2025 Greater Des Moines Partnership Regional Summit + Economic Impact Awards
Name:
2025 Greater Des Moines Partnership Regional Summit + Economic Impact Awards
Date:
September 17, 2025
Time:
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM CDT
Registration:
Register Now
Event Description:
Join the Greater Des Moines Partnership for a Regional Summit, aimed at connecting urban, suburban and rural communities. The Partnership welcomes community, business and civic leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities, while amplifying stories from throughout Greater DSM USA.
The Regional Summit will focus on key issues impacting the region, encourage meaningful connections and is guaranteed to leave participants inspired and ready to move the region forward. Programming and speakers will be announced at a later date.
During lunch, the Greater Des Moines Partnership's Economic Impact Awards recognize local companies for their contribution toward the economic and community vitality of Greater Des Moines (DSM).
Keynote Speaker
The Regional Summit will focus on key issues impacting the region, encourage meaningful connections and is guaranteed to leave participants inspired and ready to move the region forward. Programming and speakers will be announced at a later date.
During lunch, the Greater Des Moines Partnership's Economic Impact Awards recognize local companies for their contribution toward the economic and community vitality of Greater Des Moines (DSM).
Keynote Speaker
James Chung is President of Reach Advisors, a Boston-based strategy and predictive analytics firm. His work focuses on building community, serving some of the nation’s leading organizations involved in economic development, real estate development, community philanthropy and cultural investment. He also co-founded a machine learning startup spun out of Reach Advisors to generate localized economic forecasting, which was acquired by the world’s largest commercial real estate valuations firm. He continues to innovate as a co-founder of a reading-focused tech startup based in Paris. He is particularly interested in topics such as how the era of tech advancement and machine learning impacts (positively and negatively) the advancement of organizations and cities and how the expansion of educational and cultural capital builds and strengthens communities.
Chung will deliver a data-driven keynote that builds on his prior analyses of Greater Des Moines’ (DSM’s) rise as a standout mid-sized metro in the U.S. His previous presentations in 2018 and 2020 identified the underlying drivers behind DSM’s growth and vibrancy. At the 2025 Summit, Chung will revisit those findings and share what’s shifted, what still holds true and which focus areas are key to sustaining the region’s momentum through the rest of the decade.
