Prominent Des Moines entrepreneur and business innovator Tej Dhawan was named vice-chair/chair-elect of the Central College Board of Trustees at the group’s spring meetings Saturday.
Dhawan will succeed current board chair Lanny Little on July 1, 2018. Over the next year, he’ll work closely with Little and with Central president Mark Putnam in leading the board.
A 1991 Central graduate, Dhawan was student body president as an undergrad, and joined the trustees in 2002 after six years of service on the college’s National Advisory Council. Dhawan served as the board’s Finance Committee chair from 2009-12 and has also served on board committees for Student Life, Executive Compensation, Investment and Trusteeship, as well as the Executive Committee. He was also a board representative on the Presidential Search Committee that brought Putnam to Central in 2010.
Little has served as chair since 2011 and joined the trustees in 1987.
“I’ve worked closely with Tej throughout his time on the board and have tremendous confidence in his leadership,” Little said. “He succeeded me as finance committee chair. We’ve seen him excel in that role and he has a wide range of experiences in other areas of the board. He’s been particularly active in the governance of the board, which is a critical component of the board chair’s responsibilities.
“There’s broad recognition by other board members of his fervent commitment to the college stretching back to his time as a student leader at Central. I think this is seen as a logical step, given the board’s deep respect for Tej.”
Putnam called Dhawan a cutting-edge innovator and thought leader.
“Tej is a catalyst,” Putnam said. “He is generative in everything he touches from the creation of innovative business enterprises to working on state policy issues and economic development.”
He is an ideal fit, Putnam said, for moving the college forward in a rapidly changing higher education landscape while retaining a sense of the rich and historic heritage of one of Iowa’s oldest liberal arts colleges, calling him well-prepared for the role and passionate about Central. The college was founded in 1853.
“The amount of service to the college and number of leadership roles Tej has already filled is really impressive for a young alumnus,” Putnam said. “He has a deep, abiding commitment to Central and carries the right mindset to fulfill the role of the chair, cherishing the proud traditions of our past while reaching for innovations that will help the college thrive in the future.”
Dhawan said he’s grateful for the opportunity to remain involved.
“Central was, and remains, a very critical part of my life,” he said. “The six years of disconnect post-graduation were really strange for me emotionally. My colleagues, hearing of my continued involvement with Central, are very surprised, but I feel a sense of connection, a sense of belonging, that is fulfilling and is very much a fabric of my life.”
The chair’s chief responsibility is governance of the board, including fiduciary responsibility, and oversight of the president. Among other duties, the board chair maintains regular contact with the president, reviews expense reports, chairs board meetings and retreats, reviews agendas, appoints committee members and works with the president to recruit prospective trustees. The chair serves as a board spokesperson and, in the absence of the president, for the college as well.
A highly regarded central Iowa business leader, early stage investor and startup advocate, Dhawan serves as partner and lead investor for Entrepreneurial Technologies, LLC, a professional software development company focusing on business-process systems and applications. In 2016 he became managing partner for Mango Seed Investments, a group of top seed-stage investors with early stakes in promising, high-growth startups. He is a member of the Midwest Angel Syndicate, combining angel groups from Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa and has served as interim managing director for Global Insurance Accelerator and the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator in Des Moines. Dhawan works on these endeavors closely with the Greater Des Moines Partnership members and thought leaders.
Dhawan filled a void in the Des Moines entrepreneurial ecosystem as co-founder of Startup City Des Moines, an incubator, co-working space and entrepreneurial hub which he helped operate from 2011-14.
Dhawan rose to prominence as president of Advanced Technologies group from 1995-2010. He was a founding lead for the company, providing software for enterprise management software for the federal and state corrections industry.
A member of the Iowa Governor’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Advisory Council from 2012-15, Dhawan is active in the Greater Des Moines Partnership, serving on councils for entrepreneurship and immigration. From 2014-16 he was a member of the American Immigration Council and since 2011 he’s served with the Technology Association of Iowa, an independent board focused on advancing the state’s technology industry and resources.
Since 2010, Dhawan has served on the board for Ballet Des Moines and is currently the president of its board of directors.
Dhawan said he’ll continue relying on Little in carrying out his new responsibilities, and praised Little’s service.
“Lanny is an amazing mentor,” he said. “The best leaders are the ones who don’t tell you they’re the leader, they lead through action, they lead through counsel and through mentorship. Through such counsel and mentorship, Lanny has shepherded a large segment of this board to be servant leaders of this wonderful institution. Any of us could have taken this job. That’s the mark of a good leader. I’m just glad to have him as a mentor and I hope he stays on the board for a long time.
“In addition to Lanny, we’re also very lucky to have members of this board, emeritus and present, who have led this institution at various times. To become part of a team where they’re all around us and can guide and counsel in ways a single person could not; I’m really grateful for that opportunity.”
With 1,250 students, Central is a private, residential four-year liberal arts college known for its academic rigor and strength in global experiential learning, STEM, sustainability education, athletics success and tradition, and leadership and service. Central continues to value its long-standing relationship with the Reformed Church in America. The college participates in NCAA Division III athletics and is a member of the Iowa Conference. Central is an active part of the greater Des Moines region and just two minutes from Lake Red Rock, Iowa’s largest lake.
