When it comes to growing one’s business, the honoree at this year’s Glanton Scholarship Dinner has a green thumb. Connie Wimer purchased a small Des Moines title company in 1976; two years later, it was the largest in Polk County, eventually expanding into adjacent counties and employing more than 75 people.
In 1981, Wimer purchased a legal publication with a circulation of 700. She expanded it in 1983 as the Des Moines Business Record, which now has a weekly readership of more than 25,000 as well as 10 sibling publications as part of her company, Business Publications Corp.
Wimer has enriched more than central Iowa’s business community, however. She created a number of annual events, including Women of Influence and Forty Under 40, recognizing women and younger people who contribute to the community. She serves on several charitable boards, including those of the Des Moines Arts Festival, the Iowa Newspaper Foundation and Morningside College, her alma mater. She was the first woman to chair the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce and the first elected to the Greater Des Moines Committee’s Business Hall of Fame. She has received many awards honoring her professional achievements and civic service.
The Glanton Scholarship Dinner will occur on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, at the Meadows Events and Conference Center, Altoona, IA, beginning with a reception at 5:30 p.m. The event is named in honor of Willie Stevenson Glanton and the late Judge Luther T. Glanton Jr., both attorneys, civic leaders and longtime members of the DMU Board of Trustees. The Glanton Scholarship Fund provides scholarships for qualified minority students in DMU’s three colleges.
Seating at the Glanton Scholarship Dinner is limited. To register for the event, visit www.dmu.edu/donations/glanton/ or call the development office at 515-271-1387.
