Northern Pipe Products Receives Iowa Venture Award

The Iowa Area Development Group (IADG), on behalf of Iowa's electric cooperatives and member municipal systems, honored nine distinguished Iowa companies with the Iowa Venture Award. This is the 16th year that IADG has recognized and celebrated Iowa's business leaders and entrepreneurs. Since 1988 IADG has recognized over 110 successful Iowa companies with the Iowa Venture Award.

Nominated by Franklin County REC for the Iowa Venture Award, Northern Pipe Products, headquartered in Fargo North Dakota, is a plastic pipe extrusion company that produces PVC water pipe. The company was seeking a Midwest location where they could diversify their product line. When the firm visited Hampton and the Hampton Air Industrial Park, their search was over. Today Northern Pipe now operates and calls Hampton their home. Through a partnership with the City of Hampton, Franklin County, Corn Belt Power, Franklin REC, and the Franklin County Development Group, a 45,000 square foot facility was built for Northern Pipe, complete with a new rail spur to the building.

"IADG, our member electric cooperatives, and municipal electric systems appreciate the opportunity to honor and recognize Iowa businesses for providing leadership, capital investment, and employment opportunities for rural Iowa communities," said IADG President, Rand M. Fisher. "The commitment to Iowa demonstrated by new facilities and equipment translates into hundreds of jobs for Iowa. The investment by these companies further strengthens our state, its communities and the families of Iowa," Fisher added.

IADG is the marketing and economic development arm for over 80 of Iowa's rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities. The 2003 Iowa Venture Awards ceremony was held at the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives' annual meeting in Des Moines.