Partnership adds Clarke County, Perry chamber to footprint, announces strategic priorities at annual dinner

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Anderson Erickson Dairy CEO and 2025 Greater Des Moines Partnership Chair Miriam Erickson Brown speaks at the Central Iowa economic development organization’s annual dinner Thursday at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center. Photo by Mike Mendenhall

The Greater Des Moines Partnership is expanding its economic development reach.

Officials for the regional economic development organization announced at its annual dinner Thursday night that Clarke County has been added to what is now the Partnership’s 12 county footprint.

The Perry Chamber of Commerce has also joined the Partnership as a chamber affiliate, bringing the organization’s affiliate network to 6,700 regional members, Tiffany Tauscheck, the Partnership’s president and CEO, announced.

“With this addition, we are now the third-largest regional chamber of commerce in the entire country. … Here in Greater Des Moines, we work across jurisdictional boundaries and political affiliations to solve tough challenges and take on important opportunities. Economic development is a team sport, and I continue to see that team spirit play out time and again,” Tauscheck said.

The Perry chamber and city officials have been coordinating with the Partnership, Des Moines Area Community College and other state and national entities for nearly a year to find job placement for workers and fill the empty Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. plant after the Arkansas-based food processor announced in March 2024 it would permanently close its plant in the town of 8,000 people, causing the elimination of nearly 1,300 jobs.

“Becoming an affiliate chamber of the Partnership is an exciting step for Perry,” Lynsi Pasutti, executive director of the Perry Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release. “This collaboration opens new doors for our members, connecting them to resources, networks and innovative ideas.”

The addition of Clarke County brings the city of Osceola into the Partnership region.

Partnership officials said 29 new or expanded economic development projects were completed in the region in 2024, and Tauscheck said the organization has “a strong funnel” of projects with more than 100 qualified project leads headed into 2025.

“Our economic development prospects and qualified leads were stronger than they’d been in years,” Tauscheck told the Business Record. “And again, I attribute that to the fact that we’re working collaboratively. We’re leveraging data to go after those leads, and then we’re building those relationships and bringing those leads back into our region, working with our economic development practitioners in each of our cities and counties to get those projects across the finish line.”

Partnership officials said the organization will also expand its Spark DSM and Scale DSM small-business programs this year.

During the event, Partnership 2025 Board Chair and Anderson Erickson Dairy CEO Miriam Erickson Brown outlined the organization’s 2025 strategic priorities.

The Partnership’s 2025 priorities are:

  • Economic development: Increase regional economic development project leads, expand pipeline of prospects, assist business location and expansions.
  • Workforce readiness: Advance workforce readiness across the Des Moines area. To advance this priority, the Partnership is accepting registrations for two of its talent development programs for summer 2025 — Legacy Project: Career Ready Collective and DSM Intern Connection. Registration is available on the Partnership’s website.
  • Quality of life and regional community integration: Enhance quality of life and
    placemaking through leading regional community integration, supporting affiliate
    chambers of commerce and enhancing the vibrancy of the Des Moines area by hosting “marquee” events and supporting placemaking projects. The Partnership announced Thursday it will again host a Regional Summit in 2025.
  • Inclusive economic growth and business support: Advance inclusive economic
    growth and business support.
  • Media relations and storytelling: Amplify the “DSM USA story loudly, boldly and
    broadly” through media relations, website efforts and rural, urban and suburban strategic
    storytelling.
  • Investor engagement: Enhance investor engagement and secure new investor
    contributions. To advance this priority, the Partnership announced it will launch the DSM Executive Stewardship Council, a program that aims to connect and engage new leaders with other influential leaders throughout our community to foster deeper connections.

“I think that cultivating growth in Iowa requires some things. It requires enthusiasm, it requires collaboration. It requires strategy and very strong commitment. And one of the reasons I’m involved in this is that the Greater Des Moines Partnership team, along with the board and all the affiliate organizations that make up that board, are all those things together,” Brown told the Business Record.

The Partnership also announced the leadership for its 2025 board of directors on Thursday.

In addition to Erickson Brown’s role as chair and David Stark, UnityPoint Health chief of government affairs and philanthropy, as past chair, Chris Costa, president and CEO of Knapp Properties Inc., and Dan Keough, chairman and CEO of Holmes Murphy, will serve as vice chairs. Tero International President Rowena Crosbie will serve as secretary, and Sean Vicente, partner with KPMG LLP, will serve as treasurer.

The full list of Partnership board and committee members is available here.

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Mike Mendenhall

Mike Mendenhall is associate editor at Business Record. He covers economic development, government policy and law.

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