(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest provider of food for the needy has a new leader. Tami Nielsen took over this week as the C-E-O of the Des Moines-based Food Bank of Iowa, which serves 55 of the state’s 99 counties. Nielson has been with the agency for almost nine years. “I’ve had a number of different roles at the Food Bank of Iowa, most recently the COO role, and I guess even more recently I’ve been the interim CEO since January 1st,” Nielsen says. “I found out through doing the job that I actually love this job, too, and so decided that this would be a good fit.”

The Food Bank of Iowa distributes more than 27-million pounds of food every year through some 700 partners statewide. Nielsen says Iowa’s challenges with food insecurity aren’t insurmountable, but they’re continuing to grow.  “As we all see, in grocery shopping and just the price of items, and the national economy,” she says, “there is indication that the numbers are going to continue to rise for folks facing food insecurity, and so we’re just in a hard place right now with indication that it’s going to get harder.”

Tami Nielsen (Food Bank of Iowa photo)

A report last year from Feeding America found nearly 11% of all Iowans and more than 15% of Iowa children face food insecurity. That translates to 344-thousand Iowans, including 110-thousand children, who don’t know where they will find their next meal. Nielsen is the food bank’s fourth leader since its founding 43 years ago. She succeeds Michelle Book, who retired at the end of 2024.