T h e D o n o r ’s Tu r n

People who make a difference through generous giving

By Richard Potter

Mark Kittrell:
Building Community Strength
Through Technology
Bordered by the Missouri River to the
west and the Mississippi River to the
east, with countless creeks and rivers
in between, the people of Iowa are no
strangers to floods. Nothing, however,
compares to the disaster that struck
along the Cedar River in June 2008.
Families living in low-lying areas of the
Cedar Valley turned to organizations
such as the Salvation Army and Ameri-
can Red Cross for food and shelter, but
where do businesses find emergency as-
sistance? How do critical industries—
hospitals and utilities, for example—
prepare for disaster in the digital age?
Mark Kittrell, vice president of busi-
ness development for TEAM Technolo-
gies in Cedar Falls, Iowa, is driven to
provide solutions. He was in Chicago
supervising construction of a data cen-
ter on Sept. 11, 2001, when he watched
the incredible loss of life and critical in-
formation. “I knew information tech-
nology and data security would never
be the same,” he recalls.
A co-founder of TEAM Companies,
Kittrell has been involved in informa-
tion technology for more than 20 years.
TEAM’s business services include data
security for hospitals, schools, broad-
cast networks and utilities. “If those
things don’t work, you’ve got a huge
problem,” he says emphatically. “Your
community stops.”
The Iowa Health System, a health-
care company that operates 11 hospi-
tals and 135 clinics in the state, is a case
in point. As the floodwaters reached
record levels last June, the company
realized that a primary facility was
going to flood. It moved 130 servers
from the basement of its office in down-
town Cedar Rapids to the TEAM data
center in Cedar Falls. Its servers were
running again within 12 hours and it
was able to continue to serve patients
across the state.
The disaster recovery expertise at
TEAM also helped Cedar Falls Utilities
(CFU), providing ready access to phone
lines and furnished office space.
This same efficiency characterizes
Mark Kittrell
Kittrell’s volunteering and philanthro-
py as well.
A Passion for Economic
Development
Kittrell and his partners personify the
“get it done” attitude. They started
their first tech firm in 1986 and sold it
in 1998. As he recalls, “I was 40 years
old, had sold a company and was sort
of looking around wondering, ‘What
am I going to do now?’” A colleague in-
vited him to join the board of the Cedar
Valley Alliance. Before long other orga-
nizations were knocking on his door.
“Ultimately, I went from zero to
about six or eight different boards in
a matter of a year or two,” Kittrell
remembers. “Being one of those guys
who just can’t say no, I realized it was
time to figure out what part of volun-
teering I like. What things mean more

Getting It Done
Mark Kittrell, vice president of business development for TEAM Tech-
nologies in Cedar Falls, Iowa, explains what helps drive his giving back
to the community.
Q. How would you advise nonprofit leaders who want to recruit entre-
preneurs to the board of directors?
A. If you want to put me on a board to just show up at meetings, eat
your lunch and tell you what you want to hear, I’m definitely not your
kind of board member. On the other hand, if you have a major project
or are looking to transform the organization, I love to be involved in
that kind of change. And don’t expect me to stay indefinitely. I’m happy
to do it for a couple of years during those periods of change, but I
really don’t want to stay around forever.
Q. How would you advise entrepreneurs who would like to expand
their community involvement?
A. Entrepreneurs tend to have all their eggs in one basket, and a huge
percentage of their money and net worth is tied up in that one particu-
lar business. In our case, for the initial 10-plus years we spent building
the company, when somebody came and knocked on the door to ask,
‘Would you support this cause,’ we supported those things. But it re-
ally wasn’t until we had more liquidity that we had the chance to pull
back a bit and consider what the themes are that make sense from
our standpoint, that we’re trying to work on in our giving plan.
Q. Are there any new projects that you’re really excited about?
A. I’m working on The Techworks project with regional economic de-
velopment folks. The John Deere Tractor Works donated 43 acres of
old factory property along the river near downtown Waterloo, Iowa,
along with a substantial amount of money to help with the property

A d v a n c i n g P h i l a n t h ro p y 30 March | A p r i l 2009
 T h e D o n o r ’s Tu r n

to me and where do I feel like I can re-

ally do some good?”
He narrowed it down to two major
issues: economic development and en-
trepreneurship. Kittrell admits that his
motives are not purely altruistic. “This
is an area that has been good to my
family and to me for a long time, and
frankly, it is in need of work,” he says.
“We have to find ways to plug young
people into the things that need to be
done around here. Otherwise we’ll lose
them. We just don’t have the option of
continuing to export people and losing
our best and brightest.”
In response to this “brain drain,”
the state of Iowa identified technol-
ogy as an area of strength. Kittrell was
recruited to co-chair a committee to
develop a statewide strategy for attract- Participants in the annual CF³: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation + Cedar Falls Technology
ing businesses. and Industrial Park = Cure Found
“Like any good entrepreneur, I
pulled together a dozen of my col- state approved a $7.5 million grant to “As you push the supply side, the
leagues,” he says. “We showed up at support the initiative. demand side tends to pay attention
the first meeting and asked, ‘What do “That led to the creation of the to it as well,” he says. “Iowa has the
we have for resources?’ Well, we don’t Technology Association of Iowa, kind right combination of good weather,
really have any. ‘OK, what do we have of under the belief that every good in- safety and low energy costs. Stirred all
for people?’ Well, we don’t really have dustry has a good strong association together, that makes a good recipe for
any.” He laughs. “I said, ‘Well then, we that speaks on its behalf,” Kittrell ex- a data center. We were proving that
better back the truck up a little bit and plains. The association is about to em- regionally when Google came along
figure out where we’re going to go.’” bark on a capital campaign to support and picked up some of the buzz and
The committee spent the next two its goals and objectives, and Kittrell decided to locate a facility in Council
years incubating the concept, build- serves as chairman of the board. It is Bluffs (near Omaha on Iowa’s Mis-
ing alliances and a case for investing the perfect blend of his talents, passions souri River border).”
resources in technology. Based on the and interests, and the outcomes have In addition, in August 2008, Mi-
committee’s efforts and expertise, the been phenomenal. crosoft announced plans to build a

redevelopment. We are trying to charter that as an incubator for new
bio-energy, bio-tech, advanced manufacturing companies. It was a
manufacturing site for more than 100 years, so we’re dealing with
brownfield [previously developed] land. We’re dealing with asbestos,
ground water contaminants—you can just imagine what all is there.
It took five years and a lot of work from government folks and a very
willing and generous John Deere corporate leadership to make that
thing go before you could even put a shovel in the ground. It took
millions of dollars and countless hours just to get that real estate out
of negative-value territory to the point that you could do something
with it. Waterloo has such a strong urban and manufacturing tradi-
tion, we just felt that, if there was going to be a place where the “new
economy” was going to be born, it really should be in that same space
where the Waterloo Boy tractor was originally founded (Waterloo Boy
was acquired by John Deere in 1910). There’s a sort of symmetry that
goes along with that.
Q. What challenges do you see facing the nonprofit sector in the im-
mediate future?
A. Most of the time you see the same faces over and over and over
again. I don’t know if a memo goes out or what, but after the first
time you say yes to serving on a board, all of a sudden everyone and
their dog is asking you to serve. But as you look around, it’s the same
group of people serving on all these boards.
I think a lot of institutions get created for the right reasons and then
sometimes outlive their usefulness. The challenge is finding a compas-
sionate and considerate way to help the parts of the puzzle come
together and make the institution relevant again. Whether it’s good gar-
dening or good pruning or good strategic planning or whatever, boy, it
sure seems like this stirring of the pot is necessary to recombine these
elements in a new and more relevant and effective way.

w w w. a f p n e t .o rg 31 Ad vancing Ph i l a nt hrop y
T h e D o n o r ’s Tu r n
$500 million data farm in West Des
Moines, which will make Iowa a key
hub in the company’s Internet infra-
structure. The center will employ 50
to 75 workers who will be paid about
$70,000 each annually.
Corporate Community
Involvement
TEAM’s corporate philanthropy reflects
Kittrell’s personal values. The company
supports the arts by sponsoring free
attendance days and encourages team
members to volunteer and donate gen-
erously to charities. For the past three
years Kittrell also has spearheaded
corporate fundraising for the Cystic Fi-
brosis Foundation’s Cedar Valley Great
Strides Walk.
“Mark came up with the CF³ idea:
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation + Cedar
Falls Technology and Industrial Park
= Cure Found,” explains Stacy Van
A d v a n c i n g P h i l a n t h ro p y 32 March
Gorp, walk chair. Van Gorp and her
husband, Chris, have twins with Cys-
tic Fibrosis. “Each year Mark hosts a
luncheon with Industrial and Technol-
ogy Park CEOs, tells them why he and
TEAM employees are involved, and in-
vites their participation. And he always
makes sure they meet my family.” Cor-
porate contributions have quadrupled
under Kittrell’s leadership.
Kittrell’s commitment to total qual-
ity improvement includes corporate
philanthropy. “We’d like to have the
volunteering be more structured to-
ward causes that the group feels are im-
portant. But we also want to have,” he
pauses and scratches his head, “almost
like a 401(k) matching vehicle for their
financial contributions. We are current-
ly trying to get our arms around how
that program is going to work.”
Most of all, Kittrell is very proud of
his Iowa heritage. “It’s one thing for
our little company to say it; it’s another
thing for a market leader like Google
to come in and say, ‘We agree with you.
This is a good place.’ ’’
The impact of Kittrell’s time, ex-
pertise and willingness to support the
community can be measured in job cre-
ation, in uninterrupted power and light
and perhaps even in saved lives. How-
ever, he is quick to share the credit.
“It really is the measure of a com-
munity—how well and how fast they
step in to help,” Kittrell points out. “It
doesn’t take the government folks or
anybody like that to determine what’s
needed. It’s just people saying, ‘Let’s get
it done.’”
Richard Potter is vice presi-
dent, development and com-
munications with American
Humanics Inc. in Kansas City,
Mo.
| A p r i l 2009