Facing Des Moines: Meet Bomi Mistry

When you meet Bomi Mistry, you will enjoy the encounter. He is very smart, quick, engaging, and genuinely funny. If you meet his mother Mehroo, who goes by Mary, or his wife Louise, or either of his sons, Cyrus or Eric, you will understand that those wonderful qualities run in the family. What a great family!

Bomi’s newest adventure is FUEL - For Body and Mind, a juice bar; it’s located in Suite 210 of the West Glen Town Center across from the Fountain Plaza and close to the Aspen Athletic Club. (map) With the focus on health their yogurt, fruit smoothies, boosts, and supplements appeal to those in training and fitness programs as well as those just looking for healthy snacks (no added sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no HFCS, and no additives). I had a Mango Tango, and I am definitely going back for more.

Bomi was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), a beautiful and wealthy city, the financial heart of India, a coastal city on the Arabian Sea, a sister city to Los Angeles, and at more than 13 million citizens one of the most populous cities in the world. Being born in Bombay gave Bomi a running start at life: outstanding schools; highly competitive environment; expectation of success. In his sophomore year in high school he was chosen for a very competitive Rotary International Scholarship for study abroad. It put him in Williams Lake, British Columbia - from a tropical city of 8 million to a town of 8 thousand near the Rockies, and he said it was a welcome, perhaps even prophetic culture shock.

Later he earned a B.A. in economics from Grinnell College and an M.B.A. from Washington University after which he invested 20 very successful years in the mortgage divisions of Principal, Nationwide, and Citibank. The current mortgage turmoil prompted his new venture at FUEL, in which he is the sole proprietor.

Noting that sometimes parental mistakes have wonderful outcomes, Bomi recalled promising his older son (then in middle school and now in college) that if he made all A’s, a vacation and surfing lessons in California would be the reward. You can guess the outcome of that offer. Every year since, the family has visited beaches in Southern California and Hawaii. It was on those vacations that the Mistry family encountered the great juice bars that provided the inspiration for their current endeavor. Thanks to hard working teenagers, we have Midwesterners surfing on the West Coast and a West Coast juice bar in the Metro. It’s a good exchange!

Bomi continues to be an avid reader. Recent favorites include

• Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
• Sway by Zachary Lazar
• If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar
• Hindi Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan
• and a continuing reread of The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

Treat yourself. Get to know Bomi Mistry, and visit FUEL - For Body and Mind for something healthy. You’ll be glad twice.

photos by Luther Erickson and Jim Lindberg

Facing Des Moines: Meet Andrew C. Schlievert

Andy Schlievert has a mind that doesn’t quit. Put that together with a problem-solving approach to life, and you’ve got an inventor. Add to that a business mind, just the right number of friends, and the ability to work with others, and you’ve intellectual property and a business. And that is what Andy Schlievert is up to.

Working downtown for ING insurance, he regularly saw blind people struggling to navigate the Des Moines Skywalk using a white cane - encountering ramps, corners, hard objects, and moving people. Thinking every minute he put together the concepts of white cane, global positioning, voice-activation, and ultrasonic range finding or SONAR technology and the genesis of an invention emerged. The patent is pending and therefore because the product is still being developed, all you will see is a rough sketch of his invention called the Inveo but click on the image to see words associated with the components. Andy’s business is called Invesions, a contraction of inventing and visions

Curtis Chong a field director for the Iowa Department for the Blind and the Technology Director for the National Federation of the Blind has been particularly helpful. Andrew is also working toward a prototype development with an engineering design coordinator at Iowa State.

Andy was born and raised in Algona, Iowa where he attended Algona High School. While in high school he entered the Iowa State Science and Technology Fair where he qualified for the Intel International Science Fair in 2002 and again in 2005. He did well in 2002 as a 15 year old and 2005 as an 18 year old, winning a 3rd Award in the engineering category.

In Des Moines during the times Andy is not working at ING or developing his invention, he has been attending AIB College of Business where he has already earned an Associate’s degree and is working on his Bachelor’s.

Recently a couple of books have his attention. He first mentioned Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now a book that is nicely reviewed on ABC’s website. He also cited Campus CEO, A Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business by Randel Pinkett.

You will have to watch closely for Andrew Schlievert. You will find him downtown at ING, going to school at AIB, working on his invention and Invesions, at the New Iowa Entrepreneurs Coalition meet-up group at the Pappajohn Center, or about town. He is a young man on the go, full of ideas and positive ambition.

photo courtesy of stock.xchng

photos by james lindberg

Facing Des Moines: Meet Desmund Adams

Desmund Adams is a talent magnet. In June 2005 he founded the Talent Acquisition Group of Johnston, Iowa and has served as its Principal since. Honored by Business Record in October 2007 with the Best Kept Secret Award, Talent Acquisition Group continues to enjoy a national reputation for its retained executive searches.

A native of University Park, IL (home of Governors State University), Desmund came to Des Moines and earned two degrees at Drake University, first a Bachelor of Science degree in the School of Education and then a Doctor of Jurisprudence in the Drake Law School. While in law school Desmund interned with The Honorable Louis A. Lavorato (former Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court) and with The Honorable Don C. Nickerson (formerly District Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa and now the Judge in District Court 5C of Iowa). Returning to Chicago for his first professional positions, he learned excellent career skills from Lawrence Richardson, Managing Director of Investment Banking with Wachovia and Alex DuBuclet Principal of the Exeter Group of Illinois.

But here is the measure of the man.

• First, being a great father is a closely-held value for Desmund. As a consequence he moved back to Des Moines to be close to his young son.
• Second, he and his local fraternity brothers from Alpha Phi Alpha (historically a fraternity for African-American men) have put their concern for young people into a local action program called Project Alpha. In 2006 local alumni including Desmund made a five year commitment to mentor high school students at East and Roosevelt through in-school and after-school discussions of the strengths required to be successful in business and life. One piece of advice he gives is, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow doesn’t exist. You must focus your attention on today because that will affect your consequences tomorrow.”
• Third, Desmund is National Chairman of Alpha Phi Alpha’s College Life to Corporate Life Initiative (C2C).  He designed and developed the Champions of Change Internship Program here in Des Moines. The C2C program was based on the local Champions of Change Internship design. The national fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, has very recently built upon this program of internships for ethnically diverse high school and college men and women. National corporate participants include Wells Fargo Financial. Desmund’s experience and commitment to right action for youth have allowed him to be a strong contributor to the design and functioning of these internship programs at both the local and the national level.

A favorite book is Harvey Mackay’s Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive.

Around Des Moines you may find Desmund Adams golfing at one of the municipal courses or eating at Fleming’s Steakhouse or the sports bar Tonic.

Watch for Desmund Adams around Des Moines. At 6′5″ he’s hard to miss, and you will want to meet him.

photos by James Lindberg

Facing Des Moines: Meet Susan Noland

Susan Noland is a skilled artisan whose craft includes conception, design and hand-creation of one-of-a-kind jewelry and gifts. She has done this for 30 years in her shop, Susan Noland Designs in Gold, in the Roosevelt Cultural District. Although she works in the shadow of Roosevelt High School, Susan is a graduate of Des Moines Lincoln. After completing her undergraduate work at Drake University, she was offered Drake’s first-ever graduate assistantship in art by then department chair, the late Leonard Good. At the same time she also taught jewelry classes at the Des Moines Art Center. After receiving her M. F. A. from Drake she served on the faculty for 5 years before opening her own business.

Facing Des Moines: Meet Randy Torgeson

Randy Torgeson, the King of Cubes (as in cubic inches) is known around the world for building cylinders and other parts for the biggest American-made, V-twin motorcycle engines on the planet. His project last week was a 167 cubic inch engine that is heading to Australia. When I visited on 8/2, an engine had just arrived from a customer in South Africa. Hyperformance in Pleasant Hill is not the place you will find someone to work on just any bike, but if you want a complete, Hyperformance long block engine, cylinders machined from ductile iron (an iron-magnesium alloy), titanium connecting rods, or other specialty parts, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll find Randy Torgeson working in his shop 65-70 hours a week. His specialty cylinders and an engine he built are in a 205 called Woody (styled after a California Woodie) built for Doc Hopkins, a Harley dealer in WI who likes to ride with Jay Leno. Another set of cylinders is going into the world’s largest custom motorcycle engine, a 260 being assembled in Des Moines by Radical Cycle and Randy’s business partner Kent Croskey. You can see the bike on You Tube. You will also find Randy answering technical questions at his website or at the V-Twin Forum.

Facing Des Moines: Meet David H. Maxwell

You probably know Des Moines native David Maxwell from school, 

• East High School where he was Student Body President in 1988-89
• University of Iowa where he majored in English
• North High School where he student-taught
• Lincoln High School where he taught English and African-American Literature for 8 years
• Iowa State University where he earned a master’s degree in educational leadership
• Hoover High School where he was Dean of Students for 3 years or
• Valley High School where he is currently one of three Associate Principals.

So depending on your age you may know him as David, Dave, or if you are young enough, as Mr. Maxwell, and no matter where you’ve met him, I’d wager a lot of money that you like him. He has a positive, proactive approach to life and supports the goals of those around him, whether they are supervisors, peers or students. 

David Maxwell is a family man, very appreciative and loving of his wife, three children, and parents. I asked him what advice he would give a grandchild if he had one. The advice is a good set of descriptors of the person I met.

• Read.
• Treat others as you would be treated.
• Count your blessings.  

David Maxwell also has a fun-loving persona expressed as “Flex” Maxwell, the bass guitarist and one of three members who founded Faculty Lounge eight years ago. You can listen to a very old interview and hear their music on You Tube, read their bios, or see their pictures from the Barack Obama rally in the East Village in May. If you’ve heard them lately, you know that Faculty Lounge is great fun, high energy, and very talented. Check their schedule and be ready to have fun.

Make no mistake. As fun and personable as he is, David has a wonderful intensity that may dawn on you only later. Those who have had him in a classroom may know this best. I asked him about books, and he quickly found and quoted passages from The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley (and reviewed recently in History Now). Now I’ve been out of high school for 50 years, I don’t do homework, and this autobiography has been around for over 40 years. But after David shared two quotes from the book, I bought it on my way home, stayed up late reading, and started in again this morning. That kind of intensity. He may be out of the classroom, but he is still the teacher. 

Watch for David Maxwell around Des Moines, at Valley High School, playing in Valley Junction (8/14) or Indianola (8/15), or just out and about.

Facing Des Moines: Meet Russ Melby

Thousands of Iowans in a hundred communities across the state know Russ Melby. You should know him too. Formally known as the Reverend Russell J. A. Melby, Russ is the Iowa Regional Director of Church World Service whose Iowa office is headquartered in Des Moines. As such he oversees and works with volunteers to organize CROP Hunger Walks in more than 100 cities and towns across the state. The purpose of Hunger Walks is to raise money to alleviate hunger and suffering in parts of the US and the world.

Born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota Russ earned a bachelor’s degree from NDSU after a slightly longer than usual college career that Russ claims was greatly enhanced by a four year interruption where he served in the United States Navy (1966-70). In the Navy he worked in the supply department aboard a tender, a destroyer escort, a DER, and a DD. He credits the reading that he did in the Navy with helping to direct and form his character in very positive ways.

Speaking of reading, without hesitation he named three of his recent favorite books as

• Why Study the Past? The Quest for the Historical Church, by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
• The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations, by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and
• The Bible: A Biography, by Karen Armstrong.

After graduating from NDSU in 1974 Russ went on to the Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary in Minneapolis (now Luther Seminary in St. Paul). He served as Pastor at Pioneer Lutheran Church in White, South Dakota for 5 years before accepting a call to service with CWS here in Des Moines in 1984.

I’m sure it’s not a surprise that he loves his job, and there is probably only one call to service that would take him from Des Moines. Do the Green Bay Packers need a Chaplain? That might do it. There is a small Packer shrine in the corner of Russ’s office: cheese head, photos of old and new Lambeau Field, paperweight, game photos, Packer note cube, and more. Definitely a fan of the Packers.

So if you want to find Russ Melby, where will you run across him?

• in his office at 3816 36th St.
• on the road in Iowa for CROP
• on occasion filling in as guest pastor to talk about his work for CROP and Church World Service
• at home in Ames, or
• at one of his favorite Des Moines restaurants: Tandoor; Bravo! Cucina Italiana; A Dong; Baratta’s.

Look for him around Des Moines.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell Collegeand retired from Drake University.

CROP is an acronym for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.

Church World Service is an ecumenical collection of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian churches and several affiliated organizations including Heifer International, YMCA, YWCA, and others “acting on God’s call to serve neighbors in need.” Quoting from their literature, “Working with partners, Church World Service builds interfaith and intercultural coalitions to eradicate hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice around the world.”

Facing Des Moines: Meet Mark Johnson

Meet Mark Johnson. You may find him working at his home business (Chairman of the Board), showing his hand-crafted furniture around town, working at Dahl’s on Ingersoll, showing and selling plants with his wife in the spring (from their garden), or even driving his vintage 1937 Packard.

As Chairman of the Board Mark Johnson crafts wooden leisure chairs for the garden and porch. The Adirondacks or Mackinac Island might come to mind when you see his work. Mark works from home, often outside in the driveway or garden. If you want to see his pieces, he will be

• at the Des Moines Botanical Center for Jazz in July on Tuesday July 22nd with the jazz starting at 6 pm,
• at Beaverdale Park at 34th and Adams for Jazz in July on Saturday  July 26 also at 6 pm, and
• on the lawn at Hoyt Sherman Place on Sunday July 27 for the Art Affair from 10-4. You can expect 30 artists and vendors there.

Mark’s family, Swedish on both sides, moved to Des Moines from Minnesota; his father served as minister at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church starting in 1947. Mark was born and raised in Des Moines, graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1966 and earning two degrees in Education at Drake where his favorite prof was the late Keach Johnson. One of his hobbies is reading and historical fiction has special appeal. Three of his recommendations are Water for Elephants, Pillars of the Earth, and A World without End.

What advice would he offer a grandchild? education, education, education.

Mark is a Navy veteran who served on an LSD (Landing Ship, Dock) with stops in Hawaii, Australia, Singapore, and Japan with one in Vietnam.

Look for Mark around Des Moines.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Facing Des Moines

Let’s put a face on Des Moines. We are more than the CEOs, weather forecasters, politicians, sports stars, celebrities and criminals that seem to dominate the news. Fear, disaster, celebrity and excitement sell more soap, cars, drugs, beer, food, and political ads than your typical day so that is what we read and hear. While the City of Des Moines is a collective group, those who live here are individual. Friday I will start a weekly blog entry called “Facing Des Moines.”  I hope to give you a glimpse of a person worth knowing: a typical citizen who you might not otherwise encounter and probably not someone you’d read about in the Des Moines Register or see on KCCI. It will be someone who makes Des Moines a better place, someone who meets responsibilities as a citizen and family member, someone who is working, paying taxes, and pursuing a good life. Unless you’re the person who is the face this week, it won’t be you, and lucky for you, it won’t be me.

If you are looking in from another city, state, or country, be prepared to put some real faces on Des Moines. If you live in Greater Des Moines, meet your neighbors. In either case, see who we are: people, faces, stories, not yours - ours. When? Fridays.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.