How has the job been so far?

It’s been very good. I’ve been heavily involved in West Des Moines for a long time, leading the chamber and economic development organization. It’s almost like a second home.

Talk about the merger of the Chamber and Development Connection.

The West Des Moines chamber is the overall housing entity of a three-pronged approach. One is the full-fledged chamber operations. All of those things will remain the same. We incorporated a West Des Moines leadership academy. It’s a program in and of itself within the chamber. To really kind of tie everything together, the West Des Moines Development Corp. was dissolved, and created was the West Des Moines Development Connection … with the sole goal to promote economic growth in West Des Moines.

From what you’ve seen so far, what is the next step for business development in West Des Moines?

One of the biggest challenges and opportunities we have is the amount of available space in the existing market. We have a number of vacant spaces that we need to address. With that, you have to go after the target industry. Is it suppliers to a Microsoft (Corp.) data center? Is it more retail along the lines of the Trader Joe’s? There is a lot of opportunity in those target markets, and as we look at putting our program of work together, and putting our strategies around each one of those target sectors, that will then give us a road map of how to go out and attract or grow what we already have here.

What is it that’s made West Des Moines such a popular place for development?

It’s definitely the vision of the City Council. We’ve been very fortunate over the years to have a pro-economic development mayor and council. They’re not afraid to put in the infrastructure needed to get things done.

What previous experiences led you up to this?

I came from a business development background, and the contractor community. I was with general contractors in the community providing business development services ¬– two target industries throughout the Midwest, trying to define and find opportunities for those organizations. I was a commissioner on the city of West Des Moines Plan and Zoning Commission, so I’ve got a good handle of what the comprehensive plan is for this area.

What insights have those previous jobs and experiences given you coming into this?

I think one of the things that we need to do right up front is not take anything for granted. We have a tremendous opportunity in this area. We’ve got vacant land available. We’ve got some major challenges. All challenges can be overcome with getting the right people around the table to hold conversations, to throw out ideas. I think that’s one of the biggest insights I’ve seen: that together we can do a lot more than just my ideas.

Tell me about your family.

I’ve been married to my wife, Sarah, for 16 years. We moved to Central Iowa right away. She’s been employed by the Principal Financial Group. We have two sons: Ryan, age 13, and Andrew, age 8. We are all about West Des Moines. We love it here. We don’t want to go anywhere else.

What kind of things do you do outside work for fun?

I’m a huge Iowa State Cyclones fan. We love going to (Iowa) Cubs games. We’re huge outdoors. We just love being an active family as much as we can. For me, it’s all about spending time with my family, as well as getting away with friends, as well as cheering on the Cyclones to as many victories as we can get for them. That’s our passion.