Simpson Welcomes New Trustees

The Simpson College Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the addition of four new trustees. Tony Costa ’88, Sara Jensen Lehan ’02, Melissa Ness and Dr. Craig Saunders ’66 will begin their service at the board’s next meeting in August.

Costa is highly regarded as a global technology leader known for his innovative leadership. He currently serves as CIO for Dessert Holdings in St. Paul, Minn., a leading premium dessert manufacturer in North America. Previously, Costa held a variety of senior IT administrative roles with Callaway Golf, Bumble Bee Foods and Motorola. The Des Moines native earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science at Simpson, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and earned all-conference honors in baseball and football. He served briefly as an assistant football coach at Simpson, under legendary head coach Jim Williams. In addition to joining Simpson’s board of trustees, Costa also serves as chair of the board at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego. He and his wife, Deb, live in Carlsbad, Calif., and they have an adult son named Cal.

Over the last 16 years, Jensen Lehan has thrived at Wellabe in progressively significant positions, most recently being promoted to Chief Financial Officer. Her distinguished career in accounting has also included stints with Ernst & Young and American Enterprise. At Simpson, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and competed in track and field, as well as cross country — earning academic all-conference recognition in both sports. Additionally, she also participated with Simpson’s dance team and was a staff member of the Simpsonian. Jensen Lehan lives in Urbandale with her husband, Mark, and their daughter, Amalie.

Melissa Ness is the CEO and founder of Connectify HR, a company that provides complete human resource management for companies and nonprofits. Prior to creating Connectify HR, Ness held a variety of HR and financial leadership roles with Merit Resources, which was later rebranded as Aureon. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Iowa State University. Ness has extensive experience working on boards, including with Bankers Trust, The Greater Des Moines Partnership, and Broadlawns Medical Foundation, as well as others. She and her husband, Kurt, live in Des Moines and have two children, Troy and Stella.

Dr. Saunders is a retired cardiovascular surgeon. His renowned career spanned five decades with prestigious appointments at the Cleveland Clinic, Barnabus Health in New York and Newark Beth Israel Hospital, where he served as chair of cardiothoracic surgery. Saunders grew up on a farm near Manilla, Iowa, where he lives in retirement. He played football and competed in track and field during his days at Simpson, where he was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. After receiving his BS in biology at Simpson, Saunders went on to earn his MD from the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. He has five adult children.