Candi Karsjens is the the Executive Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship for the North Iowa Area Community College John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.
She first joined the NIACC Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in 2019 as the Director of Innovation and Acceleration and has over 30 years of business and industry experience, including owning several successful businesses. Her expertise ranges across strategic planning, organizational design, sales and marketing strategy, and capital structures and financing. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Strategy and Innovation.
Since 2019 Candi has been working with startups, and business owners on growth, strategic planning, capital finance, SBIR/STTR funding and is the lead instructor for Venture School, a University of Iowa program modeled after the NSF iCorps program for startups. Since joining the Center, Candi has committed to enhancing the Center’s capacity to assist entrepreneurs in achieving their visions for growth and expansion, build out the North Iowa mentor network and create effective regional economic development partnerships. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, mentoring, and creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation throughout Iowa.