AGENDA

At the Great River Casino Resort Event Center 

3001 Winegard Dr Ste 130, Burlington, IA 52601

Speaker: Chad Bird, City Manager

Location: General Session Room

A breakout on the importance of collaboration and relationship-building in community and economic development, using the partnership between Burlington and West Burlington as a real-world example. This session will explore how neighboring communities can work together to leverage shared strengths, address common challenges, and create opportunities that benefit the entire region. Attendees will gain practical insights into fostering partnerships that strengthen regional growth and long-term success.

Speakers: Amy O’Brien, Emily Benjamin, & Teli Van Rycke

Moderator: Rachel Lindeen

Location: General Session Room

Workforce challenges don’t stop at county lines and neither should our solutions. This panel will explore how economic development, education, employers, and workforce partners can collaborate across communities to address shared workforce challenges. Panelists will share practical strategies and real-world examples for building partnerships, engaging employers, and creating greater regional impact.

Speakers: Jason Hutcheson & Dennis Fraise

Location: General Session Room

If collaboration were easy, everyone would do it. Everyone talks about regionalism and collaboration. Making it actually work is another story. For more than 15 years, Jason Hutcheson and Dennis Fraise met over breakfast to talk economic development, regional competition, organizational challenges—and one big question: How do you get communities and organizations with different priorities, personalities, boards, and funders to work together? In this candid and practical session, Jason and Dennis will share the lessons, mistakes, and successes that helped shape regional partnerships in Southeast Iowa—and eventually helped spark the creation of Develop This!, the nation’s #1 economic development podcast. Together, they’ll build a collaboration roadmap for creating a shared vision, understanding the players, putting the right people in the right seats, building trust, avoiding winners and losers, defining success, and creating partnerships that last. Expect real stories, practical takeaways, and some friendly disagreement from two economic developers who have spent decades turning “we should work together” into “here’s how we’re going to do it.”

Mingle with fellow attendees over delicious food, drinks, and great conversation in a casual, welcoming atmosphere. Whether you're reconnecting with familiar faces or meeting new colleagues, this is the perfect way to start the week. Come hungry, come thirsty, and come ready to enjoy a fun night with our conference community. 

Speakers: Matthew Stoffel & Chip Shultz 

A legislative and policy update focused on TIF, urban renewal tools, and Iowa’s changing development framework, including how communities should think about project structuring and housing-related objectives. This topic is timely because Iowa’s 2026 property tax bill changed key urban renewal/TIF rules, including new limits on TIF duration and recognition of workforce housing as an economic development objective.

Speaker: Katie Milton Jordan

In this keynote, Katie Milton Jordan will help economic-development practitioners move beyond basic AI tool use and understand how artificial intelligence is reshaping the practice of economic development. Drawing from her work as an economic developer, AI educator, and operator of an AI-enabled economic-development organization, Katie will introduce practical thinking lenses for making sense of the AI shift and what it means for communities, businesses, site selectors, and stakeholder expectations.

Attendees will leave with a clearer framework for understanding AI’s impact on economic development, plus concrete examples of how AI can support the work they already do - from RFI responses and stakeholder communication to inbox management, community positioning, and day-to-day organizational capacity. The session is designed to give practitioners both a strategic view of what is changing and a practical way to recognize where AI can create real capacity inside their own organizations.

Speaker: Chris Lee, County Conservation Director

Location: Hall B1

Ecologists have a word for the fires and floods that reshape a landscape: disturbance. These forces maintain healthy systems and ecologists use them as management tools. Chris Lee, Organizational Ecologist, brings the principles of land management to the work of leading through change, and makes the case that resilience isn't returning to how things were. It's adapting on purpose.

Speakers: Dave Miller, Shalimar Mazetis, & Madeline Strums

Location: Hall B2

When natural disasters strike Iowa communities, economic developers and municipal leaders are forced into high-stakes crisis response overnight. Featuring real-world perspectives from city management, economic development, and state emergency management, this panel shares hard-earned lessons in disaster planning and recovery. Attendees will explore key frameworks, including Incident Command structures, volunteer management, business resilience toolkits, and state/federal financial aid. Discover how to maintain leadership clarity during crisis and leverage recovery efforts to build long-term community resilience using facilitated discussion and robust audience engagement.

Speakers: Andy Sokolovich, Lane Till, & Melissa Strovers

Moderator: Katie Milton Jordan

Location: Hall A

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of the conversation across industries, including economic development. In this moderated panel discussion, Katie Milton Jordan will lead a conversation with Andy Sokolovich, Lane Till, and Melissa Strovers, exploring AI for economic developers beyond basic brainstorming applications. Panelists will share perspectives, experiences, and insights on how AI is being used in the field and what opportunities it may present for economic development professionals. Attendees will gain a practical look at the evolving role of AI and hear diverse viewpoints from industry leaders.

Learn about the recently updated infrastructure, commercial and residential development in Downtown Burlington.

Tour the two adjacent sports facilities, including the bubble.

Tour of the Flint Ridge business park and discussion of recent progress.

Join us for a lively evening of drinks, food, and networking. Enjoy a laid-back atmosphere with plenty of indoor and outdoor space to relax, connect with fellow attendees, and soak in the local charm. Whether you’re winding down the day or gearing up for more conference fun, this casual gathering is the perfect way to experience the community and enjoy great food and cold drinks,