By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg has resigned today after serving in the role for seven years and the Iowa Bankers Association has announced he is the group’s next president and CEO.

In a written statement released by Governor Kim Reynolds’ office, Gregg said his kids are growing up too fast and statewide office forces him to miss more of their lives than he can accept — so his time in public service must come to a close. Gregg, a lawyer who grew up in Hawarden, was the Republican Party’s nominee for attorney general in 2014. He served as the state’s public defender for the next three years — until Kim Reynolds chose him to be lieutenant governor. That was in the spring of 2017, when Governor Terry Branstad resigned and Reynolds was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

The current president and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association will retire at the end of the year. The Iowa Bankers announced this afternoon in a news release that Gregg will join the association October 1 “to allow time for a smooth transition.” John Sorenson has led the Iowa Bankers Association for the past 38 years.

Gregg, who is 41 years old, grew up in Hawarden. After graduating from Central College in Pella, he got a law degree from Drake University.

Kim Reynolds chose Gregg as her governing partner when she became governor in May of 2017. “I am so honored and so excited to have been chosen for this,” Gregg said during a news conference at the statehouse. “I’m an ordinary Iowa guy…At my core, I’m an advocate and a problem solver.”

Back on the day when Reynolds introduced Gregg as her lieutenant governor, Gregg revealed he still had the autograph he got as a second grader, when he met Governor Terry Branstad for the first time. “Governor Branstad couldn’t have known that small little act of kindness so many years ago might have just been a little nudge to that little kid to have an interest in public service,” Gregg said in 2017.