Regional Director, Small Business Development Center

The Regional Director of the University of Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) serves as a strategic leader for small-business and entrepreneurship support across the region. This role is responsible for the administrative, fiscal, and operational success of the center, ensuring the delivery of high-impact business counseling and training. The Director requires a blend of financial, entrepreneurial, advisory, and leadership capability, with demonstrated understanding of the challenges facing business owners and growth-oriented ventures. By integrating SBDC services with university resources and regional stakeholders, the Director drives measurable economic growth, job creation, and capital infusion throughout the service area.

The position reports to the Director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center and plays a key role in advancing the center’s mission of entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic impact across Johnson, Cedar, Poweshiek, Iowa, and Washington counties.

The position combines direct client advising, center leadership, regional partnership development, program innovation, and administrative oversight. The successful candidate must effectively manage competing priorities while maintaining an active advisory presence, fostering strategic partnerships, ensuring compliance with SBDC and SBA requirements, and demonstrating measurable impact for businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the region.

This position is eligible for hybrid work within Iowa and will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually and must comply with the remote work program and related policies.

Key Areas of Responsibilities & Specific Job Tasks

• Lead the delivery of high-quality SBDC advising and support services for a varied portfolio of businesses, including startups, growth-stage firms, and community-based small businesses.
• Provide strategic business counseling related to business planning, growth strategies, commercialization, operations, and capital readiness.
• Serve as a senior advisor to entrepreneurs, business owners, faculty, researchers, and innovation-driven ventures.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with businesses, economic development organizations, financial institutions, educational partners, and government agencies.
• Establish and maintain referral networks to expand resources available to clients.
• Represent the SBDC through workshops, speaking engagements, advising sessions, and community events.
• Ensure visibility of SBDC programs through marketing, communications, and public outreach efforts.
• Promote SBDC services through presentations, events, and strategic partnerships.
• Provide confidential business consulting services to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• Assist clients with business planning, growth strategies, and operational development.
• Support clients in securing financing, investment capital, and business resources.
• Develop and manage budgets to support SBDC operations and programming.
• Prepare and administer grants, contracts, and funding agreements.
• Ensure compliance with SBA, university, state, and federal requirements.
• Provide leadership and direction for SBDC operations and staff. Recruit, train, supervise, coach, and evaluate staff and consultants.

To obtain the full job description including key areas of responsibility, technical competencies, and desirable qualifications, please contact adrian-cunningham@uiowa.edu

Get to know the Tippie College of Business
Since 1847, the Tippie College of Business has cultivated a legacy of innovation, thought leadership, and excellence in business education. We have nearly 6,000 students within undergraduate, graduate, and PhD programs spanning six academic departments—accounting, business analytics, economics, finance, marketing, and management and entrepreneurship. We are eight centers and institutes, and four student-managed endowment funds. We’re over 59,000 alumni—and growing. Tippie is regularly listed in top business school rankings. We also hold the gold standard of accreditations, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and have maintained the accreditation for over 95 years (since 1923).

But who we are is not just in the curriculum we curate—it’s also in the community we create. Our leadership embraces our responsibility to pursue academic excellence within a welcoming environment where every student can thrive. More than 150 years after our founding, we continue to be a place where students can grow and flourish in their professional or academic careers.