Every semester, The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement offers a small, intimate group of Drake students the opportunity to meet with local, state, and national leaders for food and conversation. This student lunch and reception series provides undergraduate, graduate, pharmacy, and law students with the networking opportunity of meeting informally with a leader in policy, government, business, and nonprofit industries.

For the fourth and final event in this series this semester, we will bring Michael Gartner, owner of the Iowa Cubs and former president of NBC News to the institute for lunch on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The event is from 11:40 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in the Harkin Institute office at 2429 University Ave.

Michael Gartner is one of Iowa’s greatest journalists, businessmen, and public servants. Mr. Gartner has been the page one editor of The Wall Street Journal, a general news executive for Gannett Co. and USA TODAY, and worked in various positions in the Des Moines Register for over 11 years. He was the President of NBC News for five years. Mr. Gartner then worked at The Daily Tribune in Ames, Iowa where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his editorials about community issues. He owns the Iowa Cubs baseball team, served on the Iowa Board of Regents, co-owns the media company that publishes the Cityview alternative weekly newspaper, and serves on countless nonprofit boards and advisory councils throughout the state. The Harkin Institute is proud to say that he is one of the founding members of the institute’s National Advisory Council.

Apply here by 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, for the opportunity to have lunch with Michael Gartner.

—Sarah Mattes, The Harkin Institute