The Monroe County Economic Development Corporation recently announced that Red Bud City Administrative Assistant Pam Poetker will soon be stepping in as the organization’s new executive director.

Poetker grew up in rural Monroe County, attending parochial grade school as well as Gibault Catholic High School in Waterloo before attending both the University of Phoenix and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for a time, ultimately receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Though she said she briefly worked in a management position at the Red Bud YMCA, the bulk of Poetker’s career has been spent working in Red Bud city government, where she’s taken on a range of responsibilities.

“I have more than two decades of public sector economic development experience, so I feel like that’s important for this position,” Poetker said. “It’s one of many components of the job that I’ve performed for the last 23 years.”

Along with social media management and other duties which saw her reporting directly to the Red Bud mayor, the community’s economic development and growth have been a core focus for Poetker over the past two decades.

Her work in this area includes collaborating with numerous businesses in Red Bud, helping them either expand or get established in the community.

Poetker also said she’s done a great deal of grant writing over the years, writing millions of dollars worth of successful grants on behalf of the city and, more recently, for local businesses.

Additionally, Poetker said some of her efforts went toward developing several incentive programs such as property tax abatement, loan and sales tax programs.

Poetker explained that her interest in this field came out of a desire to help those in her community.

“I’ve always had an interest in serving people, so I felt like a business administration degree and working in local government would give me that opportunity to serve businesses, to serve residents, communities, especially in rural America where I grew up,” Poetker said.

Within the last few years, Poetker also played a big role in the development of the 2019 enterprise zone which stretches into areas of Monroe and Randolph counties.

The enterprise zone provides a number of benefits and incentives for eligible businesses within its boundaries. Poetker emphasized one particular benefit centered around building materials.

“Basically what it does is it allows businesses to purchase the – they call it ‘bricks and sticks’ – for the construction component of their business without paying sales tax if they’re eligible,” Poetker said.

As Poetker helped oversee development of the enterprise zone for Red Bud, this work saw her collaborating with representatives from other municipalities, the Randolph County Progress Committee and the MCEDC.

Soon to step into her role as the MCEDC’s new executive director on March 18, Poetker provided a simple explanation for what interested her about the position.

“I’m very passionate about economic growth and about creating opportunities, providing the opportunity for communities to thrive,” Poetker said.

She further described some of her hopes and plans as she has outlined them to members of the corporation in recent weeks.

First and foremost, Poetker said she would simply like to get her bearings as director, both getting a better understanding of the corporation and its goals and assessing the general economic landscape of the area.

As part of this introduction to the job, Poetker said she also hopes to meet with local officials and businesses, getting an idea of their needs in an effort to ultimately develop a strategic plan to address job creation or attracting new businesses.

She also expressed a hope for greater community engagement and involvement as well as implementing new workforce development programs.

Poetker suggested one project could involve new entrepreneurial programs for students in the county. She mentioned working with Monroe County startUP to possibly introduce this sort of opportunity to those students who might have an interest in business even before high school.

She further noted that this sort of effort would be meant to help young people stay local as they grow up, reinforcing that they don’t have to leave their hometowns in order to pursue their business interests.

“I want to be able to show them that they can be successful in our county, that they don’t have to move away to start a business and be successful, that they can do that right here,” Poetker said. “I feel like that starts with our youth so that you can establish continuity and long-term sustainability and stability with that type of program.”

Poetker also spoke in a generally hopeful and positive way about Monroe County and the surrounding area, describing the region as a hub for innovation and indicating an additional goal of helping local businesses and organizations network and collaborate in their best interests.

MCEDC Board Chairman Cole Stenzel spoke highly of Poetker and her previous experience in Red Bud.

He noted that one of Poetker’s chief responsibilities as she begins with the MCEDC next week will be wrapping up the organization’s strategic plan which has been in the works for some time.

“We’re very excited about the future for the Monroe County Economic Development Corporation with Pam Poetker now taking over as the executive director,” Stenzel said. “She brings a wealth of economic development knowledge and expertise to our group that will really assist us in hitting our goals of furthering the economic development in and around our area.”

As she looks forward to the position, Poetker also heaped praise onto her predecessor, Edie Koch, who announced she would be stepping away from the corporation late last year having served as MCEDC executive director since the organization’s start in 2016.

Poetker noted how she has worked with Koch for many years, is greatly appreciative of her service to the community and hopes to continue the good work she’s done.

“My ultimate goal is to foster overall sustainable economic growth to benefit the entire community, the region, really,” Poetker said. “From creating new job opportunities, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of life, all the things that leave a lasting, positive impact on the county.”

For more information on the MCEDC, visit mciledc.com.