Kurt D. Dykstra has served in various leadership roles throughout his career — law, politics, banking, and higher education.

Dykstra served as the President & CEO of the Independent Colleges of Indiana after seven years as the President of Trinity College, a liberal arts institution in suburban Chicagoland. He served as Mayor of Holland, Michigan, and the Community President of Mercantile Bank of Michigan. As Mayor, Mr. Dykstra was the chief elected official in the City of Holland and one of nine members of the City Council. His leadership resulted in a turnaround of the city’s fiscal situation, reorganization of the City’s public safety departments, multi-million investments in private developments, and construction of a $240 million combined cycle power plant and energy park – the largest public project in the City’s history. At Mercantile Bank, Mr. Dykstra served on the senior leadership team of the $3+ billion Michigan-based bank, was engaged in client generation and management, and leadership for the organization’s West Michigan lakeshore communities. During his tenure, the bank’s regional portfolio doubled and substantially expanded its commercial customer base. He also served on the Board of Directors of Providence Bank & Trust in Chicago, overseeing a doubling of the young bank’s size to nearly $1.5 billion.

Mr. Dykstra practiced law at two National Law Journal 350 law firms. He was a partner at the Michigan firm of Warner Norcross & Judd, LLP. Before that he was an attorney at Reinhart Boerner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a former judicial clerk to the Honorable Ann Walsh Bradley of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Mr. Dykstra has lectured across the U.S. and internationally on legal, educational, and public policy matters. For 11 years he also was an adjunct faculty member at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, in the department of Political Science and the Department of Economics, Management and Accounting.

Mr. Dykstra graduated with honors from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LLM), first in his law school class at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee (JD), and magna cum laude from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa (BA).

Mr. Dykstra has been recognized for his leadership in Holland, Michigan, by President Barack Obama, U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga (MI-03), the Mexican Consulate (Detroit), former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and the Michigan Legislature. In addition to the NAF, he has served on a variety of national, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana non-profit boards.

He is a major in the United States Army Reserve as a Civil Affairs officer in the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command.

Mr. Dykstra was born and raised in the small, historically Dutch town of Oostburg, Wisconsin. He has been married to Leah (Sikkema) since 1993 and together they have two adult daughters, Juliana and Emma-Elisabeth.