Tag Archives: growth

GCVAC Investor Company Far Reach Partner Kate Washut Wins Women of Innovation Award

Cedar Falls–Kate Washut, Partner at Cedar Falls-based Far Reach received a Dupont Pioneer Iowa Women of Innovation Award. Washut won the award in the category of “Entrepreneurial Innovation & Leadership.” The Iowa Women of Innovation Awards are presented annually by the Technology Association of Iowa and recognize women who are leaders in science, technology, engineering, or math.

Winners and finalists were honored at a dinner and ceremony in Des Moines on November 15. Washut was recognized for her accomplishments in technology, including starting her company Far Reach with four other partners in 2007. Far Reach is based in downtown Cedar Falls and offers web design and development services, custom software development, mobile technology solutions, and technology and marketing consulting. Washut was also instrumental in the development of two additional companies, Hired Hand Software and Nu Squared Software. Washut worked with other technology leaders in the Cedar Valley to establish the Cedar Valley TechBrew. This event attracts around 100 attendees each month for idea sharing, networking, and start-up promotion.

The Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) is a professional service organization that strives to strengthen Iowa’s technology ecosystem and enhance the state’s reputation as a technically advanced place where world-class technology firms and organizations thrive. TAI’s Women of Innovation Awards is in its fifth year of honoring Iowa women.

For more information contact Sue Munnik at 319.273.8060, ext. 112, or sue@farreachinc.com.

More info:

http://farreachinc.com

http://www.technologyiowa.org/en/events_services/iowa_women_of_innovation/2012_women_of_innovation/

Vote for job creation, favorable business climate and prosperity

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber is proud to participate in the Iowa Prosperity Project (P2) sponsored by Economic Progress for Iowa ‘s Citizens (EPIC), a not-for-profit entity founded in 1991 by a number of businesses and statewide business associations. EPIC is a non-partisan organization dedicated to research and the dissemination of data on the attitudes of Iowa ‘s citizens, legislators, and legislative candidates on matters affecting business.

Like the GCVAC, EPIC believes that Iowa and its citizens will benefit from a “pro-business” environment. The resources found on the P2 website neither endorse nor oppose any candidate for public office, rather, it is a resource to inform the electorate by publicizing issues and factual information on those issues, and to be active participants in the political process.

The GCVAC encourages you to subscribe our Legislative Relations blog where we will be providing local insights and links to resources including P2 .
Use the link in the right side column to subscribe.

With all the political messages filling the media, it can be confusing whose name will be on your local ballet.
Find your candidates by entering your full street address below. You may also enter just your zip code if you wish.
Click here.

Use this search form to find your elected officials at all levels of government and see how your incumbent performed in the last term.
Click here.

Election Insights is a political analysis publication of the Business Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC). BIPAC is an independent, bipartisan organization, that is supported by several hundred of the nation’s leading businesses and trade associations.

“The importance of election at the state level cannot be emphasized enough. While most of the focus and attention revolves around the tightening presidential race and a few contests for the U.S. Senate, what happens at the state level is typically more relevant to our daily lives and the pocket book issues Americans rate as the most important issue facing the country.” – By Michael R. Davis

Encouraging Young Professionals to Work the Valley

As part of an overall strategy to develop, recruit, and retain talented people in the Cedar Valley economic area, the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber is launching Work the Valley, a talent retention program targeting college students and young professionals (YPs). Work the Valley encourages YPs to stay in the Cedar Valley by showcasing appealing work places, careers, great company cultures and local life style amenities attractive to their demographic.

Work the Valley engages students and YPs with tours of Cedar Valley employers, business districts and cultural & entertainment venues, discussions & informative presentations, and specialty job fairs.

GCVAC Director of Business Services, Brittany Jungck says that when YPs experience firsthand all that the Cedar Valley offers they will be more likely to stay to build a career. “We want to show them that the Cedar Valley really can provide opportunities in line with their career goals yet with a much lower cost of living than bigger metros they may be attracted to.’’

The initial Work the Valley Bus Tour is November 1st in partnership with the UNI Career Center. Forty UNI students will visit four businesses and cultural venues and have opportunity to speak with 10 companies about current job openings and future employment outlooks.

Fulfilling the Vision2 – The Cedar Valley’s Equation for Continuing Economic Growth

The work of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber (GCVAC) is to help business and institutions grow in our area, increasing economic vitality and wealth. Repositioned and growing businesses and institutions have produced significant results for the Cedar Valley economic area over the past five years, which included some of the worst years in modern US economic history. GCVAC delivered major development projects, services and opportunities resulting in healthier businesses, over $260 million in new capital investment, good jobs, and a more robust business climate. In those unfavorable times, GCVAC’s work contributed to rising wages and a modest increase in population, when similar cities around the country saw decline. It has emerged as a leader in regional economic development, building relationships with businesses and development organizations throughout the Cedar Valley economic area.

The financial investments of businesses and institutions throughout the Cedar Valley fund our work – fulfilling your vision of more economic growth and prosperity to the area. The Fulfilling the Vision2 is both a framework plan and funding campaign designed to respond to today’s quickly shifting and sometimes unpredictable economic realities. Through FtV2, the work of GCVAC is focused on: Workforce & Talent Retention, Recruitment and Development; Business Growth Through Expansion and Location in Targeted, High Value Sectors; Building a Strong Cedar Valley Brand Message to Businesses, Talent, and in Government Relations; Increase Regional Collaboration Among Business & Civic Interests; and Collecting & Reporting Useful Data on our economic base. Emphasis will shift as opportunities and need of our Cedar Valley region dictate.

GCVAC is finding strong, unprecedented regional support for FtV2 program and campaign. The campaign is now over the 50% level, with momentum building to reach successful completion near the end of 2012. To learn more, please visit www.CedarValleyAlliance.com to view a video featuring several area businesses, cities, and GCVAC work.

Your financial support – an investment in our work to expand our economy – is important to our success. It will benefit everyone who wants to strengthen our businesses, expand quality employment opportunities, and create a greater place to work, build a career, and enjoy life. To schedule an appointment with one of our FtV2Leadership Team volunteers to discuss why they are involved and how you can best assist, call Campaign Coordinator Blake Woods at 319-232-1156

MidAmerican Energy’s senior management and topic experts host event for business

MidAmerican Energy EMPOWER U sessions will offer the latest, most comprehensive information you need to make informed decisions for our community and your business. Topics of discussion will include Rates, the Future Electric Generation, Energy and Budgeting/Planning Policy. The Waterloo EMPOWER U will take place Oct. 25, at Hawkeye Community College — Tama Hall. It is a free event, but an RSVP is required. Seating is limited and spaces fill quickly. Please go to the EMPOWER U website for details and to register.

Technology and Innovation based ED through Ecomomic Gardening

I’ve attached a whitepaper on the economic development strategy which encompasses what is usually known as economic gardening. The paper is somewhat broader, addressing the overall system of support and action that should be led by the economic development/chamber entity.

The point made by the author is that smaller, younger businesses have always been a very large source of net new jobs on a national level, and that is certainly the case in most regional economies, too. You’ll recall the David Birch work in the 80’s on the importance of gazelle firms. The concept of economic gardening implements a strategy that recognizes that ED delivery systems, and chamber support for the targeted, growth oriented smaller businesses in the basic and service sectors are different than the location and major expansion process focused generally on capital investment, and the systems of communications and networking we’ve become accustomed should by adjusted, too.

The relationship between ED/chamber and the target firms must also be different today than in the past, as is pointed out early in the whitepaper. This is a shift that your GCVAC team has been and is continuously working on.

This approach is entirely consistent with GCVAC’s strategic goal of Implementing Technology and Innovation Based Economic Development. You will see our version of economic gardening implementation starting about January 1. It will be the topic of a board meeting this fall.

Finally, the publisher of the whitepaper –EvisThrive – is a firm that delivers a service that organizations like GCVAC can use to create the systems and connections to implement an entreprenuerial growth strategy. Very good thinking has gone into it and it’s worth study.

Steven J. Dust CEcD
CEO
Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber

Download whitepaper – “How Entrepreneurs Will Power the Economy”

Grainger Opens Business Center

The opening of the new 41,000/sf center marks a commitment from the company, “This is a Fortune 500 company that’s perennially voted a top company to work for,” said Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley. “To say ‘yes’ to Waterloo with all their other choices says a lot about our economic development and the area.

Parris Devine, vice president of operations and planning for Grainger, said the company’s commitment to build the facility was based on the commitment and work ethic of the area’s work force. “This group is so talented,” Devine said. “ We’ve had great luck in retaining and keeping talent here.” Grainger supplies industrial and technical products for nearly 1.8 million customers around the world. June 17, 2009.

View more information here: http://www.cvedc.com/

Alliance & Chamber Gathers Guidance on Direction of Future Projects and Programs

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber has been conducting a marketing analysis through interviews with investors. The purpose is to seek input on implementing economic and community development programming to grow existing businesses, develop a strategic communications initiative to increase the profile of the Cedar Valley nationally and internationally, establish a higher profile in local state and federal government relations, and attract significant investment in tightly targeted business segments. The first phase report will be presented to the Alliance & Chamber Board on November 1^st. Additional information will be reported at subsequent meetings.

The board will adopt a performance measurement system including a balanced scorecard to measure the organization’s progress on goals and priorities. It will also implement a dashboard of economic and socio-economic indicators to measure the relative vitality of the regional economy.

“The best way for the Alliance & Chamber to build its services is to learn more about the market opportunities and challenges faced by our regional manufacturers, services, and institutions. This intelligence, when combined with objective target industry analysis data, permits the Alliance & Chamber team to get our marketing and service delivery plan correct,” said Steve Dust, CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber.

“The scorecard and dashboard tools are emerging as most effective to communicate the organizations progress toward goals while reporting on our impact and the condition of The Cedar Valley economy,” Dust concluded.

For more information contact the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber office at 232-1156 or email info@cedarvalleyalliance.com.

Grow Cedar Valley