Jon Sargent

President and CEO
Todd & Sargent Inc.

Age: 38

Partner: Wife Emily Sargent

Mentor: Phil Sargent, retired from Todd & Sargent Inc.

Why he’s a Forty: Jon is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization Iowa Executive Committee. He served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Business Advisory Council. He is a past board president of the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation and incoming board president of Friendship Ark Homes.

What are your goals in your role at your company? 

My biggest goal at Todd & Sargent is to create a really talented team of people who are passionate about doing great things together the right way and building on the work of those who have come before us.

What are your goals for your community involvement? 

My biggest goal as a philanthropist is to find those people and organizations who are having an outsized impact on the community and support them with my time, skill set and resources to help them drive real benefit in the world.

What's your biggest passion, and why? 

My biggest passion is to learn. There’s a whole big, amazing world out there, and if you’re not learning and growing from it, then you’re missing out.

What is it that drives you? 

People often ask if I felt obligated to come back and "work at the family business.” To the contrary, it has never felt like an obligation but like a true privilege. It is so powerfully motivating to have 88 years of history and success to build upon.

What are your future aspirations? 

At work, I’m most excited to help continue building an organization that will stand the test of time. Outside of work, I’m eager to help create a unique, vibrant, engaging Central Iowa community.

Three hobbies: Pretty basic stuff: reading, running, seeing the world. The occasional vintage pinball game.

Fun Fact: Jon knows pi to 101 digits.

ONE word: Learner.

What is your wish for the Central Iowa business community? 

I'd love to grab a beer with Tanner Krause sometime. We obviously have very different businesses, but I'm always interested to learn from other people.

Anything else you haven't addressed that people must know about you?  

I’m a proud fifth-generation Iowan with a long family history in Des Moines. I have a passion for family history — I’m currently in the process of scanning 300-plus letters that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother while he was serving in the Pacific during WWII. I recently finished spearheading a 400-page Sargent family history book with my cousin and a local historian. My wife, Emily, and I are licensed foster parents and are so glad to be able to support local kids in need through the program.