Brian Crowe, the current vice president for business attraction at ICR Iowa, was named Thursday as the new executive vice president of economic development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. 

He fills a role left open with the retirement of David Maahs, and will begin his new duties on Jan. 19.

According to a news release, Crowe will lead the Partnership in its efforts to help businesses relocate to and expand in the Des Moines region.

Besides serving with ICR Iowa, a seven-county regional economic development organization in the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region, Crowe also served as the economic development strategist for the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, where he oversaw business retention and expansion. He also has held positions with the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence.

Partnership President and CEO Jay Byers cited Crowe’s experience and track record of working with regional partners, saying he’s confident Crowe will help continue moving Greater Des Moines forward.

“Brian is a seasoned economic development leader with a successful track record of working with regional partners across jurisdictional lines on company relocation and expansion projects that result in job creation and capital investment,” Byers said. “I am confident that Brian’s leadership, vision, experience and existing relationships with our team and other partners will be instrumental in helping our region continue to secure game-changing economic development projects.”

Crowe received his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is working on attaining his certified economic developer status.

According to the release, he also has extensive volunteer leadership experience.

He participated in the Community Leadership Program Iowa City in 2019-2020 and Leadership for Five Seasons Cedar Rapids in 2016-2017. Crowe has served as a member of the Marion Economic Development Corp. board of directors and the Professional Developers of Iowa. He is also a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Romania from 2002 to 2004.

Des Moines “is experiencing tremendous economic development momentum and is nationally recognized as a great place for business, and together we can keep the region strong as we head into 2021 and beyond,” he said in the release.