Our People

Billi Hunt was named the Executive Director of America’s Cultivation Corridor in February 2018. She brings over 20 years of experience in agriculture and the Iowa business community to the Corridor’s efforts to enhance agricultural sustainability and accelerate business development by attracting new companies, talent and capital to central Iowa. She works with Corridor investors, partners and other organizations to build the Corridor brand and broaden opportunities within the region.

Prior to joining America’s Cultivation Corridor, Hunt served as Government Affairs Manager for DuPont, leading state-level advocacy, public-policy initiatives and government-related business collaborations for the U.S. Central region, and throughout the United States. She also worked for Optimum Quality Grains, LLC, and Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce.

An Iowa native, Hunt received her Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University and her Master of Public Administration from Drake University. She and her husband Mike Elam and children live in Urbandale, Iowa.

Scott is a trial attorney, certified licensing professional and registered patent attorney with expertise in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret litigation, and licensing. Scott represents clients in state and federal court proceedings on a variety of intellectual property matters, including patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement, unfair competition, tortious interference and licensing disputes. He also prosecutes mechanical, software and business method patents, as well as trademark and copyright applications.

Scott frequently performs related opinion work involving in-depth analysis of patent validity and infringement questions and files patents in the mechanical and electrical arts. His experience spans numerous industries, including automotive, business services, consumer products, food and agriculture, health care, industrial manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, construction, manufacturing, genetics and international importation in state, federal, and international jurisdictions and in patent and trademark prosecutions, appeals and reexaminations before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Scott received his Juris Doctorate degree from Drake University Law School.

Dr. Ye Lao holds a background in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Research and Development at Kemin Industries. Prior to this role, she was the Vice President of Marketing at Kemin China.

Ye brings decades of experience in corporate innovation management and strategic marketing to BioConnect Board of Advisors. At Kemin, product innovation is managed through the Product Innovation Process, a system based on the Stage Gate process but tailored to meet Kemin’s diverse industry goals. This process ensures that Kemin’s innovations align seamlessly with market demands and customer needs, leading to commercial success.

Kemin’s business segments range from mature business units to venture units, providing Ye with extensive experience in managing product development across different stages and sizes of businesses. Ye earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and her Executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Christine W. Sindt is a 1994 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. She completed a disease-based residency at the Cleveland VA Medical Center. Dr Sindt joined the Faculty of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in 1995, where she is a Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and Director of the Contact Lens Service. Dr Sindt is also the Director of Clinical Research for Oculus and a Board member for BioConnect Iowa. Dr Sindt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and Faculty for the AAO Clinical Investigator Course. She serves as an advisory board member for the GPLI, she is the 2010-2011 AOA CLCS Chair, Past President of Women of Vision, Past President and co-founder of the Scleral Lens Education Society, and several start-up companies, including EyePrint Prosthetics Custom Impression Scleral Lenses.

Dr. Ashtyn Zinn currently serves as the Director of Technical Services and Material Sciences for Elanco Animal Health. She brings over a decade of experience in the biologics industry, previously holding positions in both human and animal health. In her current role, Ashtyn focuses on bringing innovative solutions to the animal health industry through commercialization of new vaccines and implementation of improved technologies. She also engages with startups to provide support and insight to aid their development of new commercial scale manufacturing solutions.

Ashtyn is enthusiastic about building strong partnerships with academic institutions to provide opportunities to the next generation of industry leaders and entrepreneurs. She guest lectures courses at Iowa State University to ready students for careers in industry and serves as an adjunct professor at Iowa Central Community College in the Biology Department.

Ashtyn grew up in Southern Indiana where she completed a BS in Biology at the University of Southern Indiana. She went on to complete a MPH in Administration and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Toledo.

Debi Durham was appointed by Governor Terry Branstad in January 2011. As one of her first orders of business, Debi worked with the Governor and legislators to restructure the department to create a public-private partnership to update and improve Iowa’s delivery of economic development services. That led to the creation of the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress – the umbrella organization for the new structure. Debi now serves as the Director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the public arm that replaces IDED and oversees the traditional economic development programs.

Prior to leading Iowa’s economic development initiatives, Debi served as President of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce since July 1995. She also served as President of The Siouxland Initiative (TSI), the economic development corporation serving the tri-state metropolitan area, and the Siouxland Chamber Foundation. In both 2007 and 2008, TSI was recognized as one of the “Top-Ten” economic development groups in the nation.

In June 2009, the Downtown Rotary Club in Sioux City recognized Debi as their Key Way award winner. The annual recipient is recognized as a local leader who has “contributed greatly to the health and prosperity of the area through business and community involvement.” Debi was also recognized by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry as one of “Five Iowa Women You Should Know” in 2007. In 2003, she was named to the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame and was the Republican Lt. Gubernatorial candidate in 2002.

Debi holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Marketing and Management degree from Missouri Southern State University. She and her husband Joel have two children.

Dr. Jordan Kaufmann is a Biomedical Engineer turned entrepreneur and now supports others on similar paths. She currently leads two University spinout and innovation programs, UI Ventures and Iowa MADE, designed to advance promising university technologies from concept to commercialization.

In UI Ventures Jordan advises faculty entrepreneurs across the University of Iowa as they develop their ideas into spinout companies. She has assisted over 50 companies with business strategy, securing funding, building teams, and navigating both university and regulatory environments. Jordan also conceived and leads a unique e-commerce platform for medical technologies, Iowa MADE, to spur faculty innovation and student experiential learning opportunities where she leads the development, manufacturing, marketing, and sales efforts of multiple medical device products.

Prior to joining University of Iowa, Jordan was a co-founder, President, and CTO of startup, Cardiovate, developing tissue engineered vascular grafts to reconstruct diseased blood vessels. She was also a Biomedical Engineer for a medical decision support technology startup and a market analyst for a health-related marketing and consulting company. Jordan received a BS in Biomedical Engineering from NC State University and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at San Antonio.

David also serves as interim vice president for economic development and industry relations for Iowa State University. Before joining Iowa State in 2013, he served for eight years at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, most recently as senior vice president and senior advisor to Dartmouth’s president.  Before entering higher education, Spalding had a 29-year career in finance in New York City. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth and his MBA from New York University.

Robin is the president of CIVCO Medical Solutions, a leading global supplier of specialty medical devices with a mission to make image-guided procedures safer.

She joined CIVCO in 1991, when it was a founder-led privately held start-up, launched by a University of Iowa sonographer. Her first position was leading the company’s marketing department and overseeing branding, promotions, PR, merchandising, and advertising. CIVCO enjoyed rapid growth, and she held leadership roles in OEM business development, international market expansion, and new product development. She was instrumental in several CIVCO strategic acquisitions, leading due diligence and integration efforts. She served as GM of CIVCO’s MMI business unit and was the driver and executive sponsor overseeing the launch of CIVCO’s first international manufacturing operation in Juarez, Mexico.

Robin was named CIVCO president in April 2017, embarking on an initiative to better define the company mission, vision, culture, and community engagement. Since then, CIVCO has been named the “Coolest Place to Work” by the Corridor Business Journal, and employee engagement scores, measured by Gallup, have reached world-class levels.

Under her leadership, CIVCO has been active in supporting local organizations including the Johnson County and Washington County United Way, Coralville Food Pantry, March of Dimes, and Shelter House.

She is also personally engaged in community activities, serving on the Iowa City Area Development (ICAD) board chair, executive leadership as well as the ICAD Board of Directors, The Iowa City Area Business Partnership executive leadership and board, She has also been involved with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Executive Committee and Circle of Red Committee. In addition, Therme was recently an adjunct professor, co-teaching a leadership and personal development class for the Tippie College of Business’s online MBA program.

In 2022, Robin took over as chair of the ICAD Board and will do the same for the Iowa City Area Business Partnership Board in 2023. She is also a member of the State of Iowa’s IEDA Iowa Innovation Council.

Therme holds an MBA from the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and a BA from Iowa Wesleyan University where she was also on the women’s basketball team. She has a daughter, Shelby Kovach, a recent MBA graduate of the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. She and her husband Dave reside in Coralville.