On July 10, 2025, the Iowa Chapter hosted its inaugural event at Exile Brewing Company. The event was a great success—bringing together professionals from across the industry for an evening of meaningful connections, engaging conversations, and plenty of fun. They thank everyone who joined them and helped make their first event such a memorable one!
The energy and enthusiasm from attendees made it clear: this is just the beginning of something special for the Iowa Chapter. They are already looking forward to their next event this fall and continuing to grow their local CLM community.
The chapter is led by President Jamie Schmitz (VGM Insurance); Vice President Nicole Kmett (Continental Western Group); Secretary Jennifer Lueders (Continental Western Group); Director of Events Lindsey Mills (Smith Mills Law P.C.); and Director of Education Kent Smith (Smith Mills Law P.C.).
The event was sponsored by VGM Insurance and Homelink.
CLM Magazine recently caught up with Schmitz to talk about the Iowa chapter's launch and what CLM members and fellows can expect from the chapter going forward:
Q: How did you determine the need for an Iowa chapter?
Schmitz: "I was looking on the CLM website to connect to other claims professionals locally and realized there was not an Iowa CLM Chapter, which seemed crazy to me given the number of insurance carriers and claims professionals in the Des Moines, Iowa area, so I reached out to CLM to see what it would take to start a chapter."
Q: What did you have to do to get the chapter up and running and how long did it take to set up?
Schmitz: "CLM was very helpful in getting the chapter up and running, providing us with guidelines and information on how to get started. They also helped reach out to others in the Des Moines area to fill the leadership roles. Once that was ready the group meets monthly to plan our events."
Q: What are the plans for future events?
Schmitz: "Our goal is to have another event in the fall with CE credit and once we see what the response is to that we’ll determine our next steps."
Celebrating the Iowa Chapter's inaugural event:
