Brandon Geib

Government relations counsel, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Age: 32

Fiancée: Abby Mills

Children: JP Britt

Reasons he is a Forty: He volunteers his time as a guest speaker and mentor at Drake University Law School. He was the recipient of the “Visible Leadership” award in his first year working at Black Hills Energy. He served on the Young Variety of Iowa Board. He is very active on the Federation of Iowa Insurers Health and Managed Care Committee.

What are your goals in your role at your company? The goal of my job is to help control costs for our company and our members while ensuring that we maintain a high-quality health insurance product. I do this by working at both the state and federal levels to educate elected officials and help create meaningful policy reforms. 

What are your goals for your community involvement? Currently, my goal is to continue to shine a spotlight on the legislative practice program at Drake University Law School. It is such a unique program that has placed countless students with Drake Law alumni at the Iowa Capitol and taught them how the lawmaking process truly works. 

What's your biggest passion, and why? Seeing the effects of the policy I’m helping to create in Iowa. This is an important place to call home, and working on legislation that encapsulates how people can lead healthy, productive lives in our state is truly important to me. 

What is it that drives you? My family. I remember living with my mother in a small, one-bedroom apartment as a child. I remember watching her make sacrifices and take risks to improve our day-to-day life as she grew her own career. I, along with my fiancée, very much work to impart those same motivations onto our 8-year-old today.

What are your future aspirations? I want to apply my skill set more broadly in my volunteer work. I know there are a lot of nonprofit groups like United Way that use committees to help set their legislative policy for the year in Iowa. I think it’s a really unique way to give back. 

Three hobbies: Going to Lambeau Field and cheering for the Green Bay Packers. Trying to play golf. Is drinking good bourbon a hobby?

Fun fact: A former governor of Iowa stole my lunch. I was working in his office as an intern and driving two hours each day to do it. I watched him walk past my desk eating grapes. I later found my lunchbox unzipped and my grapes gone!

One word to describe you: Gregarious.

What is your wish for the Central Iowa business community? Des Moines has a great food scene, and I would love to see that continue. We’ve got many staples that have survived the test of time, but we also have so many new and emerging options transforming the way we all look at quality food. I hope this continues. 

What's one piece of advice that you would give to a young professional? Schedule the coffee. So much of professional success is determined by who you know. When opportunities arise, you want to be thought of by the decision-maker. That only happens when you invest the time and energy to build relationships. Find someone you admire and set up a coffee.

What is one issue you would like to see Central Iowa leaders address? Speaking locally, a rapidly emerging issue is the future success of downtown Des Moines. Now that we are entering a post-pandemic reality, some large companies downtown have vacated their office space, electing instead to allow their employees to work remotely full time. Those same employees are what many small businesses located downtown rely on for weekly sales. I’m concerned this problem is only going to get worse, and hope to see thoughtful resolutions brought forward.