John Tieszen is a retired marketing and strategic communications executive who worked on some of the nation's biggest brands including: Harley Davidson, Cheerios and Land O'Lakes.

He is a past member of the Board of Directors at MinnPost, one of the nation's largest non-profit news organizations.

John and his wife, Lesa, have two adult children and live in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. While at Iowa, John worked for the Daily Iowan covering Johnson County Politics.