 The current director of the institute is David Yepsen, who, before joining the Institute, had a 34 year career with the Des Moines Register, serving as the paper’s chief political writer, political editor and political columnist.As part of his work, he was deeply involved in the paper’s coverage of presidential caucus campaigns in the state.Before Yepsen's arrival in 2009, Mike Lawrence, press secretary and senior policy adviser to Governor Jim Edgar for nearly a decade, served as director from October 2004 to November 2008.