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Our guest speaker will be Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. Director Townsend has general supervision over the various services IWD provides to Iowans. The director prepares, administers, and controls the budget of the department and its divisions along with Rod Roberts who is the Division of Labor Commissioner and Joseph S. Cortese II who is the Division of Workers’ Compensation Commissioner. She also serves as the chair of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies Veterans Affairs Committee. Director Townsend is a graduate of Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska, and the University of Nebraska Law School.  She is a member of the Nebraska and Iowa state bar.

Director Townsend was appointed by Gov. Branstad and confirmed by Iowa Senate unanimously March 24, 2015. She previously served as the Director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Prior to that, Director Townsend was in private practice in West Des Moines, Iowa, in the area of civil rights and employment law. Director Townsend also served as a member of the Judge Advocate General, United States Air Force. She retired from the Air Force Reserve after 21 years of active and reserve duty.