About Zach sixth generation iowan

His family’s Iowa story began in 1861, when his great-great-great-grandfather volunteered for the state’s Second Cavalry during the Civil War, the famed Hawkeyes on Horseback. A generation later, a 14-year-old immigrant named Friedrich Lahn crossed the Atlantic alone.

Zach’s great-great-grandfather settled in Belle Plaine and built the farm that would stay in the family for more than a century. These two men passed on the virtues of faith, work, and stewardship that sustained their family for generations. These values run through every chapter of Zach’s life.

The son of a pastor, Zach was raised in western Iowa. He attended Sioux City East, where he played quarterback, and later earned his pilot’s license before graduating from the University of Colorado. Driven by a desire to raise his children with the same values he grew up with, Zach repurchased the family homestead in 2014 — nearly a decade after it had been sold.

Together with his wife, Annie, they have restored the original 1900 farmhouse board by board while working the same land his family has stewarded for generations. Along with farming, Zach is the founder of Homeplace Ventures, an Iowa-based company investing in agriculture, technology, and real estate. In Belle Plaine, their family has helped preserve local landmarks like the King Theater and the Chicago Northwestern Depot — believing Iowa’s rural communities matter.

Zach’s campaign for governor is rooted in a simple belief: Iowa’s future depends on strong families, small towns, faith, and hard work — and that the values Iowa was built on are worth defending.