Durham 'ready for challenge' as new Iowa economic development head

Sioux City business development leader Debi Durham says she “couldn't imagine a better job” than leading Governor-elect Terry Branstad's effort to create jobs in Iowa through a revamped public-private partnership approach to economic development.

“I'm ready for a challenge,” Durham told a news conference today where Branstad introduced her as his choice to guide the state's job-creation and economic development efforts once his new administration takes office in mid-January.

Branstad said Durham, 50, president of the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce and the Siouxland Initiative, was his first choice to lead a new state partnership that will enlist private business leaders from within and outside of Iowa to create, retain, recruit and expand business opportunities in Iowa as part of his goal to create 200,000 jobs over the next five years.

“She knows how to get it done,” the governor-elect said.

Branstad said the new public-private partnership will require a thoughtful, energetic and respected leader who is “hands-on” in economic development.

“I found that in Debi Durham,” the governor-elect said. “I believe she is the right person to direct this.”

Durham, who also currently serves on the Iowa Transportation Commission, said she was “humbled” by Branstad's confidence in her abilities and connection having been a leader in business development in northwest Iowa for more than 15 years. She said she believes jobs are created at the local and regional levels, which is where she hopes to employ a holistic approach to developing “a framework that will propel growth.”

She said she has looked at various models for public-private collaborations around the country and hopes to borrow concepts in building an approach tailored to Iowa's needs.

“We have to be proactive, but unfortunately the economy requires us to be reactive,” said Durham, who has been directly involved in Sioux City efforts to stem business closings or job losses during the current national recession. She said she plans to continue her work in the Siouxland area why dividing time with planning for the new duties she will assume in Des Moines once Branstad is inaugurated in his fifth term as governor on Jan. 14.

Durham, who was the 2002 running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross, said it was an emotional decision to leave her current post but she savors the prospects for her new role at the state level with plans to be on the road a considerable amount of time “selling Iowa.”