO to get the political influence you need. We still haven’t seen a woman president, but since then, we have had a woman vice president, our first woman governor of Iowa and our first U.S. senator from Iowa.”
– Kathi Koenig, NAWBO president 1999-2000
“The phrase that sticks out to me is ‘the power of the purse’ and how much that we can actually make a difference by supporting other women business owners by how we spend. We talked about being really intentional with our spend. The power that we have has stood out to me, and I think it makes a big difference because we’re there to support one another.”
– Lynn Schreder, NAWBO president 2013-15
“In 2015, the American Express report came out on the Status of Women Business Owners, and Iowa ranked No. 51 – the worst state in the U.S. to be a woman business owner. That was alarming. … We were intentional about representing Iowa’s 86,000 women business owners. We innovated. … Today, there are 91,000 women business owners. In the most recent American Express Study, Iowa ranks 19, 15 and 8 in the top three categories.”
– Lori Day, NAWBO co-president 2015-16
“I am a big believer in servant leadership. For me, that involves four steps. You find good people, you make sure they have all the resources they need, you always have their back and then you stay out of their way. … When you can let go of that illusion of control, it really opens up a new space for those gifts to flourish, and you will see innovation and momentum.”
– Kristin Hall, NAWBO co-president 2015-16
“If you only knew how grateful we both are to the women of NAWBO. We know we would not be here without you. If you only knew that when we became co-presidents, that we would become best, life-long friends. We’re better together, and that is what the sisterhood is all about.”
– Kendra Erkamaa and Kathryn Towner, NAWBO co-presidents 2018-20
“Tricia [Rivas] and I started our term with two words: health and wealth. Little did we know that just around the corner would be the height of COVID, and health and wealth got a new meaning. Health became emotional and mental support. Wealth became, ‘Let’s just survive this thing.’ … We saw so many women supporting each other through this amazing change in business culture. It will never be the same, and there are many things that are so much better because we supported each other through this process.”
– Lorraine Hardin, NAWBO co-president 2020-22.
“The greatest leadership lesson I carried forward was that true leadership is service. It’s not about titles, spotlights or being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about showing up with integrity, listening deeply and creating an environment where others feel seen, supported and empowered.”
– Tricia Rivas, NAWBO co-president 2020-22
“Katherine Towner inspired me during my time as NAWBO president. She is quick to listen and slow to speak. What inspires me most about her is her ability to see potential in others and her commitment to making those around her feel heard and valued. She doesn’t just talk about leadership. She embodies it through her actions, showing that success is built on collaboration, resilience and lifting others up.”
– Pennie Carroll, NAWBO co-president 2022-24
“A word I’d use to describe my time as NAWBO president is transformation. We came in right after the height of COVID. We had lost a lot of members. People were disengaged. Everything that was virtual was starting to slowly come back and Penny and I knew very quickly that we had to preserve what Lorraine and Tricia had built. We had to bring people back. We had to reach out. It was all about rebuilding and transforming into a new normal and we decided to embrace that.”
– Karla Rendall, NAWBO co-president 2022-24
“My first role on the NAWBO board was in advocacy. Advocacy is a pillar of NAWBO. We had the opportunity to attend monthly virtual meetings with NAWBO national … about what [they’re] doing to advocate for business owners. It would also break us up into small groups and we would have the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with other NAWBO chapters. What are you doing to help advocate in your communities? How can we apply that here? I have met many people from all over the U.S. about initiatives in their chapters and we’ve been able to apply some of those things locally.”
– Mollie Frideres, NAWBO co-president 2024-25
“I have a 15-year-old daughter who was surprised to learn that there was once a time, and still there are times, where a woman and a man in the same job are getting paid differently. There’s still work to do. We still need to advocate. We still need to raise our voices and we need to do that together.”
– Rachel Formaro, NAWBO president-elect
