Women have their hands on the rudder of economic growth

Dee Baird puts it like this:

“You have to be really good as a leader to know that you're not always in the lead, but sometimes your role may be to follow,” she said. “If you're in the lead when a problem is identified, it's your job to get the lead partner on board who knows what to do and can be part of the solution.

“If that's my job in a particular situation, I need to get out of the way and let that person lead while I continue to provide support.”

Baird is one of four women with different management styles but one key thing in common - each leads economic development efforts in the Corridor or the state of Iowa.

Baird, president and CEO of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, was executive vice president of continuing education and training services at Kirkwood Community College before she was named president of Priority One in September 2010.

Baird said her experience as vice president of existing business services at Priority One before joining Kirkwood in 1998 helped build her foundation in economic development.

“At Kirkwood, I had the opportunity to build business partnerships working on 260E training contracts,” she said. “I sat through discussions of a lot of economic development projects. I was given the opportunity to think in an entrepreneurial way to create work force development solutions.”

Merging the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber, Priority One and the Downtown District on Jan. 1 required convincing three boards of directors and the membership that it was the right decision. Baird, who was able to articulate the economies of scale and benefits, was able to bring it to fruition.

While Baird had developed strong relationships when she became Metro Economic Alliance chief, Nancy Quellhorst was a relative newcomer to Iowa City in 2006 when she became president and CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Arlington Heights, Ill., native moved to the community in 2001 when her husband, Neil, accepted a job at Rockwell Collins. Quellhorst developed relationships with businesses and the community through her work with the Workplace Learning Connection and the Iowa Environmental/Education Project.

“The success of the Workplace Learning Connection is predicated on building relationships with businesses that are willing to let students in their door,” Quellhorst said. “With the Iowa Environmental/Education Project, I had to develop relationships with businesses as well as the public sector like county supervisors and state officials.

“I had to learn to work with many types of people and build consensus, which in many ways is very critical in my current position.”

Quellhorst describes her management style as “collaborative.”

“I know what I don't know, and I take advantage of the tutelage of fine leaders,” she said.

“I'm a perpetual student of erudite business leaders and others. Throughout my professional career, I've enjoyed modeling what I've seen done well.”

Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress, also is quick to thank mentors for their impact on her career.

“Any success that I have had has been because of people helping me along the way,” Durham said. “Every job that I've ever had, I've surrounded myself with really strong mentors.

“They've not only helped me navigate the community, but they've been willing to tell me the things I need to hear that I don't always want to hear.”

Durham was tapped by Gov. Terry Branstad to lead the public-private successor to the Iowa Department of Economic Development after a five-year stint as president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce. She describes her management style as “very hands-on.”

“When I'm in Des Moines, I'm walking around from office to office finding out what's going on and listening to folks,” Durham said. “My strength is bringing people together to do collectively what is impossible to do on an individual basis.

“When you've got a good plan and you bring really talented people together in collaboration, things happen.”

While Iowa City Economic Development Coordinator Wendy Ford must work with different constituencies on a particular project, growing up in the community and having a diverse employment background has been invaluable.

Ford, who has a degree in art history from the University of Iowa, initially worked as a corporate graphic designer for Hansen Lind Meyer Architects in Iowa City. In 1989, she was named executive director of the Iowa City-Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a post she held for 11 years.

Ford was hired for her current post in 2006.

“While my job is to assist and sort of shepherd through economic development projects, I also need to keep the rest of the community in mind,” Ford said. “I need to understand all facets of each project - both perceived and real.”

Ford sees her management style as communicative.

“I feel that I need to be the link between businesses, developers, staff decision-makers, city council decision-makers and the community,” she said.

“We have a strategic plan that was developed by our city manager. When we are asked to look at a particular project, we must determine how it will align with that plan.

“It really holds all of us in city government accountable.”

“After generations of dividing up the roles between breadwinners and breadmakers, the change we are seeing today (with women in more leadership positions) is inevitable, even if it feels like it is occurring slowly,” Dee Baird wrote in a Business 380 guest column last year.

“... Economic development is far more than just jobs. At its heart, economic development is about providing ways for people who live and work in the Corridor to balance education, culture, recreation, the needs of their families - and jobs.

“Today, economic development is really about effecting change. One of the changes that I am committed to is to make sure that the next generation grows up in a world that holds men and women to the same standards when it comes to work-life balance.”