AMES, Iowa – America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Iowa, has announced that Elizabeth Christensen is the new Regional Director for the Iowa Western SBDC at Iowa Western Community College, located in Council Bluffs. Elizbeth Christensen will advise and train entrepreneurs and existing business owners in Pottawattamie, Shelby, Harrison, Page, Mills, Cass and Fremont counties. Elizabeth started in early June and is excited to continue supporting western Iowa businesses.

“I am delighted to introduce Elizabeth Christensen as the new Regional Director for the Iowa Western SBDC and welcome her to our team,” says Lisa Shimkat, America’s SBDC Iowa State Director. “With her outstanding expertise, dedication to empowering small businesses, and exceptional skills, I am confident she will be instrumental in advancing our mission. Together, we will further cultivate innovation, growth, and prosperity in Iowa’s dynamic small business community.”

Elizabeth has worked with owners on marketing, processes, and growth in local small businesses for the last 20 years. Elizabeth was an undergraduate alumnus of the UNO Business Management School and is a 2020 graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Master’s in Entrepreneurship of Technology. As an undergraduate and intern with Omaha’s Sunbelt Business Brokerage, she learned the ropes prospective business owners consider as new operators and carried that message of tenacity into other areas of her life.

During those nascent years, she worked with several family-based businesses and a theater-based organization, and she got a taste for supporting sustainable practices, sustainable growth, and herding cats. Elizabeth moved into information technology project management after relocating to Arizona, but still serving a small business environment. She supported many small business owners in cloud transformation, IT security, network development, and implementation projects there.

As a PaaS project manager, she worked with over 120 American college and university administrative teams to implement a new transcript and diploma platform. Elizabeth supported personal friends and family through business ideation and startup phases, including business plans, financial projections, and identifying high-value business processes for their services. As a technology startup professional, she worked with various space startups in different phases, implementing solutions for their strategic growth, including managing stakeholders’ long-term project schedules and submitting for government SBIR/STTRs.

Elizabeth Christensen, Iowa Western SBDC Regional Director

Elizabeth returned to Council Bluffs in 2020 to raise a family near her parents and continues participating in the community with economic development and business projects. Her hobbies include chaos gardening, being a patron of the arts, and raising her toddler, whom she adores.

America’s SBDC Iowa is an outreach program of Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business and the Office of Economic Development and Industry Relations. Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to the Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515-294-7612, Hotline 515-294-1222, email eooffice@iastate.edu.

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, America’s SBDC Iowa has 15 regional assistance centers located strategically across the state. Since the program’s inception in 1981, the SBDC has helped Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through no fee, confidential, customized, professional business counseling and practical, affordable training workshops.

For more information on America’s SBDC Iowa programs or services, call (515) 294-2030 or visit www.iowasbdc.org, https://www.facebook.com/AmericasSBDCIowa, or https://twitter.com/IowaSBDC.