(Marion, IA) The Marion Economic Development Company (MEDCO) is   announcing plans for their 27^th Annual Business Luncheon. The luncheon will be held 11:45, Wednesday, March 14, 11:45 – 1:15 p.m. Best Western Longbranch, 90 Twixt Town Rd, Marion, IA.  Social begins at 11:15 with lunch beginning promptly at 11:45. MEDCO Chair, Anne Loomis will review the past year’s activities and discuss MEDCO’s role in future economic development activities in Marion and the Corridor. Retiring board members will also be recognized.

The keynote speaker will be Maureen Collins-Williams, the Director of Entrepreneurial Outreach at the University of Northern Iowa. Prior to joining the University, Collins-Williams was a Senior Business Consultant for the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED), a research and economic development policy non-profit housed in Des Moines, Iowa and Washington DC. As Director of the Regional Business Center, Collins-Williams has been instrumental in raising over $3 million in outside funding to beta test, implement and evaluate a number of rural/urban entrepreneurship initiatives in Iowa, including a successful rural entrepreneurship development system called MyEntreNet. She also established a service/technology incubator in the distressed Waterloo central business district and a technology transfer incubation initiative on the UNI campus.

Collins-Williams has been engaged in entrepreneurship development since1982. With direction and guidance from former Marion Mayor Vic Klopfenstein, she opened and successfully operated a retail business in uptown Marion for several years. Maureen was active in the Marion Chamber of Commerce and later served as program manager for three Main Street downtown development programs in rural Midwestern communities. She is a 1992 graduate of the National Trust Main Street Center Certification Institute (CMSM). Working with the Iowa SBDC system, Collins-Williams spent 12 years as a business consultant working with both early stage and entrepreneurial growth companies. She is on faculty at the Midwestern Heartland Economic Development Course and the Economic Development Institute (EDI) at Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute. Maureen is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Public Administration.

MEDCO President George Lake voiced his pleasure in having Maureen Collins-Williams as the keynote speaker. “The Marion Economic Development Company is transitioning our major efforts from creating an environment for growth, to placing an even greater emphasis on marketing Marion and on helping existing Marion businesses grow and encouraging new business start-ups. Over the course of the past four years, MEDCO has facilitated the development of over 300 acres of new shovel ready industrial ground in Marion. Maureen is a recognized expert on what communities and economic development organizations can do to facilitate entrepreneurial business growth and startups.”

Lake also extended his thanks to Alliant Energy for their sponsorship of the MEDCO Luncheon.

Reservations may be made by contacting JoAnne Henry at the Marion Chamber, 319-743-4722 or e-mail joanne@marioncc.org Tickets are $30 per person or $240 for a table of eight.

You may register online & pay with a credit card. (see panel immediately to your left)  Or you can register by mail or fax.