There’s a new partnership forming in downtown Des Moines – and it’s between Jay Byers and Gene Meyer.

But it’s an unlikely pairing that even the duo didn’t see coming during the six-month search for someone to replace Martha Willits as CEO and president of the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

Meyer said that throughout the process, he and Byers often talked about who would end up in the organization’s lead position. They discussed the many different scenarios: one of them edging out the other, the job going to someone else entirely, maybe even someone from outside the region. But …

“Never did we ever talk about, ‘I wonder if they will just give it to both of us?’” Meyer said.

Nonetheless, the position, which traditionally had been held by one person, was split up, with Byers stepping into the role as CEO and Meyer as president.

And of course, the questions from friends and colleagues soon followed on their respective happiness with the new model.

“People asked us, ‘What do you think of it?’” Meyer said. “And we both said, ‘We are thrilled about it.’ And everybody said, ‘If you’re thrilled about it, we’re thrilled about it; we think it’s a great idea.’”

As the search committee vetted candidates nationally, it became clear just how many responsibilities Willits had and how unique the Partnership’s public-private model was. Ultimately, that’s why the committee decided to divide the duties, a move both Meyer and Byers thought allowed their roles to be tailored to their individual strengths.

In fact, they said, the committee put a lot of thought and work into how the duties and responsibilities would be split up.

“We have to give the search committee its due,” said Meyer, who was promoted from senior vice president of strategic initiatives at the Partnership. “I thought they did a masterful job, so that it wasn’t Jay and I sitting down in the room saying, I get this, you get that. It was our leadership saying to us, these are the things that best match your knowledge, skills and abilities together.”

Though Meyer will report to Byers, a partnership at the top of an organization that used to have one head is still a big change – with the success of that change likely dependent on their ability to work together.

Not an issue, they say.

“It works if the relationship is there,” Meyer said. “And we’ve talked about the fact that we have the relationship. We know each other, and we understand each other.”

The two have worked with each other over the years – even before they came to the Partnership to serve in their previous roles – and have developed a deep level of mutual respect and admiration.

“Quite frankly, having Gene as a partner is a huge benefit to me as well,” Byers said. “He has been in these positions before. We talk multiple times a day on every issue you can think of, bouncing ideas off each other, making sure we are making the right move together as a team. So that’s tremendous for me to have Gene here, so that we can collaborate to make sure we are making decisions collectively that make sense for the organization and the region.”

This won’t be Byers’ first turn running a show, but it’s definitely his grandest show yet. He had a staff of about 10 as the state director for Congressman Leonard Boswell and was also a co-chief of staff with a team of 18 during his final two years with Boswell.

“So, I mean, I’ve had management experience before, but, I mean, not to the extent of staff and budget we have here,” Byers said. “So I realize that there is still a lot I need to learn.”

Meyer is not concerned.

“The one thing that I think is key to all this, is that he is surrounded by a great deal of wisdom, knowledge and experience,” Meyer said. “Whether that is our board of directors, the business leadership of this community, and whoever serves as our chair, to the people he gets to work with here. And he has already demonstrated he is smart enough to take advantage of all that.”

Byers knows he has the support to lean on, and still has much to learn, as he takes over as the head of the Partnership and its 23 regional affiliate chambers of commerce and more than 4,300 member businesses.

“The key for me is to know what I don’t know,” Byers said. “And I think I’m a quick study. And I’ll learn as much as I can on the areas I need to learn more on. I very much look forward to the challenge.”

And for Meyer, who has been a solo leader as mayor of West Des Moines and commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, how is he going to handle ultimately reporting to Byers?

“Now, I jokingly kid Jay about how he is at the top of the pyramid,” Meyer said. “I’ve been there; the air is a bit thinner up there.”

Well, the 6’ 6’’ Byers is a foot taller than most. Perhaps he’ll be used to it.

Plans for the future:

Jay Byers and Gene Meyer already have some lofty goals set for them, namely, seeing the Capital Crossroads long-term vision plan through. The moment they began their new duties on Jan. 23, they each began setting priorities on what they’d like to accomplish.

Byers, who was the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s senior vice president of government relations and public policy, said he wants to focus on developing “the bioscience corridor,” an area he believes has huge potential to affect the global community.

“We’ll be able to recruit companies outside of the country. There are so many relocation and growth opportunities,” he said.

Another item on Byers’ radar is engaging the next generation of leaders. He pointed to a statistic that says there will be more members of Generation Y (those born in the 1980s and early 1990s) than Baby Boomers in the work force by 2015. “How we respond to that is very critical,” he said.

Meanwhile, Meyer wants to work on community involvement by going out and listening to the Partnership’s affiliates and seeing what their needs are.

Both will be working on furthering Capital Crossroads, helping to usher it down the road, and keeping up momentum and enthusiasm among all involved.

“We’re six months out, but already we can point to a ton of success,” Byers said. “Whether it’s Walnut Street or Vets (the former Veterans Auditorium), or the Principal Riverwalk or Nollen Plaza – we’ve had our hands on all of those.”

Meyer said they will continue to assess goals and timelines to see what can realistically be accomplished and what works through quarterly meetings and communication with all of the committee co-chairs. But the main goal the two have is to continue to improve economic, workforce, regional and downtown development by working together and working with other communities.

“The planning going on in this community is incredible,” Meyer said. “And all these things started with people dreaming and coming together – that’s how we got the Science Center (of Iowa) and the (Des Moines Central) Public Library. And I know that someone will sit at this table a decade from now and say, ‘Look at these things they accomplished.’”