Politics & Government

Schneider Proud of West Des Moines' 'Brain Gain'

The Ward 2 council representative is unopposed in his bid for a second term.

When he was working on his law and MBA degrees at the University of Iowa a decade ago, Charles Schneider watched many of his classmates leave Iowa when they graduated.

“Not because they didn’t like Iowa,” Schneider said of their departures, “but because they couldn’t find opportunities here that offered a high enough income to pay off their student loans.”

Schneider ran for West Des Moines City Council four years ago with that in mind. The Ward 2 representative, he is unopposed in his bid for re-election in the Nov. 8 municipal election.

West Des Moines has done well in a goal to become a “brain gain city” with hundreds of new jobs at Aviva, Wells Fargo and Microsoft, Schneider said, but he thinks more work needs to be done. That’s one of the reasons he’s seeking a second term on the council.

“I also want to give back to the community,” he said. “I feel like I gained a lot growing up in this area, and it’s a way for me to give back. I have a lot of pride in West Des Moines.”

Schneider was born in Iowa and spent most of his adolescence in West Des Moines, where he attended Sacred Heart School and Dowling Catholic High School before his family moved to Newton. He graduated from Newton High School and earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Creighton University in Omaha.

He worked for his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, for a year in Richmond, Va., then worked for the World Bank in New York City before returning to Iowa to attend law school in 1998. He also worked with Republican political campaigns that year – David Oman’s gubernatorial campaign and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley’s re-election campaign.

Schneider graduated from law school in 1992 and worked in private practice before joining Principal Financial Group Inc.’s law department.

Schneider is married.

What’s ahead in Patch’s city election coverage:
Follow West Des Moines Patch’s live blog of the Nov. 1 candidates’ forum sponsored by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce.

Beginning the week of Oct. 31, we’ll drill down on issues in a Q&A format with each of the candidates: Schneider, who is unopposed in his race; and At-Large Councilman Jim Sandager and his two opponents, Spencer Cox and Jim Romar.

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