RAPID CITY (8/8/08) – After 22 years with the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, including 19 as its president, Bob DeMersseman announced he will retire at the end of the year.

“This job has been incredibly rewarding. I’ve developed great relationships with so many people, and I’ve been fortunate to see Rapid City’s economy continue to grow and diversify over the years,” DeMersseman said.

DeMersseman to retire as head of Economic Development Partnership

RAPID CITY (8/8/08) – After 22 years with the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, including 19 as its president, Bob DeMersseman announced he will retire at the end of the year.

“This job has been incredibly rewarding. I’ve developed great relationships with so many people, and I’ve been fortunate to see Rapid City’s economy continue to grow and diversify over the years,” DeMersseman said.

DeMersseman began his Rapid City tenure in 1987 as vice president of the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation. He was named president of the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership in 1989.

Since then, DeMersseman, his staff and the city’s economic development groups have created and expanded two industrial parks, set up the low-interest Rapid Fund loan fund, developed the Western Research Alliance to promote a growing technology community and created the Black Hills Business Development Center, an incubator to help researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs turn their ideas into commercial ventures.

In recent years, the partnership has also built a strong relationship with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. In fact the incubator is located on the School of Mines campus.

“Bob has been such a key part of our team effort to create economic development in Rapid City,” said Pat Burchill, head of the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation, the partnership’s real estate arm. “Our success has a lot to do with Bob’s efforts.”

Burchill noted that the Rushmore Business Park, home to call centers for Green Tree Servicing, Advanced Services Inc., NEW Corp. and GE Finance, was initially to be used for light manufacturing. But when the need for office space arose, Rushmore evolved into an office park.

“I think that shows the adaptability of economic development over the years to adjust to changing times,” he said. “Bob deserves credit for having the vision to move forward with different types of business as opportunities were created.”

“Bob has been a student of the latest trends in advancing the community’s economic development program over the last 20 years. He’s worked hard to put them in place,” said Mark Merchen, manager of economic development for West River Electric. Merchen is also chairman of Black Hills Vision, a group working to create a regional technology corridor.

More than a decade ago, when interest rates were high, DeMersseman worked to create the Rapid Fund, Merchen said. In the early 1990s, when manufacturers and corporations needed land, DeMersseman helped the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation expand the Rushmore Business Park and the South Creek Industrial Park.

“And when the economic development trend was towards high-tech jobs, Bob initiated the Western Research Alliance to advance dialog about high-tech job creation,” Merchen added. He noted that at one of the Western Research Alliance sessions, the Black Hills Vision/Technology Corridor idea was born.

“In my opinion, Bob has been at the front end of developing a very diversified economic development program for Rapid City, and he will be remembered for putting a lot of great things in place,” Merchen said.

DeMersseman agrees that economic development has changed over the years. For one thing, it’s more competitive. His counterparts in North Dakota and Wyoming are working hard to leverage their mineral wealth to create new jobs outside the energy industry.

“But the biggest change is that economic development used to involve a slap on the back and convincing a prospect that Rapid City is a great place to live,” he said. “Now, it’s much more of a business proposition. Prospects want to be shown that they can make money here.”

In addition, economic development has become, at least in Rapid City, a grow-your-own game. Rather than simply trying to attract outside firms, DeMersseman, his staff and the other agencies at the West River Business Service Center are also nurturing local start-up ventures.

When they succeed, those locally-based companies are more stable, more committed to the Black Hills and less likely to leave town, he said.

DeMersseman was born and raised in Rapid City. After graduating from Black Hills State College, he worked for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, the Black Hills Council of Local Governments and the Old West Regional Commission.

He has served on the South Dakota Chamber and economic development association. He’s worked with South Dakota governors going back to Frank Farrar.

For years, DeMersseman and other economic developers have been preaching the value of economic diversity. Now, in the current national downturn, Rapid City is faring better than other parts of the country. DeMersseman credits that to an economic base that includes tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, a strong medical community, Ellsworth Air Force Base and a retail trade area that stretches into Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Nebraska.

That type of diversity doesn’t produce booms – or the busts – but steady, moderate job growth, about 3 percent per year, over the past two decades, DeMersseman said.

Looking ahead, DeMersseman said Rapid City will see growth in locally owned, home-grown manufacturing, service exporting and medical services. Ellsworth Air Force Base could land big new missions. And the energy industry in nearby states could create jobs in the Black Hills.

“We’ve put together a full development program with a lot of help from a lot of volunteers,” he said. “Rapid City has been able to do all these things because we have great participation from the Rapid City business community.”

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For more information:
Terri Haverly, Vice President
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