Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance Director Doug Neumann reflects on tenure ahead of departure

CEDAR RAPIDS — After nearly two decades at the forefront of Cedar Rapids’ economic development, Doug Neumann is taking a step back.

Set to resign this year, Neumann has served the last nine years as executive director of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance — rounding out a broader 19-year career in economic and community development.

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He first served as the downtown district director before the district merged with the Economic Development Group and the Chamber of Commerce to create the alliance in 2012. The alliance, based in downtown Cedar Rapids, serves roughly 1,200 members to promote economic and workforce development in and around the Cedar Rapids area.

The search is now on for Neumann’s replacement, and a new executive director could be selected as soon as this summer. Neumann said he believes the city is well-situated to reach new heights under his successor.

“This is the greatest job in the world. Everything that goes on in this community, we probably have something to do with it,” Neumann told The Gazette. “Sometimes we play a minor role. Sometimes we play a major role. … We do all the things that others think just happens.”

Q: How did you get into economic development?

A: It was very unexpected. A group of downtown leaders were looking for a new leader for the downtown district, and they had kind of struck out with some of the more traditional candidates. They struck up a conversation with me that I think neither side really expected, but ultimately led me in January of 2007 to going to work for the downtown district.

I had five years at the downtown district, another five as executive vice president (at the Economic Alliance) and then the last nine as executive director.

Even as I moved into broader economic and community development roles, my heart has always been in downtown where I started. … Czech Village, NewBo, MedQ and Uptown Marion: (Those kinds of districts) are really something that distinctly identifies the nature of a community.

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Q: Is there one moment that sticks out most from your time working in economic development?

A: Well of course there’s the community milestone of the 2008 flood, right? I’d been in the job for 18 months at the time and we get what — at the time — was the fifth-worst natural disaster in U.S. history in economic terms. It completely changed the job, 100 percent. Nothing we were doing was relevant anymore, and we really became community redevelopers.

I certainly remember my teammates and the other people in the downtown district working through this calamitous thing together, and I think we have lifetime bonds because we worked through that.

It did take a few months of just debris piles and that sense of despair, but a few months after that (we) started to recognize the silver lining of that disaster was that we were going to get opportunities to completely remake a community.

All of that you see today — the new downtown library, the new federal courthouse and the new approach to riverfront development. There’s a long list of stuff … but that’s what I remember most.

Q: Are there other projects or events that left an impression on you?

A: There’s some foundational, traditional things that I’ve had the honor to run one lap of the relay race on. I got handed the baton on things like the Downtown Farmers Market, the Leadership for Five Seasons program and our young professional program.

Those are things that have existed long before I was here that I got to nurture and champion these last 19 years. … That’s a real strength of Cedar Rapids — that we have some foundational programs that have been around for a long, long time and that have had a really major impact on the community.

Q: What are some other strengths you think are unique to Cedar Rapids?

A: Certainly the private sector strength of this community is powerful. We’ve seen that in the support of the Economic Alliance that comes from our private sector and the development and business community.

The other thing that is special and important about Cedar Rapids is its manufacturing and agribusiness base. Very few communities have the transportation and utility infrastructure to support manufacturing the way we do.

I think that mindset where other communities kind of turned their back on manufacturing, Cedar Rapids continued to embrace it. Now we’ve got a society that’s sort of trending back in that direction where you hear a lot of federal policy discussion about making things here (in the United States), growing things here. Cedar Rapids is positioned to be at the center of that kind of economic growth because that’s where we’ve always been.

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Q: You’ve worked in economic development for almost 20 years. Why the decision to step back now?

A: Nineteen years is a long time in this industry. I’m the longest serving executive in this role since 1966 in Cedar Rapids … and one of the longest serving across the state of Iowa.

I just felt like because our team is so strong right now, our board is so strong and membership is in a great place … that it was an ideal time to pass the baton on to the next person. I never wanted to (leave) when things weren’t good, and we’re on such a winning streak as a community and an organization right now that it felt like the time was right.

Q: Looking back on your time in economic development, how is Cedar Rapids situated differently now than when you began this work?

A: When you’ve been at something for 19 years … a lot can change, and mostly (it’s been) for the good. You know, we are a bigger community now. We have more amenities, more things to do and more attractions for young workers.

But still — and this is a cliche — the more things change, the more they stay the same. We’re still in an industrial manufacturing, blue-collar, hardworking community that with an economy that — while it’s diversified some — still has its foundational base in those private sector businesses that are really the bedrock of what we are as an economy.

Q: What challenges do you think remain?

A: This isn’t Cedar Rapids specific, but I’m very concerned about the hostility in public discourse right now. Great solutions can come out of discussions with people who have a different perspective than you do, and civil debate and people working collaboratively toward those solutions is really critical.

We’re just not there right now. We seem to have lost that art — certainly in politics, but even in more general community discussions. I’m just very concerned about that hostility and that undertone or divisiveness. … That’s mostly endemic at the federal level, but I see that even at the local level and I think we need to do better.

Q: What’s next once you leave the Economic Alliance?

A. I intend to stay here until I can hand the keys to my successor. There’s no determined date, but it does look like the board is on track to have somebody here by midsummer.

My mind and my heart is very open to what comes next — potentially even something very, very different than what I’ve done before. I’m intentionally not aggressively seeking something right now because I’d love the opportunity to unplug and reenergize a little bit. Where I do ultimately plug back in professionally is yet to be determined … but there’s zero chance that I’m leaving this community.

Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com