Ron Corbett's Story

 

Ron Corbett was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on October 12, 1960. His family moved to Newton, IA in 1974. Ron graduated from Newton High School in 1978. After graduating from Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, IA) in 1983, Ron moved to Cedar Rapids and has lived in Cedar Rapids since then.

 

Ron worked as an insurance agent for The Equitable of the United States for 10 years. In 1988, he co-founded the Peppy’s Ice Cream Company.

 

In 1986, Ron won a seat in the Iowa House where he served for 7 terms. While in the legislature, he became chair of the Appropriations Committee where he focused on eliminating Iowa’s budget deficit. He also helped establish the state emergency cash fund so that Iowa would be better prepared for disasters. In 1995 he was elected the Speaker of the Iowa House, a position he held until 1999, when he resigned to become President of the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce.

While at the Chamber of Commerce, Ron worked with a diverse group of businesses to focus on job creation and workforce and community development. He led the effort to pass the school bond issue that was used to make major improvements at Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington High Schools. During his time at the Chamber, he partnered with other local chambers to advance the idea of promoting “the Corridor” to use in the recruitment of new businesses, new residents and new funding for local projects.

 

Ron resigned from the Chamber in July 2005 to take a position as Vice President at CRST, Inc., a position that he still holds.

 

Ron is married to Bénédicte. They have five children – Jeremy (17), Matthieu (16), Nicolas (14), Anaëlle (12) and Thomas (9).