Before Bob Costas entertained the audience with stories of Harry Caray, Jack Buck and John Gotti at last night’s Greater Des Moines Partnership Annual Dinner, incoming Partnership Chair Paul Schickler told the crowd of more than 1,400 about some of the organization’s goals in 2014.

Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, takes over from 2013 Chair Jim Wallace, president and CEO of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. Some goals and initiatives for the Partnership in 2013:

• Launch a regional branding campaign to advance development along the Capital Corridor between Ames and Des Moines. The campaign will focus on the agriculture and bioscience sectors.

• A global insurance symposium will be held in Des Moines in May.

• The Partnership, through Capital Crossroads, will put together and roll out a regional workforce and education initiative. In a recent Business Record interview, Partnership CEO Jay Byers said the initiative will focus on a comprehensive pre-kindergarten-through-career strategy.

• Advance the Capital Crossroads plan by having a midpoint evaluation. Market Street Services, which helped in the initial planning stages, will lead the evaluation.

The Partnership released a video of its 2013 Annual Report, as well as a “2013 by the numbers” document, that can be found here. Also on that page is a video highlighting the 125th anniversary of the organization.

2014 Inclusion Award winners: 

The Partnership also handed out its 2014 Inclusion Awards to highlight the diversity efforts of three companies. Winners were UnityPoint Health in the large business category, Des Moines University in the medium business category and Veridian Credit Union in the small business category.