The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Working Teams are focused on four key areas of Missouri’s economic development: Business Development, Talent, Innovation, and Community Infrastructure. Each team explored specific topics to identify challenges, opportunities, and strategies for inclusion in the statewide CEDS.
CEDS WORKING TEAMS
Business Working Team
Business drives the national and state economies and it’s critical that Missouri offers the business development environment that will fuel and facilitate private sector investment and growth. The Business Development Working Team will review economic trends and issues facing Missouri and identify strategic options that may be included in the state’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. The Working Team will review key policies and programs to ensure they are designed to do what markets alone cannot do: influence growth through action and investments.
Topics to be explored
Business Retention & Attraction
Incentive Programs
Industry Clusters
Missouri’s Regulatory Environment
Site Preparation
Team members
Rob Dixon - Ameren Missouri
Ray McCarty - Associated Industries of Missouri
Tim Cowden - Kansas City Area Development Council
Steve Etcher - MarksNelson LLC
Kara Corches - Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Mark Stombaugh - Missouri Development Finance Board
Carolyn Chrisman - Missouri Economic Development Council
Subash Alias - Missouri Partnership
Jessica Craig - Sedalia-Pettis County Development Corporation
Shad Burner - Southeast Missouri Regional Economic Development Inc.
Jonas Arjes - Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Natalie Hawn - St. Joesph Chamber of Commerce
Tim Nowak - World Trade Centers (St. Louis WTC)
Lori Becklenberg
Division Director, Regional Engagement
Business Working Team Lead
Innovation Working Team
Innovation is the key to unlocking new opportunities and maintaining a competitive edge in any industry. The Working Team will have a strong focus on technology-based economic development, assessing how best to support technology businesses and important research work at our higher education institutions and elsewhere. Not all innovation depends on new technology. Entrepreneurs can generate new innovations in all sectors of the economy, and the Working Team will examine how Missouri can best support all its entrepreneurs—no matter their background or home region. Areas the Working Team will examine include access to capital, entrepreneurial ecosystem building, and effective research and development support strategies.
Topics to be explored
Entrepreneurship Support
Corporate Innovation
R&D and Tech Commercialization
Access to Capital
Team members
Judy Sindecuse - Capital Innovators
James Stapleton - Codefi
Quinten Messbarger - Missouri Innovation Center
Anastasia Tiedemann - Missouri Rural Enterprise and Innovation Center
Jack Scatizzi - Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC)
Tony Caruso - University of Missouri - Kansas City
Travis Stephens - Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce
Ed Frindt - KCRise Fund
Heather Fisher - Ozarks Small Business Incubator
Randy Schilling - OPO Startups
Melissa Roberts Chapman - KC BioHub
Austin Walker - Boeing
Rachel Jung - Brewer Science
Rachel Anderson
Executive Director, efactory
Innovation Working Team Lead
Talent Working Team
A robust and diverse talent base fills local jobs, start local businesses, and build local communities. It follows that the most prosperous states and regions are those that excel at developing, retaining, and attracting talent. The Working Team will look across K-12 systems, higher education, workforce development systems, economic development and other state agencies, industry-education partnerships, and in the workplace itself to help differentiate Missouri from its peers. The Working Team will also consider the unique needs of the state’s rural, suburban, and urban regions, and how Missouri can maintain a “future-ready” workforce as new technologies emerge, and industries evolve.
Topics to be explored
Career Pathways
Education Programs & Partnerships
Focused Talent Attraction/Retention Efforts
Talent Development
Team members
Alexander Earls - Missouri Department of Corrections
Brent Stevens - North Central Missouri College
Brian Crouse - Missouri State Chamber
Brian Millner - Missouri Community College Association
Craig Moore - DeBruce Foundation
Len Toenjes - Workforce Development Board
Mark Bauer - Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development - Workforce
Matthew Hankins - Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
Samantha Dickey - Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development – Higher Ed
Sarah Rielley - University of Missouri Extension
Jay Johnson - Northwest Missouri State University
Danielle Hilton - Kansas City Area Development Council
Kristie Davis
Division Director, Missouri One Start
Talent Working Team Lead
Community Infrastructure Working Team
Infrastructure serves as the core foundation for most economic development initiatives. Missouri can’t develop and attract world-class businesses and talent without world-class infrastructure. The Community Infrastructure Working Team will examine how best to develop, maintain, and promote such infrastructure across the state. The Working Team also plans to assess how quality of place-focused investments, in areas such as childcare, public safety, and recreational amenities, contribute to community well-being and to attracting talent to Missouri. The team will also assess how Missouri can remain resilient in the face of challenges such as natural disasters and rapid technological change.
Topics to be explored
Childcare
Economic Resilience
Housing
Local Capacity Building
Quality of Life Investments
Transportation Infrastructure
Utilities
Team members
Allie Bennett - Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative
Andrew Murphy - Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission
Brandon Jenson - Missouri Department of Economic Development - Community Development Block Grant Program
Brent Buerck - City of Perryville
Bryant McNally - Missouri Hospital Association
Cristina Dusenbery - Missouri Housing Development Commission
Daniel Epler - Missouri Department of Economic Development - Community Solutions
Darren Lamb - City of Washington
Gayla Roten - Missouri Main Street Connection
Hannah Humphries - Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Jamie Rizo - Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Jason Ray - Southwest Missouri Council of Governments
Jennifer Presberry - COMO Connect
Pam Thomas - Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Stephanie Howard - Carthage City Utility
