I.C. chamber board members named

Four local business leaders have joined the Board of Directors of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Scott Fisher, McCrossen Consulting; Hass Machlab, Innovative Software Engineering; Alex Taylor, Woofables, The Gourmet Dog Bakery and Matt Traetow, hotelVetro/Sheraton Iowa City will lend their expertise to the policy-making body.

Craig Willis of Security Abstract Company and Willis & Willis Law Firm has been named 2012 Board Chair, while Rick White of HR Green will assume the role of secretary.

Scott Fisher is the president of McCrossen Consulting, a multi-service employee benefits consulting firm. He has bachelors and law degrees from the University of Iowa. He is a 1995-1996 alumnus of the Iowa City Area Chamber Community Leadership Program.

He also has serves as an adjunct lecturer in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business where he teaches risk management and employee benefit plan classes for the Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance.

His community activities include current and past service on several boards, including the Iowa City Area Development Group, the Mercy Hospital Foundation, Mercy, Iowa City, the Mercy Iowa City Regional PHO, VSA Iowa, and the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, he is the Cub master of a local Cub Scout Pack. He and his wife, Pat and two sons live in Iowa City.

Hass Machlab is president of Innovative Software Engineering (ISE), a Coralville-based company started in 2002.  ISE provides custom software development services and system integration, specifically targeting markets including ground transportation and wireless communications.

As founder of ISE, Mr. Machlab has extensive experience in both software engineering and management.  He has been instrumental in the development of the eFleetSuite software applications targeted for the transportation industry.

Mr. Machlab grew up in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain.  He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1995, Mr. Machlab began his telematics career, working in Transportation Systems at Rockwell International.

He left Rockwell to lead the engineering team at Diversified Software Industries/NEXIQ. In this capacity, he headed the development of a major telematics product that allowed remote diagnostics of vehicles for the trucking industry.  Mr. Machlab has consulted on various telematics products for industry-leading solutions providers.

Mr. Machlab is a member of the Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Association.  He is also actively involved with Rotary International, the Iowa City Area Development Group and the United Way.

Alex Taylor is co-owner and the go-2-dog at Woofables Gourmet Dog Biscuit Bakery in Coralville. Additionally, he is the associate director for Executive MBA Programs at the University of Iowa, as well as adjunct faculty in the Entrepreneurial Program.

Taylor has more than 22 years of business leadership experience in marketing, marketing/communications, and business development for several organizations including Parsons Technology/Intuit (Cedar Rapids, IA), Dell Computer Corporation (Round Rock, TX), and Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, WI).

Along the way he has helped with a few successful start-up businesses, and has been a member/leader in several different chambers of commerce and community organizations.

A native of Iowa City, he has moved and returned four times! This time Taylor plans to stay, along with his wife of 23 years, Laura (co-owner and top dog at Woofables), their four children (three teenage girls, and a young man), two dogs, and a few pesky fish.

Matt Traetow is the director of sales & marketing for the Sheraton and hotelVetro. He earned a bachelor's of arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1998 and a Certified Hospitality Sales Professional Designation in 2003.

Mr. Traetow is very active in the community and has served on several boards, including the Iowa City Coralville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Johnson County I-Club.  In addition, he has served on the local Sports Authority Advisory Committee, Iowa Touchdowns for Kids campaign group and has been very involved in the Chamber.

His Chamber involvement includes the Marketing Exchange group, Total Resource Campaign volunteer, North Liberty Steering Committee and chair of the Iowa City Roundtable in 2010. Mr. Traetow lives in North Liberty with his wife Jennifer and their three children, Whitney, Luke and Jordan.

Rick White is president of HR Green. HR Green is one the oldest engineering firms in the United States and enjoys a longstanding reputation for infrastructure stewardship, public service and technical excellence.

Prior to becoming president, Mr. White was the vice president of the firm's Transportation Business Unit that focused on designing roadways and bridges for state and local government. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University and has been a professional engineer since 1995.

Mr. White is also the author of various articles and white papers for federal and state infrastructure funding.

Mr. White has held leadership and board level positions for various professional and technical organizations as well as his church. He lives in Cedar Rapids with his wife, Nicki and two teenage children, Jeff and Abby.

Craig Willis is the owner of Security Abstract Corporation and Willis &Willis Law Firm. He earned a bachelor's of science in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University and a juris doctorate with high distinction from the University of Iowa.

Mr. Willis is very active in the community and has served on a variety of boards, including the Iowa City Community School District, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County and Iowa City Hospice.

In addition, he has served on the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Commission, Iowa City Riverfront Commission and the Iowa City Area Chamber Local Government Affairs Committee. Mr. Willis lives in Iowa City with his wife Nancy.