H1 SUNDAY JANUARY 29, 2012
The Growers
The Producers
The Planters
A look at the progress made this year in the Cedar Valley. pages H1-H8
A look at those who are contributing to progress in the Cedar Valley. pages I1-I8
A look at the people and places helping harvest growth in the Cedar Valley. pages J1-J8
Tooting our own horn Leaders say area should give voice to accomplishments
A N N U A L
E D I T I O N
THE GROWERS PROGRESS EDITION
2012
INSIDE
By JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com
WATERLOO — Cedar Valley business and community leaders recently answered a request from The Courier to do something they admittedly don’t do enough: talk about their successes. “We do not brag enough,” said Lou Porter, CEO of radio station KBBG 88.1-FM in Waterloo. “If I’m coming here, I want to know what I’m coming to. You want to know about health care, schools and entertainment. And we have it all here.” Porter and a number of other community leaders got together Jan. 4 at The Courier for a roundtable discussion about the community’s progress in recent years and where it’s likely to go in the years ahead. That was a common theme among members of the assembled group, which included Porter, along with Stacey Bentley, Cedar Valley market president for Waterloo-based Community National Bank; Joe Vich, CEO of Community National Bank; Rick Young a local developer, philanthropist and chairman of Young Plumbing and Heating; Steve Dust, CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber; Thad Nevitt, factory manager at Deere & Co.’s Waterloo operations; Jean Trainor, CEO of Veridian Credit Union; Sharon Juon, director of the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments; and Dee Vandeventer, founding partner of Cedar Falls-based public relations and consulting firm ME&V. “If I could do one thing, I would brag more about the Cedar Valley,” Vich said. “It’s our job to do that and we don’t do it well. When we have a job to do, we just put our heads down and do it.” Dust said the Cedar Valley, which has to compete against other regional and state urban centers, must not be reserved about bellowing its own praises. “I think we’ve got to learn how to celebrate the trying and forget the failure of the past,” he said. “I think we should instill more in people to try. If we can have that culture where people try, it’s going to grow the economy.” Young cited, as an example, the renaissance the downtown areas in Waterloo and Cedar Falls have undergone. “Compared to the 1990s, you drove through downtown Cedar Falls or Waterloo, it was all dark,”
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page H2
Answering the call Future principals, superintendents are being trained at UNI
page H6 TIFFANY RUSHING / Courier Staff Photographer
Rick Young a local developer, philanthropist and chairman of Young Plumbing and Heating, and Stacey Bentley, Cedar Valley market president for Waterloo-based Community National Bank, participate in a roundtable discussion about local economic issues at The Courier.
Lou Porter
Joe Vich
he said. “You go there now at night and there are people on the streets and they’re happy. It’s a huge difference. I think having a healthy Jean Trainor downtown helps from an economic factor, but the pride factor, I think, is huge.” That’s a significant development on many fronts, Juon said. “You have a place to congregate,” she said. The group said the dynamics of leadership in the Cedar Valley continue to evolve for the better. “Twenty years ago, there were half-dozen leaders in the Cedar Valley,” Vich said. “Who are the leaders today? You can’t answer that. We have broadened that base. We’ve got a lot of leaders
Steve Dust
Sharon Juon
Thad Nevitt
Dee Vandeventer
and they’re diverse and different ages. I think that’s one of the healthiest things. It’s good for us, because we’re not just looking to a half-dozen people to make things happen; it’s a good change.” The group reiterated the region’s relative prosperity against a backdrop of national economic malaise. “One observations is the national economy differs is one reason is we didn’t have a housing boom, so we didn’t have a housing bust,” Trainor said. “Our local economy relies heavily on how
Deere does, so I think we have that advantage in the CV.” Vich agreed. “Clearly, the Iowa economy is driven by ag,” he said. “The ag sector of the economy is remaining very strong if not growing. Whether your businesses are directly or indirectly affected, they are affected by the ag economy in the state of Iowa. It’s been healthy and looks like it’s going to continue to stay healthy. We’re very fortunate to be in the Midwest. We don’t have major, major metro areas with really large populations that have really felt the effects of this recession. So, we have ups and downs, and we’ve had ups in ag.” Dust said the area has come back from the pit of disaster, referring to the floods and tornados of 2008, and pointed to a sliver of light in an otherwise-gloomy scenario that helped to spur that comeback. “This is the silver lining from a dark cloud, but we had some natural disasters just before the recession started that supported some of the strength we had through the recession,” he said. “So, what is that happened most importantly in 2011? In a lot of ways, nothing bad. And that was
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page H7 because the kind of peace we had focused on that massive Deere presence.” Nevitt said the region’s success transcends Deere, which enjoyed record revenues in 2011. “It’s not just John Deere, but it’s the companies that support us, as well,” he said. “But the community itself has had a lot to do with it. The downtown development in Waterloo, the continuing development of the industrial parks have all been important to our business. One of the things is, when we have successful years, we need the best talent. When they’re here they want to stay here. There seems to be a lot of good momentum in those areas. There was a lot of good momentum in 2011 that started a long time ago.”
See SUCCESSES, page H7