About Charles Schneider

Charles was first elected to the West Des Moines City Council in 2007 and is seeking re-election in 2011. Currently serving his first term, Charles is the Chair of the Council’s Finance and Administration Subcommittee and serves on the Council’s Public Safety Subcommittee. He is the Council’s liaison to the West Des Moines Water Works Board of Trustees. He also represents the Council on the Board of Directors of the Wastewater Reclamation Authority and the Metro Waste Authority.

Before being elected to City Council, Charles was a Plan and Zoning Commissioner, President of the West Des Moines Development Corporation, a member of West Des Moines Rotary and the Iowa Taxpayers Association’s Accountable Government Committee, and served on the Board of Directors of Central Iowa Shelter & Services, a Des Moines homeless shelter.

Charles is also Counsel for Principal Financial Group, where he has worked since 2007. His legal work has involved derivatives, securities, insurance, and business law. Before joining Principal, he was a lawyer with the law firm of Dickinson Mackaman Tyler & Hagen, PC.

Charles was a member of the 2006-2007 Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute and of the Des Moines Business Record's 2007 Forty Under 40 class. He also was a member of the 2003-2004 Leadership Iowa class. In 2011, he received the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute’s Distinguished Government Leadership Award.

Charles attended Sacred Heart School and Dowling High School in West Des Moines before his family moved to Newton, where he graduated from Newton Senior High School. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Creighton University, and his law and MBA degrees from the University of Iowa. He and his wife Lisa reside in West Des Moines and are members of St. Francis of Assisi Church.