Marion Economic Development President Nick Glew to step down from leadership position

MARION — After nine years serving at the president of the Marion Economic Development Corp., Nick Glew announced Thursday he is stepping down effective June 30 to take a different job opportunity in the private sector.

Before his work as president of the public-private partnership known as MEDCO, Glew served as a member of the Marion City Council from 2008 to 2011 and was the founding director of Uptown Marion in 2013. He said his experiences in a variety of positions — including journalism, marketing and banking — helped him flourish as the president of MEDCO.

“I always gained just a really unique set of skills through each of those experiences,” Glew said. “When I got the opportunity to lead our economic development team, all of those unique experiences finally made sense.”

When asked about his plans for the future, Glew, 43, said he will make that announcement later. Public tax records from 2019 show he was paid nearly $120,000 a year at MEDCO.

“I just want this to be an opportunity to celebrate all the great things that as a community we have accomplished over the last 10 to 15 years,” Glew said. “We can kind of talk about those next steps at a later date.”

Glew said he plans on staying in the Marion area. With his wife’s work and children attending school in the Linn-Mar school district, Glew said his future is in Marion.

“We are deeply involved in our church and other organizations,” Glew said. “We're not planning to move at all. Marion is our home."

Guiding Marion into growth

Glew has accumulated many awards and public recognition during his time with MEDCO, overseeing investments of more than $375 million into the Marion community.

Glew said the most rewarding aspect has been seeing projects through from start to finish. He spoke of the Marion Enterprise Center, a state-certified office and light industrial park off Highway 151, one of the first projects he tackled.

Being thrown into a partially-started project, Glew said he was “not sure we really knew too much about what we were doing.” He said he was able to figure out the mechanics of an incentive package, gather support from the state and work through official certifications, seeing the project through to fruition.

Ultimately, Glew said the Marion Enterprise Center was a success, providing jobs and creating wealth for several hundred people in Marion.

“We're definitely not the organization that ever looking for credit for those projects,” Glew said. “It's really the blessing of being able to be a part of some of those things that make me so proud of what we've been able to accomplish as an economic development team.”

‘We’ve grown up together’

Glew said the hardest part of stepping down from this position is the people he has to say goodbye to. With the ties he has formed with President of the Marion Chamber of Commerce Jill Ackerman and Mayor of Marion Nicolas AbouAssaly, Glew said he will treasure these relationships into the future.

“When we first started we were young, and new, and being involved in a community,” Glew said. “Alongside each other we've grown up together, professionally and personally in a lot of different ways.” ’

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“Mr. Glew is one of the most gifted leaders that I know,” MEDCO Board Chair Steve Neighbor said a statement. “Marion is stronger today because of the work supported by Nick and his team. He will be greatly missed by all those who got the chance to work with him at MEDCO.”

According to a news release, the MEDCO Executive Committee has started the search process for Glew’s replacement.