The country Peter Iversen has called home since graduating from the UI in 1999 has everything — and more — that he’d find in his college town.
Make that almost everything.
“For me, the South Farms and country roads beyond come to mind as a collective place where countless hours were pedaled while distilling all the ingested knowledge,” says Nike’s Tokyo-based director of marketing insights.
“Stopping at rural towns along the way crystallized purpose and made me think about the message of ‘Breaking Away.’ Something about an unobstructed horizon meeting the road helps shed perspective on the rapid learning, in and out of the classroom. Sunsets are especially poignant and reveal seasonal hues as distinctive as the corn row height.
“Never have I felt the freedom and liberty of those days out on country roads on a bicycle — I can still smell that farmland air.”
The one-time Marine has climbed the marketing/research ladder in Japan. Before moving to Nike in 2016, he held roles in the Osaka city mayor’s office (global marketing coordinator), Japan Market Intelligence (senior marketing research analyst), Ipsos (research director), Nielsen Co. (client service director) and, from 2011-16, Coca-Cola (consultant, commercial and consumer knowledge and insights).
