David Oman

Iowa Conservative Energy Forum Consultant

David Oman is a Senior Advisor to the Iowa Conservative Energy Forum, which he helped organize in 2019 and ’20. An Iowa native, David served in the Governor’s Office for ten years – Chief of Staff for the late Governor Robert Ray and first Chief of Staff for former Governor Terry Branstad.  He is the only Iowan to have served as Chief of Staff for two Governors. 

Upon leaving state government, David was an executive in the cable television industry, working in Des Moines for Heritage Communications and Denver, CO as director of state government affairs for Tele-Communications, Inc., the largest U.S. cable operator at the time.  During that stint, David served on boards of the C-SPAN network and cable interconnects in Philadelphia and San Francisco.  Concurrently, he was co-owner of Iowa’s first all-news radio station, in Des Moines.

David has continued his involvement in politics and public policy.  He was elected Co-Chair of the Iowa Republican party four times and played a role in keeping Iowa’s Presidential caucuses First in the Nation.  David was a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor in 1998.   Following that campaign, David chaired the Iowa 2010 Strategic Planning Council for Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat.  David co-chaired Iowa Presidential campaigns for former governors Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.  David was finance chair for Sen. Joni Ernst’s 2014 race and last year led the finance team for new Congressman Zach Nunn. 

David served on boards of Iowa Health System (now Unity Point) and the UNI Foundation.  He has a lengthy history with one of Iowa’s most respected conservation groups, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, including serving as board chair.  David was a founding board member for the Iowa Environmental Council.

David is the father of two adult sons–Christopher, of Washington, D.C. and Graham, of Phoenix, AZ.