More than a decade into his professional career, Brian Waller‘s found a position that’s an extension of all his previous experiences.

Last week the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) announced that Waller would replace its president of nine years, Leann Jacobsen, who will step down at the end of this month.

Formerly at the Iowa Economic Development Authority, Waller started his career at Des Moines’ Science Center of Iowa, finding ways to showcase the work of science-based industries around the state. After six years, Waller served as executive director of the Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce before moving on to IEDA.

“Within this role, I’ve primarily been a champion for startups and the entrepreneurial community,” Waller told SPN of his role with IEDA. “I already had a really nice network statewide that lends itself to this new job. You have to be a collaborator, a connecter, a cheerleader. And I think it was a nice evolution.”

When he begins his new job as TAI’s president on Sept. 29, Waller has three main focuses for the direction he wants to help take TAI: innovation, collaboration and diversity.

Currently, he says about 60 percent of TAI’s members come from central Iowa, a trend he’d love to see change slightly.

“For me, I have a real fire in my belly about the rest of Iowa,” Waller said. “Des Moines has a lot to offer and it’s an awesome community. Everybody knows that. But there’s a lot of opportunity and potential in other communities around the state.”

Through events like TAI’s monthly TechBrews as well as other community engagement, Waller hopes to expand TAI’s network even further.

“My role will be to try to take TAI’s brand and mission state wide to get people at the table who aren’t there right now,” he said.

And in order to get more entrepreneurs and businesses involved with the group’s mission, Waller is committed to expanding diversity in Iowa’s tech and entrepreneurial community.

“I think diversity is a really important one,” Waller said. “As we try to get young people interested in tech and entrepreneurship, we need more people at the table and I think the way you do that is by diversifying and bringing different disciplines together.”

Waller adds that actively working to bring more minorities to the table will be a focus on his, citing programs like Tech Journey as some already helping make position change when it comes to diversity in Iowa’s tech community.

But more than anything, Waller looks forward to helping better tell the stories of Iowa entrepreneurs through his new role with TAI.

“We have a really special story to tell and understand, and I think that changes from community to community,” Waller said of Iowa. “Hopefully TAI can again be that convener that bridges the gap for all these folks around state to bring them all to the same table.”