Andrew Allen is President and CEO of YSS, a nearly 50-year-old youth development agency with more than 300 employees serving more than 10,000 youth across Iowa each year.A native Iowan, Allen spent 14 years at Principal Financial Group, where he rose to the position of President of Principal Financial Group Foundation, with global responsibilities over charitable giving and corporate citizenship.Allen credits YSS with providing services that saved his life in 1995. He later became the charter youth member on the YSS Board of Directors, and then served on the YSS Foundation Board. Before becoming CEO, he dedicated more than 20 years to serving YSS as a volunteer, advocate and fundraiser, leading two successful YSS capital campaigns and creating Reggie’s Sleepout, a signature fundraising and awareness event benefitting YSS.His commitment to the community extends well beyond YSS, including gubernatorial appointments to the Iowa Children’s Behavioral Health System State Board, the Iowa State Board of Health, and the state’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, where he serves as Chair. Allen is also on the board of the Partnership for a Healthy Iowa and the Coalition for Family & Children's Services in Iowa. Allen previously served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice where he advised the president and congress on matters of juvenile justice.Allen has been recognized with the Fortune 500 HERO Award from Fortune Magazine, was named the Inaugural Young Professional of the Year by Juice Magazine and the Des Moines Register, is part of the Des Moines Business Record’s Forty Under 40, has received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from Iowa State University, and was inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame by the State of Iowa.Outside of work, Allen enjoys family weekends racing dirt bikes through the woods with his boys! https://www.businessrecordphotoissue.com/new-page