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 started work for the SBDC as its regional director June 1.
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.
“Brandi has invaluable experience in business and education, as well as a history with the SBDC,” said Tom Lesan, Vice President of Economic Development at Southwestern Community College in a press release. “We were fortunate to have a candidate of her caliber. She knows the region and will undoubtedly hit the ground running.”
Shay said 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.