Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a former state legislator who once served as the Iowa GOP’s co-chair to lead the state agency responsible for handling personnel issues in state government.
Jim Kurtenbach will begin his new duties as director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services on July 1st. Governor Reynolds says she chose Kurtenbach because of his “depth of experience” and because of his “distinguished career in public service.”
Kurtenbach, a Waterloo native who lives in Nevada, served two terms in the Iowa House from January of 2003 until the beginning of 2007. Kurtenbach recently served in a variety of roles at Iowa State University. He resigned from his role as an ISU vice president two years ago and returned to teaching accounting.
In 2014, Kurtenbach was hired by then-Iowa State University president Steven Leath to serve as chief information officer on campus. Kurtenbach led an effort to modernize IT systems and reduce the workforce by about 30 full-time positions.
Kurtenbach also was Leath’s flight instructor for some of the final hours of training Leath needed to earn a certificate that allowed Leath to pilot a plane by himself. The state auditor later found Leath had misused a university-owned plane for personal reasons.