Katie Davidson (She/Her/Hers)
New Board Candidate
Creston
Dr. Katie Davidson spent 13 years in international higher education before making the decision to open a brewery in her small, rural Iowa town. She had always enjoyed the family-friendly and shame/judgment-free aspects of breweries and believed that a space like that was something her hometown desperately needed.
Southwest Iowa is not generally a welcoming place for anyone identifying outside the local majority, and difference of any kind is often viewed with suspicion, derision, and fear. Despite that, many BIPOC and LGBTQ people have made the region their home and Katie has been committed to listening to their stories and working with others to remove community barriers to the success and happiness of all individuals.
After George Floyd's murder in 2020, Katie formed the Creston Human Rights Coalition, an organization committed to listening to and including BIPOC/LGBTQ voices and making the community more inclusive. She would love to build on the existing relationship with the Iowa ACLU and rural communities by serving on the board.
Kyrstin Delagardelle (She/Her/Hers)
New Board Candidate
Des Moines
Kyrstin began her career as a secondary teacher and librarian more than ten years ago teaching in rural and suburban schools. Within her role, she was a teacher leader working on her district’s diversity committee and equity committee, her building’s instructional leadership team, and as a union representative.
She served as director-at-large for the Des Moines Community School Board and as chair during the 2019-20 school year. She is a 2017 honoree of Grand View’s 10 Under 10 Award, recognizing alumni who are making a difference in their communities. She is also a 2017 New Leaders Council alumni, a leadership group training the next generation of community-based change makers.
The ACLU is important to Kyrstin because she believes that everyone should have equal access to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. She is motivated to ensure that this is the case for marginalized persons, especially people of color, particularly regarding issues of education and creating strong families.
Andy Giller (He/Him/His)
Returning Board Candidate
Iowa City
After 10 years as a professional orchestral musician, Andy went to law school because of a strong desire to give a voice to marginalized communities. He spent a year of law school in the legal clinic representing immigrants and workers and a semester as a legal intern at the ACLU of Iowa.
Since graduating, he has worked as a lawyer representing workers in Cedar Rapids. He is also a proud alumnus of Des Moines' Roosevelt High School, home of the ACLU's landmark Tinker v. Des Moines victory for freedom of speech. Andy believes times like these test our commitment to the liberties that define us as Americans, so he is proud to have the opportunity to join the ACLU in its century-long battle defending civil liberties and civil rights.
Ike Rayford
Returning Board Candidate
Sioux City
The ACLU is important to Ike because he believes in fighting for all. Ike says his life's story embodies the mission of the ACLU to protect our civil liberties, rights, and freedoms. Whether he is fighting for civil rights or voting rights or against discrimination, he wants to be in the fight.
Ike has never shied from taking action when a need was recognized. An early example is when he accepted primary custody of his two toddler sons. Traveling from Dallas to Sioux City in the winter months was challenging enough, but that challenge was only exacerbated by the fact that no changing stations for changing diapers existed in men’s restrooms at that time. Ike contacted the Iowa Department of Transportation to make them aware of this need for single fathers. He is proud to see the fruits of that labor all these years later.
Ike currently serves as the NAACP Sioux City president and has been involved in leadership positions for numerous other organizations and events, including Three Rivers Independent Living Centers, Toastmasters International, Leadership Siouxland, Habitat For Humanity, Freedom Festival, Youth For Christ, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Decatur Lodge, and Juneteenth. He currently serves as a board member for Mercy Medical Sioux City. He is the owner of Groundswell Diversity, LLC where he consults on diversity and equity. He is a leadership and team development expert.
Neil Salowitz
New Board Candidate
West Des Moines
Neil is a former director of marketing for Principal Global Investors, where he developed investment strategies for insurance companies in this country and abroad. Prior to joining Principal in 1999, he was an attorney in both private and corporate practice in Hartford, Connecticut, and an investment officer for several large investment operations.
Since his retirement in 2009, he served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including an international hunger relief organization based in Los Angeles, the Des Moines Social Club, and Civic Music. He was also chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club. He is currently a singing member and a member of the Board of Directors of the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus.
He believes that the Bill of Rights is one of the linchpins of our democracy and society. He has always admired the work of the ACLU and has followed his wife Debra’s tenure on the statewide board with interest. He believes that his extensive for-profit business and non-profit experience, coupled with his passion for the ACLU’s work, will benefit the organization’s operation and effectiveness.
David Walker
Returning Board Candidate
Des Moines
David, now retired, is the Dwight D. Opperman Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at Drake Law School, where he twice served as dean—from 1987 to 1996 and again from 2003 to 2008.
He is involved in several nonprofit organizations. He is a member of the ACLU and also the NAACP. He serves on the executive committee of the NAACP Des Moines Branch, and with his colleague, Russell E. Lovell, II, is co-chair of the Legal Redress Committee for the Des Moines Branch. He has worked with the NAACP State Conference on many initiatives, including anti-racial and ethnic profiling, a fair chance for employment, and jury selection and management legislation. David has co-authored with Russell Lovell two amicus curiae briefs in the Iowa Supreme Court on behalf of the NAACP. And they joined with the ACLU of Iowa in co-authoring a third amicus brief in an appeal challenging the constitutionality of pretextual traffic stops.
Since 2010, David has been the chair of the Iowa State Bar Association’s Corporate Laws Committee. Since 1992, he has been appointed by successive governors to be one of Iowa’s three commissioners on uniform state laws. He is chair of the Iowa State Commission on Uniform Laws. On its behalf, he has sought introduction of and appeared before Iowa House and Senate Subcommittees on 30 uniform acts or amendments to them that Iowa has enacted into law.
