Kingsley Botchway: Passionate advocate for the people and causes he serves

It’s not clear that he would be able to fit all his initiatives and volunteer opportunities into a day, even if it was longer than 24 hours.

Botchway, UnityPoint Health’s regional director of human resources and one of The Courier’s 20 Under 40 honorees, credits his mother as his inspiration. She was an educator and a senior lecturer in nursing at Clemson (S.C.) University and a nurse for about 40 years.

“Everything I am, everything about me comes from her,” Botchway, 36, said. “I’ve been in education, I’ve been in nursing. Her desire to have kids under her care when I was younger, her focus on her church and her faith has definitely aligned me with wanting to give back to the world and now to see a positive path for the Waterloo area.”

Born in Florida, he grew up in South Carolina. He graduated from the University of South Carolina, majoring in criminology. His focus was on wanting to be a prosecutor because he appreciated the intricacies of the adjudication process.

“It doesn’t always have to be (sentencing) to prison, or it doesn’t always have to lead to incarceration. There are other ways we can push people into opportunities that doesn’t lead to a scar for their entire life.”

That focus eventually led him to questioning his prosecution career and transitioning to be a disabilities, both physical and mental, advocate. He interned with a drug court, spending an entire summer writing policy on how not to incarcerate, but to “restore. How to move people through the system and allow them to seek opportunities for help, especially when it comes to the use of drugs.”

His second summer was spent working with a practicing attorney, advocating against the death penalty for individuals with mental disabilities. He visited mental health hospitals, studying their policies and discussing humanistic policies.

Botchway made his way to Iowa City where he completed his law degree at the University of Iowa College of Law in 2014. He worked for Reach for Your Potential, a group home for people with disabilities. He was the service coordinator and oversaw staffing and medications. He hoped to take that experience back to South Carolina. When there weren’t jobs available, he wondered what his next move would be apart from being an attorney.

He became deputy auditor of elections for Johnson County, focusing on people with disabilities and how to improve voting access. Iowa City increased drive-through access and satellite voting sites.

He was elected to Iowa City’s City Council, serving as mayor pro tem for two years. During this time he was hired as the director of equity and staffing for the Iowa City Community School District and was promoted to director of equity, recruitment and engagement. He also was an adjunct professor at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

In 2018, Botchway was hired as the chief of human resources and equity for the Waterloo Community School District.

“In the short time that Kingsley has been in the Cedar Valley, he has made his presence known as a thought leader and true solutionist,” said Sharina Sallis, who nominated Botchway for 20 Under 40. “He (helped) to infuse and implement long-lasting changes that our school district will benefit for years to come. The work is never easy, as Kingsley is often quoted as saying, but, ‘I’m committed to ensuring that every child has an education and a meaningful experience.’”

“I’ve been blessed with so many opportunities,” Botchway said. “I came to the Waterloo schools because I wanted a greater level of power and wanted to see how my own process worked. How to be positive and to actually care about people. How we treat people through the process is what matters to me.”

He joined UnityPoint in June. “I’ve been blessed with great leadership and the culture that Pam (Delagardelle, UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital’s CEO) provides. It was a no-brainer.”

Botchway’s focus at UnityPoint is “making sure people are heard. Build on relationships. Build on that with the schools. I want to rebuild a pipeline with our school systems, with the Career Center, get health care to include a greater amount of diversity. Make sure there is a greater community connection with health care. How we can become more connected in different ways.

“I want UnityPoint to be a beacon in the community.”

Delagardelle nominated Botchway, as well, describing him as “an energetic, creative, responsive and strategic leader. He is recognized as a great communicator and an even better listener. He is a passionate advocate for the people and causes he serves.

“Kingsley is leading numerous efforts around the recruitment and retention of health care workers, benefits enhancements and standardization, and talent development of leaders, physicians and team members. (His) super power is community engagement and empowerment.”

Botchway is a founding board member and treasurer of 24/7 Black Leadership Consortium, is on the board of House of Hope, the Black Hawk Gaming Association, the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, 100+ Men Who Care, and Green State Credit Union.

“Kingsley Botchway is the epitome of what the 20 Under 40 program is about!”, wrote Jane Lindaman, former Waterloo Community Schools superintendent. “He is innovative, talented and courageous. He is extremely involved in the community and VERY respected,” she said.

Botchway and his wife have two sons, ages 8 and 3. They are expecting a daughter in late September.

What does his future hold?

“In five more years I see myself at UnityPoint, continuing to improve upon the amazing culture that is already there. My hope is that community connection has increased.”