What Regional Collaboration Means for Greater Des Moines

What does regional collaboration mean to you?

For me, it is illustrated by how businesses, communities and organizations come together around opportunities that can strengthen the entire Greater Des Moines region.

As The Partnership’s Board Chair, I see how much stronger our work can be when we bring different perspectives and experiences to the table.

From a business perspective, that matters.

Businesses don’t make decisions in isolation. They’re thinking about whether they can find and retain talent, whether their employees can find housing, whether infrastructure can support growth and whether the communities where they operate are places where people want to build their lives. Regional collaboration works because we’re willing to have those conversations.

This is a large part of the reason why our economic development efforts are so strong and why The Partnership and the region continue to earn national recognition.

Hear What People Are Saying About Collaboration in Greater Des Moines

Regional collaboration was on full display at the Greater Des Moines Regional Summit on Oct. 8, 2026 where we hosted leaders from across industries and jurisdictional lines.

The Partnership team caught up with attendees to find out what regional collaboration means to them.

John Rutledge, General Manager of the Lake Panorama Association, said, “For me, it’s how regional collaboration feels. It feels very welcoming, it feels very inviting. It’s an energy that other people want to be part of. They want to invest in.”

Rachael Kinnick, President & CEO of the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce, said, “Regional partnership is ‘we is greater than me.’”

Representatives from rural counties and communities talked about the connections that they experience because of our region’s ability to wok together.

John Hall, President & CEO of the Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce, said, “Regional collaboration means celebrating success, recognizing that every investment, every new individual who comes to the region, every win that we see impacts not only our market as Marshalltown but the Greater Des Moines region as a whole. And the wins in Greater Des Moines ripple up to us as well.”

Megan Bennett, Executive Director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, said, “Regional collaboration to me means that we have businesses, organizations and communities that are working together to provide resources that a small community like maybe Knoxville would not necessarily have without something like the Greater Des Moines Partnership.”

And I love how Cory McAnelly, Assistant General Counsel at Principal Financial Group, summed it up: “Regional collaboration means the difference between winning and losing.”

We win as a region, and we win because we work as a region.

Economic development projects like Vylor’s decision to locate its headquarters in Johnston and ADR Axles’ decision to expand to Perry happen because local, regional and state partners work together.

Quality of life projects like the Iowa Confluence (ICON) Water Trails happen because public, private and nonprofit partners support a shared vision.

I am confident we will continue our momentum as the fastest-growing region in the Midwest because we collaborate to act on opportunities and tackle shared challenges.

We will continue to win.