“Do something greater” was the theme of the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s annual meeting Thursday night as leaders shared the message of continuing the momentum of past successes as they head into 2023.

The Partnership is coming off a year that saw what organizational leaders described as big wins for the region following the challenges of the past few years and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new year also sees the transition from Rowena Crosbie to Mike McCoy as chair of the Partnership board.

Thursday’s meeting, held at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, also featured Erik Weihenmayer, the author of the New York Times bestseller “No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon,” as keynote speaker. Weihenmayer was the first blind person to summit Mount Everest. He went on to complete the Seven Summits, scaling the highest point on every continent.

The Business Record sat down with Crosbie, McCoy and Partnership leadership ahead of Thursday’s event to discuss the progress that was seen in 2022 and what the Partnership’s strategic goals are for 2023.

The accomplishments of the past year represent the strength of economic development in the region, said Jay Byers, CEO of the Partnership.

“Our economic development queue moving into 2023 is really strong. We’re starting off strong, which I think really tells the story that the robust growth we’ve seen is continuing,” he said in comments made in advance of Thursday’s meeting. “At the end, during these challenging times, not only COVID but inflation and all these other headwinds the region and the country are facing, we’ve still continued to move forward on these massive projects.”

Byers mentioned ICON Water Trails, the Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium and Global Plaza, and continued progress on the Des Moines International Airport improvement project as examples of projects that have continued their forward momentum.

“These projects are going to get done,” Byers said. “We’ve continued to advance through tough times and continue to invest in the future.”

Crosbie outlined the region’s achievements in 2022. They include:

• More than $989 million in capital investment.
• 707 jobs created and retained.
• Continued work on Downtown DSM: Future Forward.
• The Des Moines International Airport Improvement Project.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion work, including one-on-one assistance to 12 companies, and events that reached 67 companies.
• The Future World of Work Summit.
• A talent attraction campaign that reached more than 72,500 people who sought more information on the Partnership’s website.
• Placemaking projects, including ICON Water Trails, the Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium and Global Plaza, the Market District, Des Moines Public Schools Community Stadium at Drake University, and Merle Hay Mall revitalization, among others.
• Pop-up activities in downtown Des Moines, such as the Hot Air Balloon Hunt, Out to Lunch, Tweet Week, Silent Disco, and Hide and Seek Ornaments.
• Four marquee events, including the Downtown Farmers’ Market and Winter Market, the DSM Book Festival, the World Food & Music Festival, and the Holiday Promenade.
• A 24% increase in downtown foot traffic Tuesday through Thursday, with a 17% increase overall downtown in 2022 compared with 2021.
• A Downtown Child Care Task Force led by Ruan Transportation CEO Ben McLean to help build an employer consortium, which was awarded $940,000 to open a downtown child care center.
• Small business support, including the Scale DSM Minority Business Accelerator and the Downtown Farmers’ Market incubator pilot program. The Partnership also launched a local entrepreneurship marketing campaign.
• The DMDC trip, which returned to Washington, D.C., in person for the first time since 2019.
• More than $40 million in investor commitments for 2023-2027; including 74 new investors and adding Mahaska County to its service area, bringing the number of counties served by the Partnership to 11, representing more than 830,000 residents.

McCoy, the new board chair, said the Partnership hopes to springboard off those achievements to continue the momentum in 2023.

According to McCoy, the Partnership’s strategic goals for the new year include:

• Developing and implementing a regional site-readiness program that will work with regional partners to create site-readiness criteria, identify sites, create a database and market the sites to companies.
• Executing national marketing campaigns to increase talent attraction and economic development in Central Iowa.
• Enhancing the region and downtown Des Moines through placemaking projects.
• Driving an inclusive small business growth strategy.
• Collaborating on Capital Crossroads 3.0 and the integration of DSM 4 Equity goals.
• Supporting political parties and the media in preparation for the 2024 Iowa caucuses.

McCoy said the plans that were laid out in the past have forged a path that allows the Partnership to continue its momentum into 2023.

“There’s a belief in the region that the Greater Des Moines Partnership is the place where businesses, nonprofits and government all come together to accomplish big stuff,” said McCoy, the CEO of NCMIC Group, in comments made in advance of the meeting. “We have a history of doing that … because of the opportunity to come together where everybody leaves their politics at the door and focus on these big projects to move us forward. We’ve done this for the past 25 years and we’ll do it well into the future.”

Crosbie said another reason for the recent success is that the work done by the Partnership is contagious.

“I’ve observed that through board engagement, and when we go out to do succession planning for the board, people are excited to serve, flattered to serve, and really excited about the work we do together and our shared goals,” said Crosbie, president of Tero International, in advance of the meeting. “I believe it’s a Partnership-led and community engagement thing that has allowed us, as an 11-county region, to knock the ball out of the park.”

Another factor is the Partnership’s ability to adapt to change, said Tiffany Tauscheck, the organization’s chief operations officer.

“The component of having a plan and working the plan, we’re very nimble as a region and as an organization and I think we experienced that through COVID and that we were reacting in the moment as a region to changes that were evolving but we never lost sight of the vision,” she said in comments made before the meeting. “To me that just really communicates and underscores intentionality and that we’re moving forward as a region with great intention.”

Watch for an article detailing the key takeaways from Weihenmayer’s presentation in an upcoming issue of the Business Record.