Monday was Jared Wheeler’s first day on the job as Thrive Allen County’s new economic development director. He’s stayed busy.
“Someone asked me if it felt like I was drinking from a firehose,” said Wheeler Friday morning. “I said, ‘A little bit. And I’m being asked to hold the hose.’”
It’s a job that comes a million miles per hour. Wheeler, 39, notes he has 60 economic development projects on his desk right now – and those are just the ones he knows about. This week, he met with the county commission, Iola’s city administrator, Iola Industries, local business owners, and representatives from Kansas’ Small Business Development Centers. Oh, and Thrive’s board of directors met Thursday night.
The pace suits Wheeler just fine.
“I’ve loved it,” said Wheeler. “For anyone who’s started a job and been told to meet with HR, fill out paperwork and then sit at your desk for hours with nothing to do —this is not that job.”
WHEELER, a Thayer native, has taken what he describes as a “circuitous” route to joining Thrive Allen County. The stops, which feature a decade as a pastor in non-denominational and Methodist churches, and, most recently, a little over a year as a fourth-grade teacher, share common threads.
For Wheeler, his career “has always been about people and service.” He finds deep joy in connecting people, helping articulate their visions, cheering them along as they pursue their dreams. And he’s excited to continue that work at Thrive.
“I am by nature hopeful,” he observes. “And I want to help people feel hope in their contexts, whatever those are. That is what drew me to Thrive. I see Thrive, at its core, as an agency that disseminates hope.”
Wheeler continues the thought. “Thrive is committed to helping the communities it serves become as healthy as possible. And health doesn’t occur unless you have the audacity to hope for something better, or take joy in your current situation if you are healthy, whether that is physical, mental, economic.
“Thrive is a conduit for hope. And that’s why I wanted to be a part of it. I want to help people figure out grants, find funding, but that has to begin with hope.”
THRIVE’S last economic development director, Jonathon Goering, left the position last December. Since then, CEO Lisse Regehr has shouldered both positions. Wheeler knows the job’s workload can be overwhelming. In fact, in his eyes, there’s a lesson learned here:
successful economic development requires the whole community.
“I’m not the economic developer for Thrive Allen County,” says Wheeler. “I am a conduit towards people achieving their goals and their dreams, sharing hope and bringing things to fruition.” The work is bigger than one person, he notes. It has to be.
Part of it is the sheer amount of information that one has to control, notes Wheeler. Building material costs, federal and state grants, local government contacts. It’s also about knowing the right people, connecting investors with public officials.
“Luckily, I’m a nerd,” says Wheeler. He’s happy to hit the books. But he also sees larger obstacles.
