Allamakee County Community Foundation welcomes new executive director

Jackie Cooper will succeed Betty Steege, who is retiring this month after a decade in the role.

ALLAMAKEE COUNTY, Iowa – Jackie Cooper has lived and breathed rural Iowa her entire life. It’s where she grew up, runs a family business, and stays involved with her community. This month, she will begin a new chapter in her rural Iowa story: Executive director of the Allamakee County Community Foundation.

The Churchtown resident will step into the role following the retirement of Betty Steege, who has served as the Community Foundation’s executive director for 15 years, overseeing tremendous growth and community impact.

“Looking back, I believe that spirit of service was woven into my identity from a very young age,” Cooper says. “Today, I feel that my true calling—both personally and professionally—is asking, ‘How can I help? How can I make a connection? How can I serve and help make an impact?’”

Cooper will lead a foundation with $3 million in assets that grants over $280,000 a year to nonprofits addressing some of Allamakee County’s most pressing issues, from education and child care to hunger and public safety.

As executive director, she will build and maintain relationships with community members who look to the Foundation to steward their charitable giving and provide guidance around the county’s needs. She also will work closely with nonprofit and civic leaders to create partnerships that improve the quality of life in the county.

Cooper has a lifelong connection to Allamakee County and the Driftless Region that will inform her work with the Foundation. While she grew up a short distance away in Fayette, her family spent many summers in Allamakee County boating on the Mississippi River.

Today, she, her husband, and their three children call Churchtown home, where they enjoy outdoor recreation, hunting and all the entertainment the area offers. She and her husband run Cooper Seed Solutions, and she is a licensed Iowa Realtor with EXIT Realty Driftless Group. She also serves as the part-time executive director of Main Street Lansing and loves to help local businesses and organizations by using her marketing and management skills.

“We are excited about the energy, passion and knowledge that Jackie brings to this role,” says Molly Moser, director of affiliate engagement for the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, of which the Allamakee County Community Foundation is an affiliate. “She is the right person to build on the impact that Betty has made over the past 15 years and help strengthen Allamakee County’s future.”

Cooper is excited about the future of the county and the Foundation, as well. For her, leading an organization that works to improve the place she loves is a dream come true.

“This area helped shape who I am, and it’s incredibly meaningful to now invest in the same place that has given so much to me and my family,” she says. “I’m excited for the opportunity to help connect generosity with impact and to continue building a thriving future for the communities we all call home.”