About Us

As president, Steven W. McCullough is responsible for carrying out strategic plans and policies as established by the board of directors. He has ultimate management authority for Aspire and appoints the management team. In addition to his role with Aspire, McCullough is president and chief executive officer of Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, which he joined in 1989. He is a member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. McCullough also served on the board of directors of the Education Finance Council; the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity; and the board of the Iowa College Access Network. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Iowa. McCullough helped create the corporation's responsible borrowing tools which help families plan for their higher education, figure out how to pay for it and learn how to create good outcomes.

Erin Lacey, with direction and oversight from the CEO and board of directors, oversees the corporation's operations, compliance and accounting functions and leads the finance teams. She is responsible for ensuring the corporation has funding available for its lending operations via bond issuance and other financing vehicles. Since 2011, she has led the issuance of eleven rated bond transactions and nine bank financings. She is responsible for post issuance bond compliance. While an accounting major at Iowa State University, Lacey began her career with Iowa Student Loan in 1992 as an accounting intern and was later promoted to several positions within the department. Lacey, who holds a bachelor's degree in financial management from Upper Iowa University, became CFO in 2009 and was named executive vice president in 2013. She is involved in her community serving as the treasurer of the Mary Bump Memorial Foundation board and on the finance council of St. Joseph Catholic Church.

As a member of the executive team, Cindy Bartz oversees all program and project management activities for Aspire products and services, including divisionwide programs and initiatives, software development projects, system requirements and contingency planning. She also administers the system development lifecycle process and business impact analysis for contingency planning. As chief information officer, Bartz is responsible for information security, networks, Internet services, databases, programming, commercial software and communication services. Bartz is also corporate secretary for Aspire Resources Inc. Since 2010, Bartz also has served as vice president of project management and chief information officer for Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation. She holds an associate degree from the American Institute of Business and a bachelor's degree from Upper Iowa University.

Joe Bird, with direction and oversight from the CEO and board of directors, provides leadership in working with colleges and universities, banks and credit unions, professional associations and others utilizing Aspire products and services. Bird has nearly 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the higher education industry and also serves as senior vice president of business development and client relations for Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation. His work experience includes management-level positions at a guaranty agency, secondary market, loan servicer and college access organization. Bird earned a bachelor's degree in education at Morningside College and a master's degree in higher education administration at Iowa State University.

As a member of the executive team, Chris Hammerstrom oversees the majority of loan origination, loan onboarding and loan servicing functions, including loan application processing, underwriting, loan purchases, portfolio conversions, customer engagement, inbound/outbound mail, and loan processing. Hammerstrom joined the corporation in 2005 as a loan counselor, before holding multiple other positions including product development director. In this role, he oversaw all development projects for the corporation, including the loan origination system and multiple systems that support the servicing center. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

Before his current role as a consultant on job coaching, placement and fundraising for not-for-profits, Dr. John Hartung was president of the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. A graduate of Grinnell College, he earned his master's from the University of South Dakota and Ph.D from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Hartung previously served as vice president for college relations and associate professor at Simpson College and as vice president for academic affairs, professor and coach at Dakota Wesleyan University. He currently serves on the boards of the Iowa Sports Foundation, Iowa Higher Education Loan Authority, and the Drake Relays Executive Committee. He and his wife, Joan, have three children and seven grandchildren.

Tammy Bramley retired as loan officer and manager of Community Bank in Soldier in 2016. After spending many years raising her three children and working on the family farm, Bramley joined Community Bank of Dunlap as a teller and bookkeeper in 2001. In 2009, she was promoted to her former position. She has been on the board of Monona County Economic Development since 2007. She is an active member of the Iowa Bankers Association and has leadership and board positions in her church and several other community and charitable organizations. Bramley is currently serving her first term as Monona County Supervisor. She has been married to her husband, Lyle, for 38 years, and she has three children and 13 grandchildren. Bramley was appointed to ISL board of directors in 2011 to represent the general public. In 2023, Bramley left the ISL board of directors and joined the Aspire board of directors.

Laurie Hempen is a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College with a degree in human resources/psychology. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from St. Ambrose University and a master’s degree in training and performance improvement from Capella University. Hempen is an adjunct instructor for Southeastern Community College. She serves on the New London Community Child Care Center board of directors, the Hope Haven Area Development Commission board of directors and the New London Community and School District Foundation, and she has been a director with the New London Community School Board since 1994, serving as president for the past 16 years. Hempen served on the Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation board of directors from 2006 to 2023, representing the general public. She was appointed to the Aspire Resources Inc. board in April of 2023.

Before joining Ahlers & Cooney, P.C., in 1994, John Hintze was senior vice president and general counsel for Pioneer Hi-Bred International in Des Moines. After receiving his law degree with distinction, Order of the Coif, from the University of Iowa in 1973, Hintze was a partner at Davis, Hockenberg, Wine, Brown, Koehn & Shors in Des Moines and a founder and shareholder at Sheerer, Hintze and Templer, P.C. He has served on the boards for the Blank Park Zoo Foundation, the Iowa Association of Business & Industry, the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce and the West Des Moines Development Corporation, among many others. Hintze has served on the Aspire board since 2001.

Tony Kaska joined Midwest Heritage in 1992 and was promoted to president and chief executive officer in 2009. He is a past board member of the Lucas County Development Corp. Kaska currently lives in Chariton, Iowa, and serves on the board of Chariton Arts and Recreation. He is also a board member at Shazam, serves on the Greater Des Moines Partnership Regional Workforce Development/Education Committee and is a member of the Iowa Wesleyan University Board of Trustees.

Steve Ollenburg is chief risk officer of Modern Woodmen of America and has been an executive since 2001. He has been in banking and financial services since 1983. He has served on the boards of organizations such as America's Community Bankers, Iowa's Community Bankers and the Midwest Conference of Community Bankers; as chairman of ChildServe; on the advisory board of S1 Corporation and on the Iowa advisory board for Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, as well as serving as chairman of the board for Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation from 2000 to 2008, representing Iowa savings and loan institutions. He currently serves as chair of Bridge Investment Community Development Corporation. Throughout his career, he has served numerous local service clubs, chamber of commerce committees, charitable organizations, legislative task forces and other similar activities.