Lydia Hornung

Lydia Hornung

Age: 35

Title: Communications strategy and visitor services manager, John Deere Des Moines Works

Family: Two daughters, Harper, 5, and Addison, 3

A reason why she is a Forty: She served as the 2018 chairman of the board for the Ankeny Chamber of Commerce and has been serving on that board since 2014 in various roles, and she served on the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Communications Board of Directors.

What drives her: Her grandmother’s example. “Growing up, I heard stories of my widowed grandmother raising her three children in the suburbs of Chicago with little education and broken English. She struggled for years working in factories to running her own restaurant to provide a better life for her children. As a widow myself, I know firsthand the struggles of single parenting. But I also know I can accomplish anything because of my grandmother’s drive and determination that lives inside me,” she said.

An interesting fact about Hornung: She enjoys attending Cubs and Bears games and seeing her daughters’ sporting events.