Michael Gould is Manager of Business Development for the Iowa Economic Development Authority (state of Iowa). In this position he also serves as Manager of Insurance Development for the state of Iowa. During his tenure Michael has worked closely with Principal Financial, EMC, Wellmark, Delta Dental, Global Atlantic, Athene (at the time Aviva), WR Berkley (Continental Western) and Sammons Financial on office relocations, remodels and expansion projects. He helped Symetra and Fidelity and Guaranty redomesticate their operations to Iowa. Additionally, he has worked with Wells Fargo, Mercer, Cognizant, Toro, Sterilite, Cobham, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon on locating and growing operations in Iowa. Gould is an Iowa native who grew up in West Des Moines. He is a founding member of the Global Insurance Symposium and has been on its planning committee since its inception. He is a graduate of Drake University with a degree in Political Science and currently serves on the advisory board for the Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance at the University of Iowa. In 2022 he developed the Insure Your Future program, a first-of-its-kind early-stage internship program to introduce college freshmen and sophomores to rewarding careers in the insurance industry.