Alumni Spotlight – Steve Bisenius

Steve Bisenius first became involved in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) shortly after he was elected to the Iowa Senate in 1976, as one of its youngest members. While a senator, he was very active in ALEC, serving as its State Chairman for Iowa.

“I first joined ALEC at the invitation from one of its founding members, Governor Terry Branstad.  As a new legislator, ALEC provided me with a wealth of valuable information to be best prepared on very critical and timely issues. The ability to discuss these issues with ALEC members from other states was equally valuable.”

Steve joined other ALEC members in the Ronald Reagan administration, Ann Gorsuch and Brad Cates, at the USEPA.  He then went onto the U.S. Department of Commerce where he helped develop a new program, Business Government Relations.  This program was designed to help state legislators take a more active role in job development for their districts through international trade.

Currently, Steve is the CEO of an economic development organization in southeast Iowa, where he helps start up companies convert their concepts into new manufactured products, as well as attracting new manufacturing plants to the region. Most recently, he helped attract a $2 billion state of the art fertilizer plant, requiring 4,000 construction workers to build the plant.

“I joined the ALEC Alumni Association after discussions with ALEC Past National Chair, Linda Upmeyer, because I believe ALEC is the organization that is best positioned to help elected officials become more influential in the direction of their states. What I am doing to help develop jobs is what every member of ALEC can do to help their districts and their states—and I would like to help every way I can.”