UNI entrepreneurial director to keynote MEDCO annual meeting

The Marion Economic Development Co. will hold its 27th Annual Business Luncheon on March 14.

Maureen Collins-Williams, director of entrepreneurial outreach at the University of Northern Iowa, will be keynote speaker. MEDCO Chair Anne Loomis will review the past year's activities and discuss MEDCO's role in future economic development activities in Marion.

MEDCO is placing a greater emphasis on helping existing Marion businesses grow and encouraging new business start-ups, MEDCO President George Lake said.

Collins-Williams operated a retail business in uptown Marion for several years. She spent 12 years as a business consultant working with early stage and entrepreneurial growth companies, and is also on faculty at the Midwestern Heartland Economic Development Course and Economic Development Institute at the Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute.

The luncheon will be held from 11:45 to 1:15 p.m. at the Best Western Longbranch, 90 Twixt Town Road, Marion, preceded by a social beginning at 11:15 a.m.

Reservations can be made by calling JoAnne Henry at the Marion Chamber, 319-743-4722 or emailing joanne@marioncc.org by March 9. Tickets are $30 per person or $240 for a table of eight.