Board of Directors
President
Kyle Munson
Des Moines, Iowa
Kyle Munson is a lifelong journalist, storyteller, writer, and content creator.
He spent 24 years in daily news with The Des Moines Register, including eight years as the Iowa columnist. Since 2018 he has worked as a senior content strategist and writer for Principal Financial Group.
A fifth-generation Iowan, Kyle was born in Cedar Falls, where he spent all of six months. He was raised in southwest Iowa, where his work in community journalism more or less began with his first articles in the “6th Grade News Flash,” published on a mimeograph in Macedonia.
Kyle is a proud alumnus of Central College in Pella, Iowa, and studied Shakespeare in London. (Kenneth Branagh remains his favorite Hamlet.)
During his Register career, his journalism blended news, personality, investigation, and opinion. He won numerous awards, including Midwest Emmys for documentary video and regular accolades as a top columnist and reporter. He co-produced and hosted public issues forums on topics such as immigration reform and racial justice. He was a founding member of the Des Moines Storytellers Project. He helped launch and produce the “Just Go Bike” podcast. In 2017 he won a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to travel to China and produce an in-depth series on U.S.-China relations. Earlier in his career he served as an editor on the Register’s first digital news team and spent a decade as Iowa’s chief pop music critic, spending time with the likes of Bono, Paul McCartney, and Slipknot. He launched his first features column in 1995 and another in 2002. He covered many years of the Iowa caucuses, the Iowa State Fair, and the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).
Kyle lives in central Iowa with his architect wife, Ann Sobiech-Munson, and their undergraduate son, Frankie.
Vice President
Dr. Andrea Breemer Frantz
Storm Lake, Iowa
Dr. Andrea Frantz is a professor of Digital Media at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. She teaches journalism studio courses, including photography and audio production, as well as digital journalism and media law & ethics. Frantz has won numerous awards for her teaching and First Amendment advocacy including the national Louis Ingelhart First Amendment Award from the College Media Association in 2016 and BVU’s most prestigious teaching award, The George Wythe Fellowship, in 2018. She serves as the Executive Director for the National Society for Collegiate Journalists organization and is an advocate for civic engagement.
Director
Suzan Erem
West Branch, Iowa (rural)
Suzan Erem is an award-winning writer, organizer and fruit and nut grower in eastern Iowa. A Journalism and English graduate of the University of Iowa, (BA '85) her career has spanned a variety of roles from directing communications for a 25,000-member statewide organization, serving as Opinion Page Editor at the Iowa City Press-Citizen, running a monthly community news magazine, authoring a wide array of books and articles and organizing for unions and her community. Over the years, her work and family moved her from Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to Chicago, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
After returning to her beloved Iowa in 2010, Suzan saw how Iowa's landscape had consolidated in both ownership and crops. She dedicated the next 10 years to founding and running the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT) to permanently preserve land for sustainable table food farming. Once SILT was successfully established, she retired to focus on home and family.
Suzan now operates Draco Hill Nature Farm, a 75-acre outdoor education venue showcasing nature-friendly food farming with her husband, acclaimed anthropologist E. Paul Durrenberger. She also publishes a biweekly Substack newsletter called Postcards from the Heartland and serves as board secretary of the Iowa Farmers Union.
Director
Rob Barron
Des Moines, Iowa
Rob has dedicated his life to public engagement, especially to bringing new voices to positions of influence. Rob joined Seed Coalition in March 2021 as Executive Director. Prior to that, he previously worked for Senator Tom Harkin (ret.), NextGen Climate, and Grand View University. He served for eight years on the Des Moines School Board; the first Latino elected to that office. He is a veteran foundation and non-profit board member who currently serves on the boards of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, the United Way of Central Iowa, and the Iowa Council of Foundations. He is also the co-founder of the Latino Political Network, a non-partisan organization which serves to educate and empower Latinos to serve at all levels of elected office throughout Iowa.
Director
Alma Puga
Denison, Iowa
Alma currently works as the Campus Services Coordinator at Western Iowa Tech Community College. In this role she provides support to students, faculty, and staff offering a range of services from academic advising to financial aid assistance.
Alma’s passion for nonprofit management and community empowerment stems from her personal and professional experiences. She is a first-generation college graduate, a DACA recipient, and a proud Latina. In 2019, Alma co-founded and became the President of the local LULAC council, the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Development from the University of Northern Iowa.
Director
David Bernstein
Sioux City, Iowa
David is the officer and co-owner of State Steel Supply Company, a group of six steel service centers operating in the Upper Midwest. He is a long-time supporter of the arts and is the founder and co-producer of the “Saturday in the Park” Festival in Souix City – an annual event spanning more than three decades that draws nearly 25,000 music lovers to Grandview Park in Sioux City. David helps with yearly fundraising, artist booking, event production, crowd safety, and risk management. Past Headliners include Santana, Ben Harper, Steve Winwood, Cee Lo Green, The Allman Brothers Band, Counting Crows, Phil Lesh and Friends, BB King, The Neville Bros., Chuck Berry, etc. David has also served as vice president of the Orpheum Theatre Preservation Project.